I am a big fan of the artists they feature on VH1 that they call “You Outta Know.” I have found some really great downloads that way. Well, I have a hot new artist to tell you about the you really should know about. Corneille may not be a household name around here, but in other parts of the world he is well know and selling tons of records. And now he is making his US debut with “The Birth of Cornelius.”

The sound reminds me a lot of John Legend. Just easy to listen to, soulful R & B. It makes perfect mellow background music to cook dinner to or maybe even romantic mood music for some time with that special someone. He has also been compared to Marvin Gaye and Tracy Chapman, but I really think he has a sound that is pretty unique to today’s music scene. Especially with everything so over-produced, he just seems to strip things down to the basics.

Corneille’s back story made me love his music even more. Although he was born in Germany, he moved back to his parent’s homeland in Rwanda when he was six. It was there he fell in love with music and the Motown sounds of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke. At 16, he made his first album and even became a finalist in a local music contest. Then came the Rwandan genocide and tragically both of Corneille’s parents were killed. He somehow escaped and fled to Germany.

In his own words:
“Music has been the place where I could go to hide and forget about the world. I couldn’t make sense of a majority of the things that happened to me, so I used music as a shield. But over time, music has become a vehicle to channel out everything that I’ve been keeping from myself for all these years. And the new album is definitely the most honest, real assessment of everything that’s happened in my life, because I’m not trying to hide as much.”—Corneille

I encourage you to check out “The Birth of Cornelius”. Draw a bath, throw in some bubbles, maybe a glass of red and take a little time for you. He has the perfect soundtrack for that.