Male neosoul singers struggling

NEW YORK -- This year's Grammy Awards celebrated a new generation of women singing sweet soul music that hearkens back to the heydey of the '60s and '70s. Alicia Keys and India.Arie snagged 13 nominations between them, and Keys walked away with five trophies. \nTheir male counterparts in neosoul, however, have not gotten much attention. In an urban music world dominated by sneering rappers or sexy pop-driven acts, men who sing artful songs about the complexities of love and life have struggled to find breakout success. \n"Somewhere along the way it became almost standard for brothers to come out and either be a thug or not really express their emotions,'' said newcomer Glenn Lewis. "I think now that's starting to change." \nLewis had an encouraging first week when his debut record, "World Outside My Window," was released in March; it sold about 85,000 copies and came in at No. 4. Since then, however, it has yielded only one hit single and sold a total of just 316,000 copies, according to Nielsen Soundscan. \nThe best-selling male neosoul singers include Maxwell, Musiq and D'Angelo, who in many ways started the whole retro-soul sound when he debuted in 1995. Still, their discs sell about 1 million -- many fewer than multi-platinum rappers such as Ludacris and Ja Rule, or flashier R&B stars like Usher, who flaunts sex appeal and dance moves. \n"Male neosoul singers are so kind of sensitive and caring, and kind of not edgy, that people don't pay enough attention to them," said Emil Wilbekin, editor-in-chief of Vibe magazine. \nMusiq's debut album, "Aijuswanaseing" (pronounced "I just wanna sing"), sold more than 1 million copies; his second, "Juslisen" ("just listen''), has sold more than 500,000 copies since its release in May. The songs reflect many influences, from Prince to Stevie Wonder to the Beatles. \nMost R&B artists, says Musiq, "tend to be crooners and balladeers. I mean, I croon, I balladeer also, but I do more than that." \nLike singers Bilal and D'Angelo, his songs tend to be grittier, with broader emotional and musical range, than the slickly produced tunes sung by many other R&B artists. \nSinger-producer Raphael Saadiq, perhaps best known as the lead singer of the early '90s trio Tony! Toni! Tone!, says that's a tough sell in today's youth-oriented market. \n"Sometimes when you've got Ja Rules, you've got Ashantis, you've got a lot of different things that already consume radio -- they (programmers) don't see a spot or a vision for that,'' says Saadiq, who recently released his first solo album, "Instant Vintage"