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R.KELLY

BLACKSTREET

BOY II MEN

BRANDY

MARIAH CAREY

TLC

R.Kelly
REAL NAME: Robert S. Kelly

  R. Kelly was born on January   8, 1969 and grew up in Chicago.

Kelly began his musical career on the streets: "Well, it started as a joke--me and my boys just messing around, performing on the streets," Kelly confides. "Then one of the fell as dropped a hat while I was playing, and people started putting money in it. That became our thing. I simply made a regular job out of it. There were days when I could sing on the streets so I could make enough to buy clothes." Kelly drew such large crowds on the street corners in Chicago, that he also established a regular group of cops who used to come and harass Kelly. Eventually, Kelly formed the locally popular R&B group, MGM, a
polished ensemble that demonstrated considerable promise by emerging as the national winners of the
contest Big Break, hosted by songstress Natalie Cole and televised across the country.
 

 BLACKSTREET
         Teddy "Street" Riley, heralded composer/producer/singer and leader of platinum soul supergroup
BLACKstreet, power-crooner and group co-founder Chauncey "Black" Hannibal, and talented new
members Eric Williams and Mark Middleton, take R&B to ANOTHER LEVEL for '96 - and far beyond.

Like it's title suggests, and introduced by the funkdafied, feel-good lead single No Diggity (produced by Riley and William Stewart, and featuring a phat rap intro by Dr. Dre), the impressive  new interscope album elevates contemporary urban music, expanding its soulful parameters in the process. "ANOTHER LEVEL" is a reflection of where BLACKstreet has been, where we're at, and where we're going,"  explains Teddy, acclaimed architect of the historic '80s R&B/hip-hop revolution still globally revered as "New Jack Swing."

Still residing on BLACKstreet, where the extremely gifted new "residents," Eric and Mark, have comfortably  settled in, Teddy and Chauncey report the group's future has never looked brighter. However, setting the record straight, Teddy says about BLACKstreet's personnel changes: "The departure of Levi [Little] and David [Holister]  was unexpected and a little unsettling at first, but we wish them well. You see, Chauncey and I have always  made BLACKstreet's long-term vision a priority. So when Mark and Eric stepped in we immediately realized the  change was a blessing in disguise." "Our sound is stronger, tighter and more diverse now," Chauncey chimes in.  "And since Eric and Mark both sing incredible leads and harmony, me and Teddy have more vocal support than  ever. It's a win-win situation any way you slice it."

Winning has been his forte before and after Teddy Riley burst onto the performing scene in 1988,  singing with and producing platinum hits for GUY, the soul/R&B trio who changed the sound, style and direction  of male R&B groups forever. With more than 32 platinum records to his credit - working with Michael Jackson,  Keith Sweat, Bobby Brown, SWV, Heavy D, Wreckz 'n' Effect, and many other top artsits - Teddy's musical  influence is eternally woven into R&B's rich, ever-evolving tapestry.
 
 

 

A respected writer/producer in his own right, when New Jersey-born Chauncey Hannibal (whose R&B  credentials also include singing backup for Bobby Brown and GUY) teamed up with Teddy in 1993 to make  BLACKstreet a reality, ironically, the lineup cold hav eincluded New Jersey-reared Eric Williams. A  close friend and pre-BLACKstreet singing partner of Chauncey's, the gospel-honed Williams recalls,  "We both wanted to be down with Teddy, and when Chauncey did it, I was really happy for him. But I admit,  now that I'm down with him too, I'm much happier."

The melodic passion ingrained in Mark Middleton's timeless tenor and fearless falsetto clearly adds to  the emotional sonic wealth of ANOTHER LEVEL. Brooklyn born, South Carolina raised, and now based in  Virginia, the college-educated Middleton says he's also realizing a dream come true. "I've waited a long  time for this opportunity, and God knows I couldn't be working with more talented down-to-earth brothers  than Teddy, Chauncey and Eric. For us, it's one for all and all for BLACKstreet."

