CherryBlackStone
Origin	London, England
Years active	2002–present
Genres	Funk Rock
Labels	J.A.R Records
Members	Jade Jones ReDD Andrez Harriott Ashton Miranda Rupert Caney website = www.cherryblackstone.co.uk

CherryBlackStone are a six piece British music group, formed in London in 2002. The group was founded by former Damage vocalists Jade Jones and Andrez Herriott together with long-time friend and singer ReDD. Their aim was to create a new sound and to "make an album that lived up to its title: Forget the Formula. If we wrote something and it sounded good, we kept it. It has been very liberating just allowing ourselves to be artists and not over analysing the creative process". The group describe their sound as "Phunk Rock" and according to Victoria Newton, entertainment editor of The Sun, the group resemble a "mix of Black Eyed Peas, Prince and Coldplay". They are not to be confused with the Kentucky band, Black Stone Cherry.

The focus of the group is primarily live performances, so through-out 2002 and 2003 they set about creating a live band that could "translate the emotion of the music to the audience". ReDD and Andrez decided to go back to the college that played such an important role in their musical education, the The Brits Performing Arts College, and held open auditions. They recruited Ashton Miranda (keyboards), Rupert Caney (lead guitarist) to complete the line-up of the group.

After a long period of writing, the group began the next stage of its evolution and began show casing its new material. The groups first gig was at the OTR Studio's in Hackney, London on May 18th 2005. From then they performed at several venues included The Cobden Club and The Metro Club. The group have also performed numerous gigs at the iconic Half Moon Pub in Putney, London - a venue which has seen performances from the likes of the Rolling Stones, Kate Bush and Elvis Costello in its 40 year history. CherryBlackStone also supported musician Jamie Cullum on his UK tour in July 2006.

The group will release their debut single, "Kushti", via a download only format in November. The song, which will be made available by leading download sites such as iTunes, will be the first release from the groups debut album, Forget the Formula. The video for the single was shot in May 2006 in London and is styled upon the movie Eyes Wide Shut, where a crowd are wearing masks to hide their identity but while the band play the energy slowly overcomes them and they throw down their masks and party. The group will also appear in 5 episodes of the forthcoming Channel 4 series Bo Selecta along with former Spice Girl, Emma Bunton (who is also Jade Jones' long time partner).

Discography

Singles

• "Kushti" - digital release scheduled for November 2006.

Albums

• Forget the Formula - release date to be confirmed.

Notes and references

External links

• CherryBlackStone.co.uk - Official website
• MySpace profile