Tyrese and Bell Biv DeVoe

Giving actors making forays into pop music a good name the world over, Tyrese Gibson got into show-business at the tender age of 16. He only decided that he wanted to be a singer two years earlier and after being discovered singing while on the bus, he was ushered into the spotlight by appearing in a major advert for Coca-Colla. By the mid-90’s he’d appeared in a number of modelling shoots by the likes of Guess? and Tommy Hilfiger and by 1998 he’d managed to secure a record contract with RCA Records. His first single “Nobody Else”, was a mild hit, squeaking into the top forty of the Billboard Hot 100 at number 36, but his first album would make him a true star.

His self-titled debut was released in September 1998, it debuted on the charts at number 17 and at around the same time, Tyrese became a VJ on the weekday TV Show MTV Jams. The slot on the show catapulted him to an even higher degree of popularity, meaning that his third single “Sweet Lady” reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, stayed on the chart for 25 weeks and netted him a Grammy award nomination for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance mere months after his twentieth birthday. His follow up album “2000 Watts” was also highly succesful, selling over 500’000 copies and being certified Gold with aplomb.

As Tyrese’s acting career grew, his music career may have slowed down but it still produced the hits, with his 2002 single “How You Gonna Act Like That” being a legitimate smash hit that peaked at number seven on the Hot 100. Ever since then, Gibson has been massively succesful at everything he’s tried his hand at. He produces hit albums and singles in his music career to this day. He headlines the Fast and Furious franchise on the silver screen. He is even a New York Times best-selling author twice over with his books “How To Get Your Own Way” and “Manology: Secret’s Of Your Man’s Mind Revealed”. It would be nauseating if he wasn’t so good at what he does, and the best way of seeing his talent is by catching him live as soon as possible. Highly recommended.

In pop music you get two kinds of one hit wonders. The more common kind is the group or artist that is so ridiculously of their time that it makes one wonder how anyone took them seriously in the first place. These are the kind of hits that make the people who saw their rise up the charts first-hand wince in pain at the very thought of them. Bell Biv Devoe, it’s safe to say, are not one of those bands. They are the other kind of one hit wonder, the kind that has a pretty consistent level of love that passes from generation to generation, and few bands deserve that kind of respect more than these guys.

The band were formed during the hiatus of their previous band New Edition, who were a pop quintet formed in 1978 when most of its members were around ten and eleven. By the time they were fifteen and sixteen they were headlining national concert tours and scoring top five singles and albums regularly. However, all was not well behind the scenes. Throughout their time together the group were plagued by label and management problems, and by the end of the decade most of the band wanted out. In the wake of this, Bell, Bivins and Devoe were put together to form their own group by legendary production duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

By 1990, the band had recorded “Poison”, their first album, which featured the production skills of Eric Sadler, and Hank and Keith Shocklee, otherwise known as Public Enemy’s Bomb Squad. This mix of hard edged hip-hop and smooth pop sensibilities basically created the genre of new jack swing as we know it and their debut single, their album’s title track, was a smash hit that’s gone on to be one of the most enduring pop songs of the early 90’s. “Do Me!” the bands follow up single, was equally as succesful, getting to number three on the Billboard Hot 100.

Since then the band has released two further albums, both favouring their hip-hop influences over the pop sounds that made their name. The band have also frequently reunited with their New Edition bandmates to perform concerts and record new albums. In Bell Biv DeVoe we have a group that the pop world would sorely miss if they went away, the music world is a brighter place with their presence, and to this day they can still put on a killer live show. Highly recommended.

R&B artist, Ginuwine became friends with many musicians who were highly regarded in the rap and R&B industry, who subsequently led him on the path to success. These people included the likes of Missy Elliot and Timbaland, these turned out to become his principal collaborators throughout the 1990s.

Timbaland and Ginuwine worked well together and this was made evident through Ginuwine's first single, titled "Pony". It showcased his charming and smooth vocals together with Timbaland's original production flair. Interestingly, "Pony" proved to be a hit and was used in the film, 2007’s Wild Hogs, and also used in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV in 2008.

However, after the success of Ginuwine’s second album, the duo grew apart. Much to the enjoyment of producers R. Kelly, who helped Ginuwine from then, producing hit after hit.

Ginuwine has achieved great success, this was proved in 2001 when he had a number-four hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with the single "Differences", which also peaked at number-one on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart. Just a year later however, the musician’s parents both passed away. This encouraged him to write and produce more sombre songs from the heart, such as , “Two Reasons I Cry".