Kuba – May/June 2005
Who: Kuba
What: soul man
Where: Vancouver, BC
To Contact: Digniti Recordings Ltd., 1128 Leonard St., Victoria, BC V8V 2S4 or , www.kuba.ca or www.digniti.com.
Winner of this year’s National Songwriting Competition for the song “Never Meant To Hurt U”" co-written with Darren Glover, Kuba is once again getting label attention. Six years ago, after building a buzz with his unique groove collective, Velvet, the man born Ohani Kuba just bowed out of the industry, leaving a trail of “what the hell happened to him” behind. While Velvet has been resurrected in Victoria, BC, Kuba is back in a big way as a solo artist. His album, Ride On, is full of soulful rockers (“Wonderful”) and emotive ballads (“Wherever U R”), much in the way that Lenny Kravitz stacks his recordings. “My goal was not to have one fast-forward song on the album,” says Kuba, who wrote or co-wrote everything. Co-producing the material over the last year at various studios (Baker; Mushroom, Profile, and Jeff Dawson’s home studio) with Joby Baker, Chin Injeti, and Dawson, Kuba has made a stellar recording full of potential hits, unlike anything Canadian labels have in their stable.