Grammy-nominated mega producer Rodney Jerkins is currently in the studio completing final mixes on his All-Star Katrina benefit project, featuring a stylish remake of the classic Sister Sledge hit We Are Family, with the original reunited members of Sister Sledge performing together for the first time in 20 years, alongside such star power as  Patti LaBelle, Ciara, Chris Brown, Ray J, George Clinton, Christina Milian, Joy Enriquez, Brian McKnight, Lyfe Jennings, BeBe Winans, Mary, Mary and Atiba among others.

The We Are Family single, which will be released to radio next week and will be included in a full-length CD (title TBA), released on August 29, to coincide with the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.  The CD, which will include music recorded by various artists (to be announced), will be distributed by Universal Music Group worldwide this fall.

 

Proceeds from the single and full-length CD, which will be released to radio and retail, will benefit victims of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, through project partners including Points Of Light Foundation, Communities In Schoolsand the U.S. Dream Academy.


My 'family' in the music business -- my friends -- are excited to be a part of the 'We Are Family' CD and DVD to raise funds and awareness for the displaced families still affected by Hurricane Katrina, says Jerkins.  I am honored to lend my creative talents to help the volunteers who provide the social and human services needed on a daily basis to help these families make it day-to-day.  They are heroes in action."

Points Of Light, the nations foremost advocate and bi-partisan voice on volunteerism and community service, and its affiliates, represent more than 150,000 permanent volunteers in the region working directly with the displaced families of Hurricane Katrina.  Funds from the proceeds of the sale of the We Are Family project will go to the assistance of volunteer agencies focusing on human and social services.  This is the only relief project with a focus on volunteerism.


Says Executive Producer of the project, Sherman Brown:  "There is no other Hurricane Katrina relief recording with the public-private partnership reflected by this effort.  It is our hope to create the model that will deliver the media, funding, partnership and innovation needed to aid the vulnerable, disenfranchised and displaced.  We cannot 'parachute' aid into these communities and expect life to return to normalcy.  Rather, we must empower those who are permanently 'on the ground' and on the front lines with the resources needed to complete the task at hand.  With this CD and DVD, we hope to be a major catalyst in making this happen."

Corporate partners of the We Are Family project include Clear Channel, Wal-Mart and UPS Foundation.

  

Rodney Jerkins is widely renowned as one of the greatest music producers of the last two decades at the mere age of 28.  He is on an exclusive go to list of producers that platinum-selling artists such as Beyonce, Shakira, Madonna, Mary J. Blige, Jennifer Lopez, Alicia Keys and Patti LaBelle seek out when they want a major hit.  His work has generated in excess of 160 million in sales to date.  

When it came time to begin work on her second solo album, Beyoncé didn't even tell her manager, who also happens to be her father, that she'd booked studio time. As previously reported, the album, dubbed "B-Day," is due Sept. 5 via Sony Urban/Columbia. First single "Deja Vu" features Jay-Z and was produced by Rodney Jerkins.

Beyoncé arranged, wrote and produced all the songs with her dream team of Sean Garrett, Rich Harrison, Rodney Jerkins, the Neptunes and Swizz Beatz. She may have chosen the five hottest producers in the business, each with a discography of hits that reads like the track listing to a "NOW" compilation. But it did not stop her from shrewdly playing each producer off the other.

"I called up Sean, Rich and Rodney. I got them each a room at Sony Studios, and we went to work." Beyoncé laughs at the memory. She says she would leave Harrison's room and go check on Garrett and say, "Wow, Rich has some great beats. It was healthy competition," she tells Billboard.

Her last solo album, 2003's "Dangerously in Love," was about the joys of love, but with "B'Day," Beyoncé wanted to focus on a different side of the emotion. The artist, who is in a long-term relationship with Jay-Z, says her love life is rather "boring," but she likes it that way -- "I'm happy in my life." So for this album, she channeled her acting chops and the feeling of being jilted by a lover to write an album that "speaks for every woman."

"This is about female empowerment," she says. "This album is different, it's conceptual, and I do things with my voice that I haven't done before."