BRYAN-MICHAEL COX He can make a hit record for you—but he’d like a conversation first By Dan Daley For Bryan-Michael Cox, it’s all about the conversation. That’s the first point of contact between the 32-year-old producer and the artists with whom he works. The conversation builds a groundwork of trust and mutual understanding. Then he’ll write a song about something meaningful that comes out of that conversation—like Usher’s 2004... 

WHO’S NEXT: BERTELL HOMETOWN: Houston, Texas INFLUENCES: Marvin Gaye, Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder ALBUM: Goin’ Hard, out June 22 WEBSITE: bertellonline.com R&B NEWCOMER BERTELL (BORN BERTELL YOUNG) got his start in his grade-school cafeteria, where he regularly took over the piano and sang to entertain his classmates. He attended college in new Jersey on a basketball scholarship, and through his team’s coach got to know music...