Line-up

Headliner
Dru Hill Last time in Whitby: First time!

Venue

Pickering Casino Resort

Pickering, ON, Canada

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Additional details

Doors open: 20:00

Concert in your area for R&B, Funk & Soul, Hip-Hop, and Pop.

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Dru Hill biography

Dru Hill is an American R&B/ soul/ hip-hop group from Baltimore, Maryland consisting of members Sisqo, Jazz, Nokio and Tao.

Friends since middle school, Tamir Ruffin (aka Nokio) recruited Mark Andres (aka Sisqo) and James Green (aka Big Woody Rock) to join him in a singing group, and they began performing around the Baltimore area; and after a while, Larry Anthony (aka Jazz) joined the group. The group originally would perform gospel music, but made the switch to R&B and in 1996 they caught their big break when they were signed to Island Record’s “Island Black” division.

Immediately after signing the record deal, they started working on their first album. The eponymous album, released in 1996, eventually reached certified gold, and the single “Tell Me” was featured on the soundtrack for the movie “Eddie.” In 1997 the group entered some legal drama, filing a suit to leave their contract with Island Records when their manager was hit on the head by an Island employee, and by the end both sides came to a settlement with Dru Hill still remaining on their contract.

In 1998 the group released their sophomore album, “Enter the Dru” and contained within it was the single “How Deep Is Your Love,” a song that was featured on the soundtrack to the film “Rush Hour.” By the end of the following year, “Enter the Dru” had sold over two million copies; however during their shoot for the music video for Will Smith’s “Wild Wild West,” Woody quit the group to return to his gospel roots, who would eventually be replaced by Def Jam artist, Case.

While working on their next album, “Dru World Order,” Sisqo was simultaneously working on his solo project, and released his debut album, “Unleash The Dragon” in 2000. While his solo album resulted in three fairly successful singles, it also resulted in “Dru World Order” being pushed back and due to conflict between members resulted in the group breaking apart. Luckily, by the end of 2001 the group started to reassemble and “Dru World Order” was finally completed and released in November 2002.

Live reviews

Dru Hill are probably best known, with the benefit of hindsight, for having launched the solo career of Sisqo, a man who went from global stardom in the early noughties with the frankly classic likes of ‘The Thong Song’ to ultimately being reduced, just a few years later, to appearing on Celebrity Big Brother in the UK and demonstrating classic signs of ‘small man syndrome’ by defending his height by claiming that he’s “taller when he stands on his wallet”. Regardless, to dismiss Dru Hill as merely some vehicle for Sisqo’s own music would be totally criminal, given that they’ve had three platinum albums of their own and a slew of chart hits, including the Redman-featuring ‘How Deep Is Your Love’. They’ve never officially split, either, despite the fact that their sound is pretty rooted in that late-noughties style of R&B; they continue to tour after eschewing their classic three-part harmony structure on fourth album InDRUpendence Day. Their U.S. shows, though, have had them on top harmonising form, skipping Sisqo’s solo work for classic cuts from the Dru back catalogue; they’ve yet to reach the UK, but should have a nostalgia-heavy audience waiting for them once they do.

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