“I am a new artist,” says 65-year-old soul/R&B/gospel singer LEE GENESIS. In a way, he is. He’s started singing professionally at 32 — already too old for music-business execs to want to sign him, he says — and he’s sung on many stages and albums. But he hasn’t played Boston in 17 years, and his new disc, The Soul of Lee Genesis, is his first solo CD. Genesis and his septet celebrate with two free sets at Johnny D’s on January 9. It’s a return to his old stomping grounds.
Genesis first came to Boston in 1972, singing in the road version of Godspell. He settled here and fronted the soul/R&B band Heat, but after the Blizzard of ’78, he left for New York — “When I thawed out, I got out.” There he worked as an accountant, sang, and became music director for evangelist Reverend Ike’s Science of Living Institute, for which he still volunteers. “But I never went at my music career full-time, and I am now.” The sound on The Soul of Lee Genesis is a time tunnel back to the soulful, uplifting R&B of the ’60s. “It’s about overcoming the negative with the positive.”
Just before Christmas, Bank of America started airing a national TV ad — a feel-good spot about how charitable and community-minded it is — with the music of Boston folkie ANTJE DUVEKOT, who re-recorded the featured song, “Merry Go Round,” at Flynn’s Dooneen Studios in Brighton. . . . OPERA BOSTON UNDERGROUND starts its 2008 series at the Lizard Lounge with “Quickies” on February 13, a set of several short operas celebrating Valentine’s Day. Tickets are available day-of only, and every show OBU has done at the Lizard has been a sellout.