Avant ECSTASY

Personnel includes: Avant (vocals); Cap-I, Sean Don (rap vocals); Steve "Stone" Huff (various instruments); Charlie Wilson (background vocals).
Recorded at Stone Recording, Chicago, Illinois.
Personnel: Avant (vocals, background vocals); Sean Don (rap vocals); Charlie Wilson (background vocals).
Audio Mixer: Peter Mokran.
Recording information: Stone Recording, Chicago, IL.
Editors: Markus Ulibarri; Jeff Vereb.
Photographer: Michael Lavine.
Arranger: Steve Huff.
On ECSTACY, Myron Avant, the Cleveland native who was also the first artist signed to Magic Johnson's MJM record label, sings satin sheet-smooth R&B with sexy self-assurance. It's tinged with an irresistible pleading tone which he uses time and again to devastating effect on cuts such as the smoky, after-hours "Thinkin' About You" and the reggae-inflected "What Do You Want." "Six in Da Morning" conjures the dazed, freaky mood of the end of a long night's partying, while the darker "Suicide" recalls an R&B poet of a previous generation, Percy Mayfield, in its brooding lyrics.
Avant's silky tones are set against typically laid-back instrumentation, and his fragile vibrato lifts his material beyond the run of the mill--he's no mere R. Kelly copyist, though he's phenomenally popular in Kelly's home town of Chicago. His lyrics on this sophomore release are as direct as those on his debut MY THOUGHTS, but there's a new sophistication here both in his delivery and in ECSTASY's production that bodes well for this young star's future.

• Format: CD
• Genre: R&B