I’ll admit I have slacked off in the posts department, but I’m back and hopefully this new found zeal has some staying power. The WTH (Where The Hell) posts are in response to the increased amount of disappearing artists.
I had planned on focusing on Male Singing Groups for the next few weeks, but a friend mentioned Donnie on Twitter, and since I had been thinking about him too, I figured he would be a good place to start. I mean he was at least affiliated with a Male Singing Group.
Donnie Klang first came to our attention via Diddy’s Making The Band 4 Reality Show that birthed Day 26. Coming in First Place in terms of votes, Donnie was awarded a solo-contract with Bad Boy Records as opposed to becoming a part of the group.
Unfortunately there is a lot of information about Donnie’s past and nearly nothing about his present (curse of the nobodies?). He tried his hand at modeling and acting as an adolescent. Attended Hofstra University periodically, taking breaks to go touring with his band, and before making it onto the set of Diddy’s Making The Band 4 would also add American Idol reject to his resume.
Only 1 single, “Take You There” was released from the unimpressive (sales wise, and Im being polite) debut album, Like A Rolling Stone. The single peaked at 83 on the Billboard Charts and then quickly fizzed away. “Dr. Love” was supposed to be the 2nd single, but after the performance of the first, Bad Boy Records realized that the pulbic had already made its diagnosis. As a result the plans for “Dr. Love”‘s release were cancelled, and seemingly so was Donnie’s career.
Now in the present, Donnie is touring and visiting several (small-time) venues mainly in the Northeast. He ventures out every now and then to other parts of the US, just don’t look for him. He has an album set to be released around March 2010, with a smaller budget and probably half the man-power, production-wise. Some have done better with less, so I wont declare his career officially “dead in the water” ( he is swimming in the Dead Sea, just not drowning), but promotion-wise it is doubtful he will get the backing he needs to make the album a success (even if the critics love it).
He has been collaborating with Frankie B (remember him?) and recently released a few of the tracks from his upcoming album, check those out below. If you want to keep up with him “in real-time”, follow him on twitter, @donnieklang.
Donnie Klang/Frankie B \”Stay Together Forever\”
Donnie Klang \”Prisioner of Love\”
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