It's no accident that BLACKstreet's second CD was titled ANOTHER LEVEL.  Teddy illuminates: "From stronger leads, to hyper harmony, to more live instruments, to ending the album  on a spiritual high note. The Lord Is Real (Time Will Reveal), this is the off-the-hook album we wanted  the first one to be."
 
 

BACK TO THE TOP         Boy II Men
 
        In 1985, Nate and a friend started a group. "The group originally had actually five members. I formed the group along with a gentlemen by the name of Marc Nelson, who was the fifth vocalist." He continued on by telling how the groups members where chosen. "I first asked Wanya to join the group, and then he and I became much closer. At first, Wan like he was really quiet, but once he was placed in the right spot, he became more talkative. Next, I picked up Shawn. Up until Shawn got the solo in the choir, he was always quiet. After that, he opened up and people started talking about him and to him much more than ever before." Nate didn’t bring Michael into the group until two weeks later. "I really hadn't hand placed Mike into the group, like I had done with Wan and Shawn. Mike was in the bathroom one day, and Shawn, Wan and myself were all singing a song called 'Can You Stand The Rain', by "New Edition." We liked singing there because the acoustics were great. Mike happened to add a bass part to the song that sounded good to us. When he asked to join the group, we made him follow us around and keep singing that note, until he grew on us. That's why here's here."
 
The members of the group would change constantly Nate recalls. "We  had a lot of different people in the group. At that time, there was about five people in the group, and then as the years went on and things, changed, every year someone would like, either leave the group for their  own reason or sometimes we would put people in the group that were seniors and they would graduate and go to college and so and so and so and so, and then every year we would put new people in the group. Some years there would be four members, three members, six  members, two members. Whatever. At first it was me and a guy named   Mark, and then we had three other people we put in the group, and   those three graduated and went to college. Then we put Wanya in, and  then we picked up Shawn and then Mike, and then the other guy that  was in the group decided he wanted to be a solo artist, so, these are the four that stayed together."
   

Every year a local radio station in Philadelphia holds a concert. "In March of '89, we attended a concert thrown by a Philly radio station called Power 99FM, it was hosted by Bell Biv DeVoe" Mike said. The group wanted to sneak backstage in hopes of finding Michael Bivins the leader of Bell Biv DeVoe, "We wanted the groups leader Michael Bivins to hear us sing, and maybe help us get a record deal." Mike said. So determined to get backstage the group some how used only one backstage pass to sneek all four of them inside."We went to the concert and hung around the backstage door. This lady we saw had a lot of backstage passes around her neck, but could only give us one. We passed it back and forth until everyone got backstage" he confessed. "As soon as we got back there, Michael Bivins was just coming off the stage, and we asked him if we could sing for him. After hearing us sing one of our favorite songs, 'Can You Stand The Rain' a cappella, he was so impressed that he gave me his business card and told Nate to call him." "We talked to Michael for almost a year and a half before we actually did anything," Nate recalls, "A lot of people where like ya'll ain't got no record deal," but they where wrong.
 
After signing to Michael's record company "Biv  Entertainment" he got the group a contract with Motown Records, and the rest is history. Their debut album has sold over seven million copy's, winning over 15 different awards including: three Grammy's, three American  Music Awards, five Soul Train Awards, two NAACP  Image Awards, two MTV Awards, and one World Music  Award. In '93 they broke Elvis's long standing record of  13 weeks at number one, with their song "End Of The  Road." But in '94 the boyz topped themselves with their  song "Ill Make Love To You" beating their own record and   staying for 14 consecutive weeks. But their latest   accomplishment has been with "One Sweet Day" a duet with Mariah Carey, lasting 16 weeks at number 1, and yet again broken their own record and set another obstacle  to over come for the next album.
 
 

 

 BACK TO THE TOP             BRANDY
REAL NAME: Brandy Norwood     Brandy Norwood was born on February 11, 1979 in Macomb, Mississippi, the daughter of Willie Norwood, a church music director, and Sonja, a financial analyst.

 Brandy began her career by singing in her family church at the age of two. When she first heard Whitney Houston sing, she told her daddy that she wanted to go out and sing like her. When Brandy was four years old, the Norwood family moved out to Carson, California to pursue the youngster’s dream. By age 11, Brandy was performing in talents shows and at community & charity events when she met a producer who took her to auditions at various record labels. At age 14, she signed with Atlantic Records, the same label which produced Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles.

