The Past The Present The Future - Album

Jodeci Is An American Musical Group Active From 1990 To 1996 Whose Repertoire Included R&B Soul Music And New Jack Swing. The Group Consisted Of Two Pairs Of African-American Brothers From Charlotte North Carolina The DeGrates Donald "DeVante Swing" DeGrate The Group Founder/leader And Dalvin DeGrate And The Haileys Main Lead Singer Cedric "K-Ci" Hailey And Second Lead Singer Joel "Jo-Jo" Hailey . The Group's Name Is A Combination Of The Names Of Its Members Jo-Jo DeVante And Dalvin And K-Ci. If Boyz II Men Are Portrayed As A Clean-Cut Wholesome R&B Vocal Group Then Jodeci's Wild Sexual Bad-Boy Image Represents The Other Side Of The Coin. Made Up Of Two Sets Of Brothers The Group's Name Is A Consolidation Of Three Members' Aliases "JoJo" Hailey Donald "DeVante Swing" DeGrate And Cedric "K-Ci" Hailey The Group Also Includes Dalvin DeGrate. Natives Of Charlotte NC All Four Members Toured The South As Young Boys Singing Gospel Music Even Recording Albums Both Families Belonged To The Pentecostal Church And The DeGrates' Father Was A Minister. The Boys Were Able To Hear Each Other's Gospel Songs Played On The Radio And Eventually Were Introduced Through Girlfriends As Teenagers. However When They Did Meet K-Ci Was With A Girl Dalvin Had Been Dating And A Fight Nearly Broke Out. The Hailey Brothers And DeVante Started Hanging Out Together Partying And Talking About Making R&B Records Together Coming Up With The Name Jodeci At This Time. At Age 16 DeVante Ran Away To Minneapolis To Get A Job In Prince's Organization But Was Refused. He Returned To Charlotte Where He Wrote A Song And Recorded JoJo Singing It. The Two Planned On Going To New York To Shop The Demo Around By Themselves But Both K-Ci And Dalvin Decided To Tag Along At The Last Minute. By The Time They Got To New York They Had Demo Recordings Of 29 Songs Which They Brought To The Offices Of Uptown Entertainment. They Were Almost Rejected But Rapper Heavy D Overheard The Tape And Talked Uptown President Andre Harrell Into Hearing The Group. Harrell Was Impressed And Just Like That Jodeci Signed A Recording Contract. In 1991 They Recorded Forever My Lady Which Featured The Gold Single "Come And Talk To Me" And Went On To Sell Over Three Million Copies. A Minor Feud Resulted Over The Band's Follow-Up Album Diary Of A Mad Band Jodeci Unhappy With Their Treatment By Uptown Flirted With The Idea Of Leaving For Dr. Dre's Death Row Records Which Resulted In Almost Zero Promotion For Their New Album. It Didn't Matter Much As Diary Went Platinum. The Group's Troubles Got Worse In 1993 DeVante And K-Ci Were Involved In An Incident With A Woman K-Ci Met At A Club And Brought Back To DeVante's Apartment. The Woman Filed Charges Against The Two Saying That K-Ci Had Threatened Her And Fondled Her Breast While DeVante Pointed A Gun At Her. Both Pleaded Guilty But That Wasn't All Shortly Afterwards DeVante's House Was Robbed Of Over 160 000 Dollars In Jewelry And Clothes As The Singer Was Held With Guns In His Mouth And At The Back Of His Head. Jodeci's Third Album The Show The After Party The Hotel Was Released In The Summer Of 1995. DeVante Also Was Afforded The Opportunity To Work With Al Green One Of His Idols Writing And Producing The Song "Could This Be The Love." ~ Steve Huey Rovi Jodeci Albums * 1991 Forever My Lady #18 US 3x Platinum * 1993 Diary Of A Mad Band #3 US 2x Platinum * 1995 The Show The After Party The Hotel #2 US Platinum * 2005 Back To The Future The Very Best Of Jodeci 300 000 Jodeci Singles * 1991 "Gotta Love" * 1991 "Stay" US #41 R&B #1 * 1991 "Forever My Lady" US #25 R&B #1 * 1991 "Come And Talk To Me" US #11 R&B #1 * 1993 "Cry For You" US #15 R&B #1 * 1993 "Feenin'" US #25 R&B #2 * 1993 "Lately" US #4 R&B #1 * 1993 "Let's Go Through The Motions" US #65 * 1994 "What About Us" R&B #14 * 1995 "Freek'n You" US #14 R&B #3 * 1995 "Love U 4 Life" * 1996 "Get On Up" US #22 R&B #4 Jodeci Side-Projects K-Ci & JoJo * 1997 Love Always * 1999 It's Real * 2000 X * 2002 Emotional * 2005 All My Life "Their Greatest Hits" Dalvin Degrate * 2000 Met.A.Mor.Phic K-Ci Solo * 2006 My Book read less