About Jodeci
Jodeci is an American R&B quartet consisting of members DeVanté Swing, Mr. Dalvin, K-Ci, and JoJo. Formed in 1988 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Jodeci began as a duo of DeVanté Swing and JoJo but later each added their brothers. After signing with Uptown Records in 1990, the group finished work on their debut album, Forever My Lady , which brought them mainstream success with three straight Billboard R&B No. 1 hit singles: the album's titular track, "Stay" and "Come and Talk to Me".
The group's critical and commercial success continued with the releases of Diary of a Mad Band , which includes the Billboard hit singles "Cry for You" and "Feenin'", and The Show, the After Party, the Hotel , which includes the additional Billboard hit singles "Freek'n You", "Love U 4 Life", and "Get On Up". The group experimented with various musical styles typically not associated with traditional R&B. Jodeci would incorporate hip hop soul, gospel and new jack swing into their music, which led to the group featured prominently with hip hop artists during the 1990s. Each album released by the group during this period attained platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America , and helped to redefine the genre, allowing for developments in thematic and musical content within R&B.
In 1996, they announced a hiatus – though continuing to work on music as a group – which prompted K-Ci & JoJo to branch off as a duo, releasing five albums until 2013, when the group re-united for their fourth studio album, The Past, the Present, the Future . Jodeci has sold more than 20 million records worldwide to date. Complex magazine ranks the group 1st on their "1990s Male R&B Group Pyramid of Excellence" list in 2014, one of the most influential groups of the 1990s, and the best R&B group of all time.
Raised in extremely religious Pentecostal families, K-Ci and JoJo – then known as Little Cedric & the Hailey Singers – originally performed and recorded as a gospel group, releasing three albums; Jesus Saves, I'm Alright Now, and God's Blessings. K-Ci would later draw comparisons to Michael Jackson during his gospel career. Separately, Mr. Dalvin and DeVanté Swing performed and toured in their own family's gospel group called the Degrate Delegation. The studio is where the duos later made acquaintances through relationships the members were in at the time. In a 2011 interview, Dalvin stated, "there was this girl gospel group called UNITY and then the Don DeGrate Delegation, which Devanté and I played in. So we met some of the girls from UNITY and was dating K-Ci before we even met would always tell us that we need to meet K-Ci and JoJo." A short time after meeting, the brothers started living together after leaving their families to pursue musical careers.
At 16, DeVanté Swing traveled to Minneapolis, hoping to visit Paisley Park in order to audition to Prince. Swing would later say, "I was up at Paisley Park every day begging for a job, asking people to listen to my tape. The receptionist kept saying she couldn't help me". The rejection motivated Swing to relocate back to North Carolina, and work to improve his songwriting and production skills. Upon arriving, Swing continued to record with the group's additional members, eventually forming Jodeci, and began work on a demo tape to present to label executives. The name Jodeci is an abbreviation of all the members names. "Jo" comes from JoJo, "De" comes from the last name of the DeGrate brothers, and Ci comes from K-Ci.
The members soon drove to New York City with a 29-song, 3 tape demo, anticipating a signing deal with upstart Uptown Records. Upon arriving to New York, and without the knowledge of the whereabouts of the MCA subsidiary, the group used a phone book to find the company's address, located on Clinton Street in Brooklyn. Swing later commented on the signing, "we didn't have an appointment but I knew what Uptown was, and I wanted us to be there." The group was quickly denied an audition until Andre Harrell agreed to hear the demo. In skepticism of the high quality production, Harrell requested the group to perform, where they performed "Come and Talk to Me" and "I'm Still Waiting", in the presence of Jeff Redd. Hip hop artist Heavy D overheard the performance and consulted Harrell, eventually taking the group out to dinner and awarding them a recording contract.
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