With her mother acting as her manager, Brandy’s self-titled 1994 debut album ("Brandy") was released when she was 15; it was certified gold in just two months, and went on to be triple platinum - selling more than 3 million copies. Her biggest hits have been "Baby", "I Wanna Be Down", "Brokenhearted", and "Sitting In My Room". She was nominated for a Grammy for Best New Artist of 1996, and she won the Soul Train Video Award for Best New Artist. She made a video with Boys II Men, a duet with Lenny Kravitz ("Where Are You Now" on the Batman Forever soundtrack), and was on the “Waiting to Exhale” soundtrack. Brandy has also performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

Her single, a duet with Monica called "The Boy Is Mine", hit the national pop charts at No. 1. Her new album is "Never Say Never".
 

        Her second career, as an actress, has also taken off like a rocket. In 1990, she appeared in the movie, “Arachnaphobia”, when she was just 11 years old. In 1993, she had a small role in the Sly Stallone movie “Demolition Man”. That same year, she moved to television, playing the daughter, Denesha, on the now-defunct ABC sitcom, “Thea”. Brandy then accepted a starring role as the lead in “Moesha”, a UPN sitcom which premiered in January of 1996.  In 1997, she starred in a new version of “Cinderella” on ABC's “The Wonderful World of Disney”. And in 1998, she had her first major role in a feature film: "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer", the sequel to the popular 1997 thriller. And currently, she is working with Disney again, this time on "Double Platinum", a TV movie in which she will star with Diana Ross (it will air on ABC in May.)

But success hasn’t spoiled Brandy Norwood.

According to everyone who has met her, Brandy remains a smart, sensible young woman. She still lives at home in Carson with her mother, father and her 17-year-old brother, Ray J (who is also an actor and recording artist in his own right.)  She said she wouldn’t date seriously until she was 18, and she still lives with her parents. She made straight-A’s in high school, and she plans to become a lawyer after college (she has already enrolled at Princeton). When she was 16, she went on a four week national high school tour, performing and talking to kids about the importance of staying in school, staying off drugs, and protecting the environment. Quincy Jones calls her “mature way beyond her years”.

Yet like any young lady, she loves to shop, she adores the video “Clueless”, and she is still hopelessly starstruck - although she has known Whitney Houston for years, she still screams every time the singer phones her. Besides Whitney, Brandy loves Michael Jackson and also admires Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey and Toni Braxton.
 
 
 
 

BACK TO THE TOP           Mariah Carey
    Born in New York in 1970. Carey was born to a half-Venezuelan, half-black father and an Irish mother. As you might imagine, the family faced a fair amount of prejudice due to its  mixed heritage.
 
  Mariah was three years old when her parents divorced. . Mariah's older sister moved in with their father, and her older brother was soon off to college, leaving just Mariah at home with a mother who struggled to make ends meet.
 
At a young age Mariah sang for her  friends, and performed in talent shows and at folk-music festivals; by the time she entered junior high, she had begun to write her own songs. In high school, she started commuting to Manhattan in order to study music with professionals, and upon her graduation, in 1987, she moved to the city. She paid the rent on her barren apartment by working as a waitress, coat checker, beauty salon janitor, and part-time backup singer. It was this last gig, backing rhythm-and-blues singer Brenda K. Starr, that brought Carey close enough to Mottola to slip him her tape. After only ten months of slumming in the big city, Mariah Carey was about to become  a star.
 
Carey's 1990 eponymous debut album created quite a stir, largely because of the incredible virtuosity of her voice, which many say is rivaled only by that of  Whitney Houston. Critics babbled on and on about her remarkable octave-dancing (Carey has a vocal range of between five and seven octaves, based on varying reports), but generally agreed that there wasn't much substance to what she was saying. These days, Carey co-writes most of her songs, but her  debut album was penned by professional hit-makers and it dripped with a cloying sweetness. However, nothing the critics said mattered much after the album sold over six million copies and made Mariah Carey an overnight sensation: two singles from the album shot to No. 1, and the music community awarded the newcomer with a gaggle of Grammys for her impressive debut.
 
