ABOUT THE MAN Born in Harlem, USA, now hailing from the Bronx, New York, Maurice or just simply "The Voice" has been on the airwaves for the last twenty-two years. Having a devout Christian mother, Myrtle Fuller and a number one New York gospel promoter, Deacon Watts, for a father, it is not hard to see where Maurice "The Voice" Watts inherits his love of music. Hailing from a family that is enriched with musical talent, mostly gospel, Maurice began his journey along this road as a youngster who would tag along with his dad, at that time the manager of the gospel quartet, "The Mellowtones", to their singing engagements. He picked up on everything and learned the "ins and outs" of the music and entertainment business. In 1980, Deacon Watts became a radio personality at WHBI (known today as WNWK 105.9), and Maurice joined him in 1982. Maurice assisted his dad on the "Road To Glory" gospel show and filled in for him when needed. Through a fortunate twist of fate in April of 1992, Maurice and his father and their Road To Glory gospel show were summoned to WHCR 90.3 FM. As a result of this union, Maurice's talents were greatly highlighted as would soon become a very demanded Master of Ceremony for various events in New York. He spent more time displaying his vocals behind the microphone just as he did during his years as bass singer for the popular Bronx, New York Gospel quartet balladeers, "The Ecstatistics". Although Maurice loved being in the studio and on the air with his father and The Road To Glory program, there was a void that he hoped against hope to fill. It was his deep desire to host his own radio show where he could mesmerize a receptive listening audience with the best in love songs, slow jams and ballads old and new. Never considering himself a dancer although always priding himself in his ability to slow grind and the sensual way he felt when doing so with that special someone, he wanted to give this feeling over and over to others. On July 1, 1988, Maurice married his partner for life Tammy "Sweet-T" Watts. This union brought Maurice's first son into his life. His name is Eugene a/k/a "Voice Jr". Eugene has grown up to be a very fine and respectable man. He's made both Maurice and Tammy very proud of him. He's currently a member of our United States Air Force. Please keep him in your prayers. In 1990, Maurice suffered one of the worse tragedies in his life. His best friend in the world his mother passed away. She had been sick for most of his life and he was the only child living with her. Her death was something that Maurice learned to deal with by keeping his head up and continuing to thrive for his goals in life. On one September afternoon in 1992, with nothing but a dream and a quarter, Maurice made a call to Frank Allen, then program director at WHCR, to explain his ideas and the format for the kind of radio show he would like to bring to WHCR. After doing so, he asked Mr. Allen to give it some thought and maybe let him cover for an absentee host one night for an hour. Surprisingly, Frank replied "how about 4 hours, two nights per week beginning two weeks from now." To say that Maurice was overwhelmed is obviously an understatement! However, due to his job he had to decline one night and selected Friday night the night for lovers to air his show. Frank then inquired, "What would you call the show?", to which Maurice replied, "The Love Zone". Maurice has acquired a vast listening audience and has been rendering them hopelessly in love, musically, since October 2, 1992. "THE LOVE ZONE" soon zoomed to the #1 spot on WHCR'S programming schedule! Every Friday night at 8pm lovers and would be lovers found themselves tuning in to "THE LOVE ZONE" to hear the smooth deep voice of the man himself. As one listener put it, "It's Friday evening, the end of a seemingly never ending week, the job, the school, buses, trains, deadlines and bedtimes. The tension is built up. You can feel the nerve endings tingle. You've got to relax, you've got to come down. You saunter over to the stereo, turn on the tuner and what comes out is hard- hard rap, hard core, hard reggae, hard, hard, hard - as you go up and down the dial until the tuner locks in on 90.3 FM. The voice coming from the speakers is as smooth and sexy as the music behind it, and the brother is saying to you he has the antidote for exactly what ails you, promising to relax your mind, your body and your soul. So there you are and there you stay … engulfing everything that this man with this very sensual sexy voice has to offer you. And it's good. Maurice "The Voice" Watts takes you on a 4-hour journey through "The Love Zone" each Friday evening. He takes you down memory lane with some of the sweetest sounds to ever hit the airwaves from the past, and then he lets you cruise to a slow wind to some of the sexy ballads and slow jams of today. As the weeks and months of Friday's go by, you discover something quite wonderful and unexpected about "The Love Zone" and it's host; he is very, very personable. Unlike no other deejay you've ever experienced, Maurice has a fantastic one-on-one relationship with his entire listening audience. He touches each and every one of them individually, and it's a real family affair with him - No Nonsense. It seems that anyone connected with "The Love Zone" and Maurice "The Voice" Watts is simply put a "family member". Through music, he gives of himself to the listeners and feels what they feel when they're feeling it. When they're up, he's up and when they're down, he takes it to heart and goes through whatever it is with them in an attempt to bring them out of it. "The Voice" invites every one of his official Love Zone listeners to the studio to celebrate their birthday live and on the air with the Love Zone staff, family and the listening audience. Maurice did not stop there. Due to his popularity and a