Dru Hill
Dru Hill is an American, discovered by Dr. Dre R & B group, which celebrated with several chart hits in the late 1990s with great success. The group was founded in 1992 in Baltimore, Maryland Tamir " Nokio " Ruffin. The other band members Mark " Sisqo " Andrews, Larry "Jazz" Anthony, and James " Woody" Green knew each other since high school. Dru Hill got a contract with Iceland Records, and brought out two successful albums until they separated themselves from 1999 to 2002. During this time published Mark " Sisqo " Andrews and James " Woody" Green solo albums. In 2002 it came to the reunion and Rufus " Scola " Waller was added as the fifth member of the group. As part of the Def Soul label, they released their third album.
Their hit How Deep Is Your Love was chosen as the song for the big box office hit Rush Hour with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker.
- 2.1 albums
- 2.2 Singles
History
Formation
All four members of Dru Hill were born in Baltimore and raised. Mark Andrews and James Green know each other since high school and learned Tamir Ruffin know when they started to build a career in the music industry. Ruffin teamed up with the two and formed a trio. They took even Larry Anthony, an opera student, to and named after the Druid Hill Park, a public park in the west of Baltimore, where it is the local pronunciation form in " Dru Hull ". The early repertoire of Dru Hill consisted to a large part of gospel music, but after a few performances they swung on the popular area of R & B has to offer.
Breakthrough and the album Dru Hill
The big breakthrough came Dru Hill in 1996, when her manager Haqq Islam arranged a performance at the music convention Impact '96. After the show she quickly got a record deal and began working immediately on the first album. The album Dru Hill was released on 9 November 1996 and won several gold. The first single, Tell Me was included in the soundtrack of the movie Eddie and in the U.S. reached the top 5 R & B hits.
Stylistically, Dru Hill was between Boyz II Men and the self-proclaimed " bad guys " of R & B, Jodeci. Dru Hill received a lot of criticism, especially from Jodeci, who felt that Mark " Sisqo " Andrews would copy their style. Other important influences in the music renames the group Stevie Wonder and eighties band New Edition. On the first album both self composed songs can be found as well as songwriter / producers such as Daryl Simmons and Keith Sweat. All four members of Dru Hill took over lead vocals, but it was found that Mark " Sisqo " Andrews ' voice, his unusual stage outfits, and his idiosyncratic style of dance fans most impressed. With In My Bed, the group had the first top 5 pop hit and first number - one R & B hit. With the third single " Never Make a Promise" they landed another number - one R & B hit. In the video Michelle Thomas appeared as Jazz 's girlfriend, and conveyed the message of the video against child molestation.
Soundtracks, protégés, and controversy
Between the first and second album, the title We're Not Making Love No More was recorded for the soundtrack of the film Soul Food, which was written and produced by Babyface. With Foxy Brown Dru Hill "Big Bad Mama " took on. This track was the title song of the film How to Be a Player. Addition to their own recordings wrote and produced Dru Hill for Mýa and had guest appearances in other stars of R & B. 1997 Dru Hill sued the record company Iceland Records because they wanted to be released from the existing contract. Background for the action was the attack of an employee of Iceland Records on the manager Keith Ingram, who was beaten with a pool cue on the head. In the determination in that case it was found that the attacker had a criminal past. At the hearing in the case of the President of PolyGram was asked why he was hiring such employees. In response came from him, "if he would not hire such employees, there was virtually not a single African-American employees in our company and our industry." Kronfields statements set in motion a controversy, as they were known in some cases. Reverend Jesse Jackson was personally drawn into the discussion when he stated publicly that PolyGram " a recognizable pattern has, according to which an exclusion is done because of race and gender. " Jackson met with the chairman of PolyGram and some officers, which eventually publicly apologized for the remarks Kronfields and him as President by the Chairman of Motown Records, Clarence Avant, replaced. At month-end, Dru Hill had reached an agreement with Iceland Records that they would remain with the label.
Enter the Dru
The single How Deep Is Your Love was included in the soundtrack of the film Rush Hour and in the U.S. reached the Top 3 of the R & B hits. In addition to this single, the single This Is What We Do was released from the LP Enter The Dru as a second single, You participated as a rapper in the Method. This song reflected the direction and development of Dru Hill. With the decoupling of the single These Are the Times, was at the co-producer Babyface and Coschreiber, the group reached number 21 R & B hits in the United States.
From the 1999 album two million were sold and Dru Hill was awarded several gold again. In the same year produced Enchantment Passing Through Dru Hill nor for the soundtrack of the Broadway musical Aida.
