112 formed in Atlanta, Georgia and was initially a trio comprised of Daron Jones, Michael Keith and Reginald Finley. While the guys were in high school, they called themselves Forte and performed in talent shows at churc...

2nd Nature was an R&B quartet comprised of Jason Turner, Darnel Alexander, Dave Booker and Leland Allen. The quarter, based out of Seattle, Washington, formed after producer Oman Quijano saw three of the group's vocalist...

3rd Storee formed in 1997 in South-Central Los Angeles, California and was comprised of three members, Kevontay, D'Smoove, and Jay-R. The group sought to succeed groups like New Edition and The Jackson Five, and were given that chance ...

4PM, also known as For Positive Music, formed in 1991 and was comprised of brothers Roberto Pena Jr. and Reney Pena, as well as Larry McFarland and Martiz Ware. Starting up in Baltimore, Maryland, the gr...

The group 7 Mile was one of two groups (the other being Allure) signed to Mariah Carey's Crave Records. The group was comprised of Luther 'Squeaky' Jackson, Glynis 'Lil' G' Martin, Seantezz 'Tezz' Robinson and Deion 'D' ...

A Few Good Men was a vocal quartet signed to LaFace Records during the 1990s. The group first appeared on LaFace Family Christmas in 1993. In 1995, the group released their debut album, Take A Dip.

The group's ...

Aaron Hall was born in 1964 in The Bronx, New York. He first established himself in the music industry as a member of the group Guy. The group was comprised of Hall, Teddy riley and Timmy Gatling and later on, Hall's bro...

After 7 formed in 1988 and was comprised of brothers Melvin and Kevon Edmonds and Keith Mitchell. The Edmonds brothers are older siblings of Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds. Keith Mitchell was actually marketed as the cousin ...

Alexander O'Neal was born in Natchez, Mississippi in 1953. At the age of 20, O'Neal moved to Minneapolis where he played in a variety of musical groups. Alexander O'Neal performed in the groups The Mystics, Enterprise, and Flyte Tyme. ...

All 4 One is a male R&B quartet comprised of Tony Borowiak, Jamie Jones, Delious Kennedy, and Alfred Nevarez, all of whom are from The Antelope Valley in California. Tony, Jamie and Alfred started the group after meeting...

Atlantic Starr started in the early 1970s. At that time, the three Lewis brothers, David, Jonathan, and Wayne were leading their own bands - Newban, Exact Change, and Unchained Youth. The three brothers brought their ban...

The group Az Yet was created over a long period of time. Shawn Rivera and Dion Allen met in 1990 and decided to form a group in Philadelphia. While in search for quality singers to join their group, the two men stumbled ...

Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1958. He is the 5th in a family of six sons and attended North Central High School.

Babyface got his nickname when playing in a funk band with Boots...

Basic Black was an R&B quartet from Atlanta, Georgia comprised of Darryl (Denzo) Adams, Walter (Dis Mucho) Scott, Lloyd (Spec) Turner and Kelvin (K.B.) Bradshaw. The group had a sound that was similar to that of Guy, and...

Bell Biv DeVoe formed from the members Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins and Ronnie DeVoe of the group New Edition. The group began to form after Bobby Brown left New Edition and became a separate entity after the Heart Break t...

After the trio Guy broke up, Teddy Riley began perfecting his production abilities and founded the group Blackstreet. He created the group in 1994, which was comprised of himself, Chauncey 'Black' Hannibal, Levi Little a...

Bobby Brown was born in 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts. He started singing with schoolmates Michael Bivins and Ricky Bell in 1980 and eventually, they brought Ralph Tresvant and Ronnie DeVoe into their group. The group be...

The Philadelphia quartet, Boyz II Men also seen as Boyz 2 Men, Boys II Men and Boys 2 Men, formed at the High School of the Creative and Performing Arts in 1988. It star...

Brian McKnight was born in Buffalo, New York. He had strong musical roots, singing in the church choir and acting as a bandleader in high school. While in his early teens, he began penning instrumentals. He formed his ow...

Calvin Richardson was born in Monroe, North Carolina and was the first of nine kids. His mother sang in a local gospel group, and exposed Calvin to a wide variety of gospel music as a child. It was while Calvin was singi...

Carl Thomas was born in 1972 in Aurora, Illinois. After attending Aurora East High School, Carl Thomas sang around Chicago and became a member of The Formula. He branched out however, and traveled to New York where he sang at clubs dur...

