Adult contemporary R&B singer/songwriter/producer Dwele grew up on Detroit's west side, listening to soul music from Motown visionaries Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye as well as jazz on the radio. Born Andwele Gardner, he began writing songs at the age of ten, after his father was murdered outside his home, and attended Cody High in Detroit. Dwele spent a year studying music at Wayne State but then opted for an informal education, making music at his home while living in Dearborn and working for AAA. His demo tape, 1998's The Rize, made waves around the Motor City, and he spent time collaborating with Detroit hip-hop group Slum Village and Philadelphia rapper Bahamadia. Signed to Virgin on the strength of his songwriting and performance skills, Dwele released Subject in mid-2003 and cemented his appeal with European audiences (he was a favorite on Gilles Peterson's influential Radio 1 program) with a tour that summer. His second album, Some Kinda..., followed in 2005 and reached the Top 10 of the R&B chart. A couple years later, he provided the hook on Kanye West's hit single "Flashing Lights" and signed to Koch/eOne to release Sketches of a Man (2008) and W.ants W.orld W.omen (2010). Both albums maintained the singer's streak of Top Ten R&B albums. Greater Than One (2012), also released on eOne, featured some of his breeziest, most pleasing grooves.  

The award-winning documentary film, “FunkJazz Kafé: Diary Of A Decade (The Story Of A Movement)”, has received high acclaim and has educated, inspired, reinvigorated and broadened our audience in unimaginable ways. The FunkJazz Kafé is a multi-faceted arts and music festival. A “special interest” mixture of style and substance linking fashion, virtual and visual arts, food, wellness, dance, spoken word, new media, bazaar vending and interactive suites with our favorite main ingredient: Music. This one of a kind experience event is known for its authenticity, global appeal and vibrant originality. The group have an internationally recognized music policy that spans the spectrum of the best in soul-based music. Unlike any other festival of its time, the FunkJazz Kafé uniquely offers an unscripted environment of mixed-media installations, live video mixing, turntable DJs, live percussion interaction and live painting with a backdrop of innovative music. Creatively speaking, anything goes!!! At FunkJazz Kafé, you’ll see a variety of people/ “tribes”. We create an experience that our audience of influencers appreciate and somehow correspond to our psychic and spiritual tendencies of self-mastery and expressionistic ingenuity.