Contact: Judy McDonough

Compendia Music Group                                                                                        

615-277-1824

jmcdonough@compendiamusic.com

PETE BELASCO SIGNS WITH COMPENDIA RECORDS

Jazz-soul cult fave to release first U.S. album in six years; contains top UK single “Deeper”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (December 10, 2003) – Performer Pete Belasco, whose creative blend of jazz and soul has won a devoted following in the U.S. and abroad, has signed with Compendia Records. Michael Olsen, president of Compendia Music Group, made the announcement today.

Compendia will release Belasco’s new album, DEEPER, on April 27^th  in the United States and Canada; the first single from the album, “Deeper,” will be serviced to U.S. radio beginning in January. 

“Pete Belasco is going to surprise people,” said Walt Wilson, general manager and vice-president of Compendia Records. “Since the first day we heard Pete, everyone in the office has been anxious to begin working with this artist. DEEPER has great songs, in addition to incredible vocals and musicianship. This is a hit artist with a hit CD.”

“I’m really excited about this record,” said Belasco. “DEEPER is coming from the feel and flow of ‘Love Train’ and ‘All In My Mind’ from my first record, but focused into a more lush, seductive ‘classic’-feeling album.”

Fans of Belasco are slavishly devoted to Get It Together, his 1997 debut album. Released on Verve Forecast, Get It Together was described by Jazziz as “brilliant R&B, blues and jazz fusion” and by Hits as containing “slow R&B grooves (that) promise to seduce you into a bed not made since Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’.” Additionally, the New York Times Magazine has counted Belasco as “among the handful of sharper artists who have broken the middle-brow hegemony on Adult-Contemporary.”

DEEPER, Belasco’s new project, has already sparked interest in the UK, where the album  reached the #1 position on Steve Quirk’s influential “Fusion Flavours” chart on Jazz FM. This success on the British charts caught the attention of hipper club and radio djs in the U.S., who have already incorporated advance copies of DEEPER into their programs and club mixes.

Compendia Music Group is an independent record company whose labels include Compendia Records, Light Records, Life² and Intersound Music. These labels, each with a separate staff and musical focus, produce and distribute a wide variety of music, including rock, R&B, soul, pop, gospel, lifestyle/inspirational, country, Christian and classical. For more information, please visit www.compendiamusic.com.

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