growing listening audience, he initiated, "THE LOVE ZONE ANNIVERSARY PARTY"! This annual affair has been taking place every October for the past ten years! There is more! Let's not forget the annual "LOVE ZONE PICNIC"! This summer jam happens every August, which features lots of fun and plenty of celebrities! Things would not be complete without a special celebration for the ladies that is why you will find him honoring the ladies at his annual, "THE LOVE ZONE MOTHER'S DAY DINNER"! Maurice never forgets his loyal fans, being a humanitarian; he has made visits to local hospitals, nursing homes and convalescent centers, showing his concern and to cheer up his listeners! Working towards the betterment of the community, he volunteered his time to help the campaign of Manhattan Borough President, Ms. C. Virginia Fields. In 1997, the community of Harlem honored him. He was presented with the award: "Radio Personality of the Year!" He has hosted affairs all over the country including events for The United Negro College Fund, The National Black Miss Harlem Fashion Show, and vintage R&B performers such as "Major Harris & The Delfonics" and the forty - fifth anniversary of the classic R&B group "The Dells." Maurice has made the News media many times, appearing in both, "Starlight Magazine", and "The New York Daily News." In January of 2002, Maurice formed his own distribution company, Voice Distributions. His goal was to provide an online outlet for artists of today but mainly of the past to get their products heard on the air and purchased by their fans. On February 4, 2002 Maurice distribution company VOICE DISTRIBUTIONS landed their first major recording artist, Mr. Ali Woodson (former lead singer of The Temptations 1983-1996). Mr Woodson entrusted Maurice with distributing his new CD "Right Here Along" and Maurice didn't let him down. New York was sent into Ali Woodson heaven every Friday night on WHCR 90.3FM. On February 8, 2002, God blessed Maurice and Tammy with their second son, Maurice Watts Jr,. He's become just as famous as his dad. You can often hear him on the air at his dad's radio station. If you get the chance to meet him, you'll get a kick out of seeing him do the Temptations entire dance routine. On April 26, 2002, Maurice received a phone call at the station while on the air from Ali Woodson. Extending an invitation to Maurice to become the Bass singer for his group "The Emperors Of Soul". This helped put a seal on Maurice's life-long dream of performing the hits of his all time favorite group The Temptations. Yes, dreams do come true. Maybe you've seen them when they were in your city. Since then Maurice has been busy acquiring various well known major artists. The Temptation, The Manhattans, Ray, Goodman & Brown, Ali Woodson, Barrington Henderson, The Temptations current lead singer G.C. Cameron, Bunny Sigler, Al Mckenzie, Michael Brandeburg have all joined the Voice Distributions family. So make sure you stop by his Online Store. In January, 2004, with the success of Voice Distributions, Maurice became the central contact for a lot of his artists fans and promoters to reach them. This lead to Maurice starting another company, Voice Booking Agency. He focuses on booking entertainment for large and small corporate and convention clients, concert series, festivals, resorts and private functions. The Tempations, The Dells, Dennis Edwards, The Chi-lites, The Persuaders, Soul Generation, The Escorts, Barbara Mason and others have become members of VBA. So make sure you stop by Voice Booking Agency. On October 1, 2004, during his 22nd. Radio Anniversary, Maurice was serenaded by his all time favorite female vocalist, Ms. Patti LaBelle. This was a night he'll never forget as Mary Wilson, Gerald Alston, Martha Reeves, Kurtis Blow, Force MD's, Russell Thompkins Jr, The Chi-lites and so many of his friends in the industry celebrated this event with him. On February 2, 2005, Maurice's year started off with the birth of his first grandchild, "Elisha-Maurice". His oldest son Eugene named him after Maurice for being one of the most powerful men in his life. The other person was his grandfather Elisha Boyd. On March 10, 2005, Maurice was presented an "Award Of Appreciation" from legendary rapper Kurtis Blow & The Hip Hop Church for his participation in helping to start their church project for the youth. On August 6, 2005 Judy Cook started a fan club in honor of Maurice. After 23 years in the industry she felt he really did deserve to have one. Now his fans from all over the world now have a place to come together and express their love and appriciation for him. Please join at MauriceWattsFanClub.com. On February 6, 2006 R&B vocal group "The Whispers" whom over the past few years have become good friends with Maurice, decided it was time to became a member of Maurice's distribution company. With all the buzz about his success with other artists The Whispers joined forces with Maurice and allowed him to be the first online distributer to handle their new and first cd in nine years "For Your Ears Only". Maurice went straight to work on it the same day, and now so many of their fans have Voice Distributions to thank for putting an end their nine years of anticipation for a new cd. Order yours in his online store at Voice Distributions.com.com. We can not imagine Maurice just sitting in the studio and playing music as some well paid deejays do. Oh no!! Maurice lives for and loves what he does for his listeners through his music and in the Love Zone. Recently he created a Love Zone chatroom and A 24 hour internet radio station at www.LoveZone247.com so that his listeners can never be without their music. Hey! It's a family thing - it's very personal and he's been doing it for FREE for over 22 years! What else can be said..... Written by Friends and Family of "The Voice".......updated: February 8, 2006