Chris Walker is an R&B singer who grew up in Houston, Texas. From an early age, he was immersed in music as he was a member of The Walker Brothers, a family gospel group. Chris began to play bass after one of the members...

Troy Christopher Williams was born in 1967 in The Bronx, New York. Signed to Uptown Records, Williams first appeared on the scene in the late 1980s.

In 1989, Williams released his first album, Adventures in Par...

Chuckii Booker was born in 1962 in Los Angeles, California. While Booker was good at playing guitar and drums by the age of 14, he actually wanted to do graphic art than music. In 1984, Booker got his start recording mu...

The group Classic Example was a quintet that came out in the early 1990s. The group released their self-titled debut album in 1992 and emphasized romantic ballads over the typical in-your-face new jack style that was dom...

Craig Ashley David was born in 1981 in Southampton, England. Craig David's parents are Tina, a Jewish shop assistant at Superdrug, and George David, a black Grenadian carpenter. Craig was raised by his mother after his parents separated ...

Damage is a British R&B group that formed in the mid 1990s. The quintet was comprised of Andrez Harriott, Jade Jones, Coree Richards, Rahsaan J Bromfield and Noel Simpson and formed while the group was in school.

The group Dama...

Dave Hollister, cousin of music act K-Ci and JoJo, started developing fame as a musician in the early 1990s. Some of his biggest early appearances were with 2Pac on tracks like 'Brenda's Got A Baby.'

His next b...

David Peaston was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Martha Bass, a member of The Clara Ward Singers gospel group. In addition, his older sister, Fontella Bass, was an R&B singer.

While David Peaston had been a school teacher, he w...

Donnell Jones was the son of a pastor and spent a lot of his childhood acting out in church. At eleven, his mother bought him a keyboard and he taught himself to play. With his father's influence as a gospel singer, Jone...

Dru Hill was founded by Tamir 'Nokio' Ruffin in Baltimore in 1992. The group consisted of himself, lead singer Mark 'Sisqo' Andrews, Larry 'Jazz' Anthony and James 'Woody' Green. The group got their chance at success in ...

Andwele Gardner, known as Dwele to the music world, was born in Detroit, Michigan. At the age of ten, Dwele's life was hit hard when his father was murdered outside of his home, and Dwele turned to songwriting. He briefly attended Wayne ...

Eric Benet Jordan was born in 1966 in Wisconsin. His mother's maiden name is his middle name. Growing up, Benet was immersed in music as his father loved classical music and shared the experience with his son.

...

Freddie Jackson was born in October of 1956 in Harlem, New York. As Jackson grew up, he sang as a gospel singer at White Rock Baptist Church. At the church, he met Paul Laurence who would become his record producer.

Freddie...

Full Force is an R&B group from Brooklyn, New York. The group is comprised of brothers B-Fine (Brian George), Bow Legged Lou (Lucien George, Jr.), Paul Anthony (Paul Anthony George) and their cousins, Shy Shy (Junior Clark), Curt-T-T (...

Gerald Alston was born on November 8, 1951. He came from a musically rich family as he was the son of Reverend J.B. Alston, a North Carolina-born singer, and from his aunt Shirley Alston-Reeves.

Alston formed t...

Gerald LeVert was born in 1966 in Cleveland, Ohio and was part of a family with rich musical background. His father, Eddie LeVert Sr.'s success constantly loomed over the family as he was the lead singer in the O'Jays.

Elgin Baylor Lumpkin, known as Ginuwine, was born in 1970 in Washington, DC. He went to Prince Georges Community College in Largo, Maryland and got a paralegal degree.

His first break into the music industry wa...

Glen Ricketts, known in the R&B world as Glenn Lewis, was born in 1975 in Toronto, Ontario. Born to a Trinidadian mother and a Jamaican father, Lewis finds some of musical heritage from his father, who was a member of the group Crack of ...

Gregory Abbott, born in 1954 in New York, traces his roots back to Venezuela, his mother's homeland, and Antigua, his father's. During his early years, Abbott's mother taught him how to play piano and encouraged him to d...

At the front of the New Jack movement was the group, Guy, who appeared on the scenes in 1987. The first incarnation of the group was made up of Aaron Hall and Timmy Gatling, both students at HBCU Virginia State Universit...