     
 
 
Meanwhile, back at the studio, love had blossomed between Carey and Mottola. Home-wrecking advanced apace of recording, as Carey sent a boyfriend packing and Mottola did the same with his wife. Carey's Emotions album (1991) and her MTV Unplugged EP (1992) racked up sales in the millions, but her most impressive production was her marriage to Mottola  . Inspired by videotapes of Charles and Diana at their royal wedding, Carey and Mottola--a kind of self-styled music royalty themselves--put a half a million dollars into their June 1993 nuptials. Fifty flower girls, an eight-piece orchestra, and a boys' choir  convened with three-hundred VIPs  to heap their blessings on the
marriage. Carey remembers: "When I look back and think about it, it's so unbelievable! I mean, it really is like Cinderella."

 Carey's post-marriage albums (1993's Music Box, 1994's Merry Christmas, and 1995's Daydream) offered more chart-dominating, syrupy pop. The generally well-regarded Daydream earned her six Grammy nominations and helped push her career sales to the eighty-million mark. Her status as the biggest-selling female recording artist of the nineties makes you wonder what heights she would be capable of scaling if her talent weren'tconsistently shoe-horned by  producers into predictable, harmless harmony. But if she has thus far been prevented from using her music to tap into and communicate the considerable angst of her childhood, the pop princess has acknowledged it in other ways--in 1995, Carey donated $1 million to a New York camp that provides summer vacations for disadvantaged inner-city kids. The camp was subsequently renamed Camp Mariah.
 
There is no reason to expect that Mariah Carey would inevitably have become a musical star of her current proportions. The streets of Los Angeles and New York are filled with men and women with talent, looks, and a briefcase full of songs, none of them recorded, let alone at number one. Mariah's career emerged from her determination (her absolute unwillingness to admit any other possibility), her voice, and a series of circumstances that
made the most of those two features.

        BACK TO THE TOP           TLC        
Tionne Tenese Watkins : T-Boz born: April 26, 1970 in Des  Moines, Iowa
Lisa Nicole Lopes : Left Eye born: May 27, 1971 inPhiladelphia, PA
Rozonda Thomas : Chilli born: February 27, 1971 in Atlanta, GA
 
T-Boz, Left-Eye and Chilli are the women of TLC.

 The three young women who compose the best-selling female group in music history are always looking ahead, creating a new level of growth and accomplishment. With the release of their third album FanMail, T-Boz, Left Eye and Chilli use the cutting edge approach that has taken TLC to international recognition.

 Filled with tough grooves and melodic jams, FanMail is the most personal album  the trio has made, reflecting experiences and emotions T-Boz, Left Eye and Chilli   have faced in the last few years since TLC became a household name on the music scene worldwide. Cut by cut, TLC delivers on this power-packed, hit-filled album, which was executive produced by co-founders Antonio "L.A." Reid and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, and super hitmaker Dallas Austin.

Their first single, "No Scrubs," which was produced by  newcomer Shekspere and written by Columbia recording artists Tiny and Candy from Xscape is set to put men with no cars, no jobs and no love in their proper  places. While the no-nonsense rap, "My Life" deals with the challenges of being a public personality, the hard-edged "If They Knew" centers around keeping an illicit love affair under raps.

 "We're taking it to the next place in terms of production, artwork, concept and  image," says Left Eye referring to the group's 1999 release. "We want to be universal with this record. It's for our fans - which is why we called it "FanMail," but we also want to get it to the people who have never even heard of us," says   Chilli. With production by Dallas Austin (who worked with TLC on their two  previous best-selling albums), Babyface, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Jermane  Dupri and Shekspere - FanMail has all the makings of becoming TLC's most  successful project to date. "We all had a lot of input for this album," says T-Boz.    "We sat down with Dallas (Austin) and worked on some of the concepts behind the material. For example, "UnPretty" was based on a poem I wrote that he  converted into a song. It's a girl's anthem because I know a lot of women who feel insecure. Society can make them feel unpretty and I know it all starts with within."
 

