R&B acts as well as contemporary jazz acts will take the stages at the 2003 edition of the St Lucia Jazz Festival, set for the 2nd of May, lasting all the way till the 11th of May on the British West Indies island.

Slated to perform are R&B acts Boyz II Men, Earth Wind & Fire, Ashford & Simpson, up-and-coming Philadelphia duo, Kindred, and Hootie & The Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker.

Among the jazz acts confirmed to perform are Fourplay, Grammy nominee Michael Brecker and his quartet, the Herbie Mann quartet and many more.

Details of the festival and a complete artist lineup are available at the festival’s website, http://www.stluciajazz.com

Boyz II Men kicked off an eight-date tour of Japan and the Philippines on the 31st of January. The R&B vocal group begins its trek with a gig at Marine Messe in Fukuoka, Japan. The outing will also include a three-night stand in Tokyo.

Boyz II Men is perhaps best known for its hits ‘End Of The Road’ and ‘One Sweet Day’ both of which peaked at number 1 on the pop charts.

The four singers from Philadelphia have garnered four Grammy Awards during their 12-year career.

R&B band, Boyz II Men, are the latest artists to claim that the music industry is racist.

Speaking to The New York Post, singer Shawn Stockman said that, when their ‘End Of The Road’ single beat Elvis Presley’s record for the most weeks at No. 1 in the US, they received very little press coverage.

Shawn even went as far as to say that, if they if were a white group, Boyz II Men’s 11 consecutive weeks atop the Billboard chart would’ve seen them on the cover of Time magazine.

“It was like a full paragraph in Billboard and then nothing” he reasoned.

Bandmate Nathan Morris added “When we had found out that we had broken Elvis’ record we were in London. We came back to the States and it just seemed that everyone was so loyal to Elvis there was a complete media blackout. I mean, can you imagine the publicity that would have occurred if Celine Dion or Madonna had broken that record.”

Boyz II Men’s fantastic new single, entitled ‘Colour Of Love’, lifted from their LP, ‘Full Circle’ is out in shops in America right this instant.