H-Town formed in Houston, Texas and consists of members Keven 'Dino' Conner, his fraternal twin Shazam and their friend Darryl 'G.I.' Jackson. For a long time, H-Town failed to find a break. They performed all kinds of g...

Hi-Five formed in 1990 in Waco, Texas and was comprised of members Tony Thompson, Roderick Clark, marcus Sanders, Russell Neal, and Toriano Easley. They were signed to Jive Records who helped them release their first alb...

The group Ideal debuted in 1999 and is comprised of brothers Maverick and Swab, their cousin PZ and high school friend J-Dante. The Houston quartet burst on the scene in an effort to end the tiring trend of songs about l...

II D Extreme started out as a trio comprised of Randy Gill (Johnny Gill's brother), Jermaine Mickey and D'Extra Wiley. The group went unsigned until the single 'Cry No More' written and arranged by the guys, got into the...

The trio Intro was comprised of lead singer Kenny Greene, Jeff Sanders and Clinton 'Buddy' Wike. The group's name is actually an acronym, standing for Innovative New Talent Reaching Out.

When the group released...

Jagged Edge formed in Atlanta, Georgia. The group is comprised of identical twins Brandon and Brian Casey, Kyle Norman and Richard Wingo, who was added by recommendation of Kandi Burruss of Xscape. Kandi took the group's...

Jaheim Hoagland was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1978. He had a rough life early on, when his father died when Jaheim was only two years old. Growing up, Jaheim lived in public housing projects and depended on music to keep him u...

Jersey Ave was an R&B quartet made up of brothers Jacob, Jason, Nathan and Anthony Latimore. The boys grew up in Indianapolis on New Jersey Avenue where they were immersed in music. Both of their parents were singers and their father, An...

Jesse Powell was born in 1971 in Gary, Indiana. He grew up honing his musical abilities by singing with his family and in local talent shows. In 1993, Powell met producer Carl Roland in Kansas City and they traveled to L...

The bad boy group Jodeci was made up of two sets of brothers: Cedric 'K-Ci' and Joel 'Jo Jo' Hailey and Dalvin and Donald 'DeVante Swing' DeGrate. All four members of the group had strong ties with the Pentecostal church...

Joe Thomas grew up in Opelika, Alabama and was the son of two preachers. He grew up singing in the choir, playing guitar and eeven directing the choir at his church.

Because of his roots in the church, Joe was in...

Johnny Gill was born on May 22, 1966 in Washington, D.C. The son of a minister, Gill sang in a family gospel group at the age of five.

Gill began his solo career in 1983 when his friend, Stacy Lattisaw convince...

Jonathan 'Jon B' Buck was born in Rhode Island but raised in Pasadena, California. His grandparents owned a record store which guaranteed his immersion in music. He found himself especially listening to The Bee Gees, Ear...

Like many R&B artists, brothers Cedric 'K-Ci' and Joel 'JoJo' Hailey grew up singing in the church. Natives of North Carolina, they met Devante Swing and Mr. Dalvin as teenagers.

The group went to New York where they tried to sel...

Keith Sweat was born in 1961 in Harlem, New York. In 1975, Sweat got his start in music with a Harlem band called 'Jamilah.' The group toured the Tri-State area and helped hone Sweat's singing abilities.

Signed...

Keith Washington rose to fame in the early 1990s with his first LP, Make Time for Love. Released in 1991, the album went gold and featured the #1 R&B hit'Kissing You.'The album featured three more singles 'Are You Still ...

Kenny Lattimore first found his love of music while living in Washington D.C. He met Chaka Khan when he was just eight years old and was also heavily influenced by the sounds of Earth, Wind and Fire and Arethra Franklin....

Soul musician Link was born in Dallas, Texas where he was active in a cappella groups as a teenager. He was recruited by Darrell Allamby for the group Protege and continued to work with him, even after the group split up...

The R&B band/group Lo-Key was comprised of Andre 'Dre' Shepard (lead vocals), Darron 'D' Story (vocals/trumpet), Tyron 'T-Bone' Yarbrough (vocals/bass guitar), Tony 'prof. t' Tolbert (lead vocals/writer/producer) and Lan...

Lorenzo Smith was born on May, 23 1972 in Havana, Florida. As a child, he sang in the churches and was an avid listener of Michael Jackson, El Debarge, James Brown and Sam Cooke. In high school, Lorenzo was active and competed in sports,...