 

 Production for FanMail began in early 1998, and in the years since the release of  CrazySexyCool, all three women have been busy working on different projects. "Since the last record I've become a mother," says Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas. "And since I don't believe in the 'nanny' thing, I've been spending all my time with my  new son. I did some acting on the side. I was on the film "Hav Plenty" and I've been  working with an acting coach. I turned down quite a few major roles, because I want it to be right." Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins has also had the opportunity to hit the  silver screen through the 1998 film "Belly" and she's also been spending time developing business interests. "I started my own companies, Shee Inc. and Grung Girl Music. I've even done some writing and I plan on doing some production on new and established artists. I've written an inspirational book of poetry and I have a cartoon in development, Oh, and I started a clothes line with Dallas Austin called  Grungy Glamorous. So, I've been pretty busy!" Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes has also been maintaining her visibility as the host for MTV's daily show, "The Cut" while  developing her Left Eye Production company, working on projects for Sony Music.

 The release of FanMail has been much-anticipated by the group's countless  admirers the world over. TLC literally burst on the music scene in 1992 with two consecutive Top 3 platinum singles, "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" and "Baby, Baby, Baby" and the gold single "What About Your Friends." All three tracks helps propel their LaFace debut Oooooooohhh! On The TLC Tip to the top of the charts,  selling three million in the process. However, it woth the 1994 follow-up, CrazySexyCool that broke wide open. Working with producers such as Austin,   Dupri, Sean "Puffy" Combs and Organized Noize, TLC delivered a record that set  them apart from all other female groups of the day. The first single, "Creep" was another platinum smash, staying at the top of the pop and R&B charts for weeks to end. The second single, Babyface's "Red Light Special" was another major hit while the hypnotic "Waterfalls" was platinum-plus that also topped Billboard's pop and R&B charts. The million-dollar high-tech video for the song (which dealt with  how a mother copes with her son's drug dealing and how AIDS has become a part of the daily lives of countless people everywhere) garnered no less than four MTV  Music Video Awards.

  The success of CrazySexyCool (which also featured guest appearances by  Busta Rhymes and Phife of A Tribe Called Quest) led to a total of six Grammy nominations and TLC walked away with two Grammy Awards for "best R&B Performance by a Duo/Group" for "Creep" and "Best R&B Album" for their  sophomore set. Countless other accolades followed including two Lady of Soul  Awards, two Billboard Music Awards, three Soul Train Music Awards and a Blockbuster Entertainment Award. In 1995, TLC complete a successful nationwide  tour with Boyz II Men. Their many media appearances included the film "House  Party 3," and the popular sitcom "Living Single" and "Out All Nigh." Musically, the  group contributed the theme to Nickelodeon show "All That," covered The Time's   "Get It Up" for the "Poetic Justice" soundtrack. Their charitable work has included  launching the 1995 "Believe In Yourself" campaign and working with the "Make-A-Wish" Foundation.

 Known for their unique look, TLC has earned a reputation for a down-to-earth  attitude and straight ahead approach to a career that has given the group global  recognition. "Some groups have tried to take off from where we left off in 1994,"  says Left Eye. "We've heard about record companies who have tried to put  together groups like us, but no one can do it. It's the combination of our  personalities and the chemistry between us that makes TLC what it is." Adds  T-Boz, "We know that some people think we're the big 'cahunas' because of the  success of our records. Sure, there's room for everyone and we're not worried  about competition, because we've tried to be trendsetters. But, honestly, with this  new album, I would worry if I was one of those other groups out there. We're back to reclaim what is ours!"

United, according to Chilli, in their goal "to be the biggest female group of all time,  to sell as many albums that it will be a few years before any other group can catch  up!" The members of TLC are ready to hit the road  and make FanMail another milestone in a career already filled with accomplishments. As Left Eye  states with characteristic frankness, "Look, our best challenges are ahead of us. Whatever we've been through personally and progessionally has made us stronger, and has prepared us for what we're doing now." And what TLC is doing now is reaching new heights with FanMail, an album that reinforces their status  as unquestionably the world's top female trio.
 
 
 

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