JOSH MILAN

Josh Milan’s music career started with a single moment.

Milan was a mere twelve years old when he saw an opportunity to show off his skill on the organ and, without a second’s hesitation, he took it.

The Brooklyn native made a habit of sitting near his cousin, the church organist, each and every Sunday. “Instead of sitting down where normal people sit in the church, I sat next to him and watched his every move,” Milan recalls. One Sunday, his cousin was so moved by the energy in the church that he jumped up from his perch and began dancing, leaving the organ completely unmanned. Like a passenger jumping behind the wheel of a runaway car, Milan took his place at the organ and played like he’d never played before. “I’ll never forget that feeling,” says Milan who today serves as minister of music for his church. “It was spiritual for me because you’re taught to give what you have back unto God. I jumped on that organ and my heart was racing. Not only was I trying to keep the music playing for the moment, but I also knew God was watching. I was trying to give Him my absolute best. That was the beginning for me.”

Milan would go on to team up with deejay Kevin Hedge and singer Chris Herbert to form the group Blaze, a band that became known for its unique brand of house music laced with heavy gospel, soul and afrobeat rhythms. “You couldn’t tell me I wasn’t famous,” Milan gushes. “I’d listen to the radio and hear them play a Michael Jackson record and then they’d play a Blaze record.”

Blaze released three albums on Motown Records and drew the attention of the industry with their remix of Lisa Stansfield’s “People Hold On.” They also worked with such notables as Diana Ross, Babyface, El DeBarge and Jody Watley.

Having long since parted ways with both members, Milan is now making the transition from artist to label executive with the launch of Honey Comb Music, a record label specializing in house music. Milan said his goal with the label is to preserve the genre and heighten its awareness amongst the masses. “House music is looked upon as gay music because the gay community really embraces it. Radio stations don’t really play it. But this music is not just for gay audiences. That’s like saying all black people eat watermelon but it’s not true.”

Milan said his aim through Honey Comb is to restore the integrity and quality of house music. “I remember house before it became so electronic and techy,” he notes. “Now it has evolved into something foreign. It’s so cheap and guys are doing records who don’t even know what a real chord is. All you have to do is press a couple of buttons and write a couple of lines and you’ve got a record.”

Milan said the music released by Honey Comb will hearken to the days of Chaka Khan, Stevie Wonder, and Eddie Kendrick and he stressed that the label will focus less on physical appearances and gimmicks and more on lyrical content, musicianship and banging vocals. “There is such a need for real talent,” he says. “It seems like a requirement is that you have to be under 30, have a knocking body and you have to have some talent – minimal talent. The songs are always so meaningless. Nobody’s life is being changed, nobody’s being inspired. Honey Comb Music is a home for real artists with real talent, people with something special. Moving talent is what I’m after.”

The first release by Honey Comb will be a compilation CD featuring eight artists, all performing songs written and produced by Milan. Featured on the set are ChinahBlac, Sandra St. Victor, Lamone, Honey Sweet, Don Corey Washington, T’zelle, Crystal Johnson and Alexis P. Suter. Milan said he and St. Victor, who lives in Amsterdam, worked on her track, “I Am Better,” completely by e-mail. “I e-mailed her the song and she recorded the vocals herself and e-mailed it back to me in America. We did this whole thing without even touching her.”

But the experience with renowned singer/songwriter/arranger ChinahBlac was different. The highly sought after background vocalist says she enjoyed being in the presence of Milan for the recording of the edgy first single, “Til You Go Home.” Says ChinahBlac, “He gave me the melody and let me arrange it. It’s still written by Josh but he has a way of designing a song so that it feels like yours. The music on this compilation has been nothing less than phenomenal.”

ChinahBlac said she especially appreciated Milan’s history and his vast knowledge of music. “I listened to Blaze when I was growing up so when he told me about the album I definitely wanted to be a part of it. He loves music. He embraces it, lives it, breathes it. He plays every instrument and that’s very important to me because I’m not just a singer; I’m a student of music, I’m classically trained. I don’t just sing by ear; I read, I chart, I orchestrate, I arrange.”

While ChinahBlac is adamant about working with producers who are true musicians, Milan has his own set of criteria. “My criteria is simple: You have to be able to sing and I mean really sing. I didn’t want people that were big and famous. I suppose it would be nice to work with Alicia Keys but this project features artists that we may have heard of but didn’t really hear about for a while. I didn’t want the glamor queen or the really hot looking dude. I just wanted regular people that would appeal to regular people.”

Even though he has now expanded his audience beyond the congregation of his church, Milan knows that God is still watching him and just like that twelve-year-old boy who seized the moment some 30 years ago, Milan is still giving God his absolute best and striving to make music that is true to his upbringing and consistent with his own creative and moral standards. “When I write, not only do I have God in mind but I have children in my life that I have a responsibility to. If I’m not going to write a song that has everything to do with spirituality, I try to at least make it inspiring or positive so that everyone can listen to it. Even if it’s about an affair it has to be moral and true because it relates to an experience that someone can benefit from.”

Milan, who is also working on a new CD of his own, says making the transition from artist to executive is a bit “frightening” but he’s looking forward to it, nonetheless. “As an artist I’ve achieved some major success. People have been inspired. Now I want to do that on a larger level and touch people’s lives and inspire them to change the world themselves.”