LSG, short for LeVert, Sweat, Gill was an R&B trio comprised of Gerald LeVert, Keith Sweat and Johnny Gill. The group took three big names in R&B and merged them together into one. In order to get an idea of the impressiveness of the gro...

Luther Vandross Jr. was born in 1951 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York. When Vandross was eight, his father died of diabetes. At thirteen, Vandross and his family moved to the Bronx. At roughly the same time,...

Mario Dewar Barrett was born in 1986 in Baltimore, Maryland and is known in R&B as Mario. He was raised by his grandmother in various parts of Baltimore, Maryland, as she also helped Mario's mother who was suffering from a drug problem. ...

Mario Winans was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina. He grew up in Detroit and is part of gospel music's Winan Family. Mario is the son of Marvin Winans and Vickie Winans and is the nephew of BeBe and CeCe Winans.

Mark Morrison was born in 1972 in Hanover, Germany. His music career started, and has largely ended, by his difficulties with the law and jailtime.

In 1995, Mark Morrison was being held in Leicester Prison afte...

Martin Luther McCoy, known in music by the name Martin Luther, came out in 1999 with his debut album, The Calling. Martin Luther blends gospel with rock and R&B in his music.

Martin Luther developed his mix of musical genre...

Maxwell is an R&B neo-soul singer who was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1973. Maxwell is actually the singer's middle name, but he has kept his first and last name private in order to protect his family. His father died ...

Men At Large are an R&B duo from Cleveland Ohio. The group's members are David Tolliver and Jason Champion, and was discovered by Gerald LeVert. As a play on their name and body weight, the group frequently commented about obesity in the...

Men of Vizion were an urban quintet that came out in the mid-90s. The group formed in Brooklyn, New York at La Guardia High School of Music and Art. Originally, it was a quartet comprised of George Spencer III, Brian Der...

Mint Condition formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the late 1980s. Comprised of members singer Stokley Wiliams, bassist Ricky Kinchen, guitarist Homer O'Dell, pianist Larry Waddell and keyboardist Jeffrey Allen, the grou...

The group Mista was formed by Organized Noize in the early 1990s and was a quartet of young male vocalists. The group is most well known because of its member, Bobby Valentino who continues to be a force in the industry ...

Montell Jordan was born in 1968 in Los Angeles, California. He attended Pepperdine University in California where he received a bachelor's degree in communication and joined Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. He spent seven yea...

Taalib Johnson, known by his stage name of Musiq Soulchild, was born in 1977 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The eldest of nine children, Musiq's always been the black sheep of his family as he paves his own path. He never finished high s...

New Edition started in 1978 and originally comprised of Bobby Brown, Michael Bivins and Ricky Bell. The guys lived in the Orchard Park housing projects in Boston, Massachusetts. The group met a local manager named Brook ...

Next is comprised of R.L. Huggar, and brothers T-Low and Tweety and foremd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. R.L. met the brothers through their uncle who directed a gospel choir.

The group's debut album Rated Next wa...

No Question was a vocal quartet that formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The group was comprised of Damon Core, Dante Massey, Tommy Blackwell and Nicholas Johnson. The group came onto the scene in 1999 with their self-...

Ol' Skool was a musical quartet comprised of Pookie, Tony Love, Curtis Jefferson, and Bobby Crawford. The group was discovered by Keith Sweat who produced the group's debut album.

In 1998, Ol' Skool released th...

Portrait came out of L.A. onto the R&B scene in 1992 riding on the end of the New Jack Swing era. The group's self-titled debut album was released in the same year and featured two hits on the charts. 'Honey Dip' reached...

Public Announcement is oftentimes simplified into just R. Kelly. While R. Kelly was the lead singer on the group's debut CD Born Into the 90s the group was very much a sum of all of its parts.

The album, Born I...

Robert Sylvester Kelly was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1967. He was the eldest of four children and lived in the Southside Projects. In high school, Kelly performed in talent shows and had his dreams reinforced by a high school music te...

Raheem DeVaughn was born in New Jersey to cellist Abdul Wadud and his mother Imani Smith. He grew up in Maryland where he showed a love for music at an early age. He got his first experience in the musician lifestyle when he'd visit his ...

Kenny Kelly, Anthony Fuller, Dwayne Jones, Steven Capers and Michael Best formed the group Playboys in the late 1980s. The quintet, out of Paterson, New Jersey, blended R&B with Doo Wop, and began to gain national attention when they san...