Dru -world project
From the press and the audience Mark " Sisqo " Andrews was as it were viewed as a soloist and the other three members of the band made up more or less just backing singers dar. During her performance in the video Wild Wild West with the singer and actor Will Smith was Sisqó finally the star of the group. Both the song and in the video Smith and Sisqó were the main characters, while the other members of Dru Hill remained in the background. During the filming of the video of Wild Wild West left "Woody" Dru Hill, when he had the feeling of having to return to his musical roots, the Gospel. Iceland Records wanted Dru Hill a trio continued to perform and took a video to You Are Everything on. The hip-hop remix included a guest appearance by JaRule. It was also provided that the Def Jam artist Case Background the remix of the title Beauty should sing from the LP Enter the Dru. While it is a corresponding video was filmed, but never released.
After mid-1999, Iceland Records and Def Jam to The Iceland Def Jam Music Group merged, signed by all members of Dru Hill individual contracts with the label " Def Soul", Woody. It the project Dru World was launched. It was intended in the project that between November 1999 and November 2000, each member should bring out an album: Sisqó a pop album, Jazz a R & B / soul album, Nokio a hip hop album, and Woody a gospel album. According to the publications of the members of Dru Hill is wanted to reunite and record the album " Dru Hill Order" that was to come on the market in November 2000.
Sisqó released his debut album, Unleash the Dragon, and had the Erstauskopplung Got to Get It only moderate success. The second single Thong Song was released in spring 2000 and was successful. Only with the third single from the album - Incomplete - reached Sisqó a number 1 hit in the fall of 2000 a result, the proper placements meant that the project was not initially continued and until November 2000, none of the proposed solo albums was released. .
In autumn 2000, Dru Hill should record the album Dru World Order in the studios of Def Soul. The first single from the album Without Me was selected. The time of separation and work on solo projects, however, led to the fact that there were tensions and conflicts within the group. At a photo shoot for Vibe Magazine in November 2000 Sisqó left the shoot and shortly after the group broke apart completely.
The album was postponed indefinitely and Sisqó began work on his second solo album, Return of Dragon. The single Without You was taken as an album track on the second solo album, but which remained after its release in June 2001, far short of the expectations set. In this context, Sisqó and Nokio planned at the end of the year, Dru Hill together again. To this end, Rufus Waller was taken with the list of members, who performs under the name Scola " in Dru Hill.
Woody got a solo deal with Gospocentric Records who released his gospel album Soul Music on 9 April 2002. Scola wrote the songs My homie and No Matter What for Woddys album and worked with several titles as a background vocalist.
Dru World Order
The album Dru World Order was on 26 November 2002, therefore, two years after the originally scheduled release date, released. Almost all the tracks on this album were produced by Nokio, who was also in the titles and She Said Men Always Regret lead singer. The other titles of the members of Dru Hill shared the lead vocals. In the album different producers worked with, among others, Brian Michael Cox and Kwamé. However, the great successes that have been achieved with the first albums, Dru Hill was not able to achieve with this album, only the title I Should Be still reached the Top 10 R & B hits.
In 2005, Dru Hill was released from the contract with Def Soul and disappeared from the public spotlight. Def Soul released another CD titled Dru Hill: Hits and thus a corresponding DVD with the music videos, including the two biggest hits of Sisqó. In the summer of 2007 Scola published a CD entitled Scola 's Lost Treasures and currently he is working on a solo project called From EA 2 Cali, which is expected to still be released in 2009.
Dru Hill has meanwhile own TV show in the U.S., which means Keith Seat 's Platinum House. The first broadcast was on 23 February 2009 and dealt with the new album and the reunification of Dru Hill. The first single is the ballad Away will be found on the album some well-known producers. It remains to be seen how developed this album.
Exit of Woody and Scola
At the beginning of 2008, the original members of Dru Hill reunited and began touring together with other artists from the R & B scene of the 1990s. During an interview at the transmitter WERQ in Baltimore, told Woody that he would leave Dru Hill to dedicate themselves fully to his spiritual duties. In a video, which could be seen at YouTube, you can see how Sisqó leaves the studio, Woody and Nokio fighting with each other and the manager Kevin Peck tries to separate the two.
To replace Woody, Dru Hill in Baltimore organize a casting, in which the new member of the group, Antwuan "Tao " Simpson, was found.
Officially was never spoken directly about why Scola Dru Hill had left. Scola himself claimed that Woody did not want to have him here, because there had been disputes over again with money issues.