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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.
Tamar Braxton discovered her talent for singing at a young age along with the rest of her sisters. She began singing at the age of 2 and was performing in her church choir throughout her childhood. Tamar is known for her extensive vocal range that covers five octaves, allowing her to hit some of the most difficult notes. She is also influenced by many great artists including Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.
In 1989 Tamar Braxton formed the R&B girl group The Braxtons with the rest of her sisters: Toni, Trina, Traci, and Towanda. In 1990 the group released the hit single “Good Life”. Toni Braxton left the group in 1991 to sign to LaFace records as a solo artist, and her sisters supported her as backup singers on her first US tour. Tamar continued to perform with the remaining members of The Braxtons after Toni had left, and released the album “So Many Ways” in 1996 with her sisters, Trina and Towanda. The album produced the single “The Boss”, which reached the No. 1 position on the Billboard Dance Charts.
In 1998 Tamar had left The Braxtons to pursue a solo career and signed to DreamWorks Records. Tamar released her self-titled debut solo album in 2000, which contained the singles “Get None” and “If You Don’t Wanna Love Me”. The album placed on the Billboard 200 chart and featured several notable guest artists like Missy Elliott, Jermaine Dupri, and Tricky Stewart. Apart from her solo career, Tamar continued to provide backup vocals for three of Toni Braxton’s albums in the early 2000s.
In 2004 Tamar switched record labels and signed with Casablanca Records. During this time she released the single “I’m Leaving”, which was highly inspired by the song “Grindin” by the rap duo Clipse. After leaving Casablanca Records, Tamar would sign to Universal Records in 2010 and release the single “The Heart In Me”. The single was later featured on the “Adidas 2: The Music” compilation. While not making music Tamar was busy with the reality television shows “Braxton Family Values” and “Tamar & Vince”. Tamar would also go on to host the television shows “Tiny Tonight” and “The Culturelist”.
In 2013 Tamar released her second studio album “Love and War” through Epic Records. The album was a great success critically and commercially, debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart and No. 1 on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The album contained the singles “Love and War”, “The One”, and “All The Way Home”. The album also received a Grammy nomination for Best Urban Contemporary Album, and the title track from the record gained Tamar another two Grammy nominations. In 2013 Tamar also released a Christmas album “Winter Loversland”, which featured many traditional renditions of Christmas tunes. Tamar is also known for her amazing live performances and has embarked on headlining tours as well as toured with several notable musicians such as John Legend and R. Kelly.
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".
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.
Joeg_67
256) Tamar Braxton With Grammy nominations under her belt, the American pop and R&B singer/songwriter Tamar Braxton has had an incredibly successful career. Following in the footsteps of a successful sibling is always a challenge, but Tamar didn’t let her R&B sister Toni Braxton over shadow her, ad she broke away from their family band and signed to DreamWorks.
Although her debut album wasn’t a commercial success at all, she persevered, and it paid off with the release of her second album Love and War. She opened her show with the title track from the album, and blew the audience away with her great dance moves and her high range. She was great at interacting with her backing dancers to create an exciting show to be a part of, as well as screaming out to the audience for us to copy her dance routine which was a lot of fun. She played a couple of older tracks from The Braxton’s days, as well as some of her original gospel tracks.
She gave us a sneak preview to a track from Winter Loversland which I’m now so excited for, because it sounded great. To make the show even better, the acoustics and visuals form the lighting and projectors were spot on, and made it even more exciting to watch.
yazhow
Is there a classic R&B banger that says the nineties quite like Ginuwine’s ‘Pony’. The beat, lyrics and delivery are all smoother than smooth, and made all the more remarkable by the fact that they’re coming from a man born Elgin Baylor Lumpkin, which sounds like a name more befitting some kind of elfin children’s character than an impossibly debonair ladies’ man. Even if he’s struggled to scale the same heights as he found himself at in the nineties in the years since, he’s still plugged away throughout the noughties, releasing new records and touring the UK several times, most notably on a joint jaunt with fellow smooth operator Joe. In fact, it was the collaborative nature of his tours that would ultimately lead to his latest project; last year, he dropped the record Three Kings, as one-third of TGT alongside Tyrese and Tank, who hail from that same nineties scene and go a way back (Tyrese was best man at Ginuwine’s wedding). They toured the UK last year, too, performing their new cuts as well as delving into their own solo catalogues to delight female audiences across the land. They’re likely to be back before long - Ginuwine has been a regular fixture on these shores for a while - but in the meantime, check out Three Kings from some genuinely superb harmonisation.
Joeg_67
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