Sam Salter grew up singing gospel music at Faithful Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles. Growing up, Salter won several local talent shows, featuring a soulful sound that was influenced by Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonde...

Seal Samuel was born in Paddington, England in 1963. His parents were Adebisi Samuel, Nigerian immigrant and Francis Samuel, an Afro-Brazilian immigrant. While a child, Seal had a battle with lupus erythematosus that lef...

The group Shai was formed by students at Howard University in Washington D.C. Three of its members, Marc Gay, Carl Martin and Darnell Van Rensalier were members of the fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha and the fourth was a good...

Silk came out on the scene in 1992 and is comprised of members Timothy Cameron, Jimmy Gates Jr., Jonathen Rasboro, Gary Jenkins and Gary Glenn. The popular singer, Keith Sweat had been the one to discover the group.

Eunique Mack, Darnell Chavis and Danielle Stokes performed on the streets of New York in the early 1990s. The production team of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis overheard the guys and helped them get established. The bassist Robert Anderson join...

Soul For Real formed in 1992 and was comprised of brothers Brian, Chris, Dre, and Jason Dalyrimple. Despite the time of the group's formation, the brothers had grown up singing together in church their entire life.

Special Generation was a quintet that started up as back-up singers for M.C. Hammer. After working with him on several recordings, they were signed to his Bust It Record label.

In 1990, the group released their...

The Chicago based group Subway, was comprised of Eric McNeal, Keith Thomas, Trerail Puckett and Roy Jones. The group was signed to Michael Bivins Motown-distributed label Biv 10. They came out on the scenes in 1995 with ...

Durrell Babbs, known to the music world as Tank, was born on January 1, 1976 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He grew up in Clinton, Maryland, a suburb on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. Living in Maryland, Tank worked his musical chomps in th...

Sananda Maitreya, born under the name Terence Trent Howard, and most well-known by his performing name, Terence Trent D'Arby was born in 1962. Born in Manhattan, New York, D'Arby joined the army after ...

Tevin Campbell was born in 1976 in Dallas, Texas. He first appeared on the scene in the hit single 'Tommorow (A Better You Better Me)' which was released in 1989 and reached #1 on the R&B charts in 1990. The single was t...

The Rude Boys were comprised of Larry Marcus, Melvin Sephus, and brothers Edward Lee Banks and Joe Little III. The group was a new jack swing quartet that LeVert helped bring to public attention.

The group's fi...

Antonio 'Tony Rich' Jeffries was born in 1971 in Detroit, Michigan. He is one of those tragic talented artists who was caught in the spotlight for one brief shining moment, and then forgotten about by the general public....

Tony Terry was born in Washington D.C. and got his start in R&B as a back-up singer for the group Sweet Sensation.

In 1987, Terry got a deal with Epic Records. His album Forever Yours was released in 1988 and h...

Tony Thompson was born on September 2nd, 1975 in Waco, Texas. He grew up in Oklahoma City where he sang in the local church choir, doing solos by the age of eight.

Thompson eventually caught the attention of a ...

Tony! Toni! Tone! formed in Oakland, California and was composed of D'Wayne Wiggins on lead vocals and guitar, his brother Raphael Wiggins (Rapael Saadiq) on lead vocals and bass and cousin Timothy Christian on drums.

Trey Lorenz was born in 1969 in Florence, South Carolina. He got his start in the music industry as a supporting singer for Mariah Carey during her first tour in 1990. He also provided background vocals on her album Emot...

Troop formed in the late 80s in Pasadena, California. The group is comprised of childhood friends Steve russell, Allen McNeil, John Harreld, Rodney Benford and Reggie Warren. They got their first break into the industry ...

Tyrese Gibson was born in Los Angeles, California. He started his trek to stardom at the age of 14 when he won a talent show. He then appeared in a Coca-Cola advertisement, bringing him closer to the public eye. At 17, h...

U.N.V. or, Universal Nubian Voices, was a male quartet that came onto the scene in 1993 out of Lansing, Michigan with their debut album, Something's Goin On. The group was comprised of brothers John Pow...

The group Whistle started up in 1985 in Brooklyn, New York. The group was initially a trio comprised of Garvin Dublin, Brian Faust, and Rickford Bennett. However, by 1988, the group had added Kraze (Kerry Hodge) to their line-up, and Dub...