Good morning POU Family! The theme for the morning open threads are celebrating classic R&B Girl Groups of the 90’s. Today’s group: SWV.
SWV (Sisters With Voices) is an American R&B vocal trio from New York City, New York whose members are Cheryl (Coko) Gamble, Tamara (Taj) Johnson and Leanne (Lelee) Lyons. Formed in 1988 as a gospel group,[citation needed] SWV became one of the most successful R&B groups of the 1990s. They had a series of hits, including “Weak”, “Right Here (Human Nature Remix)”, “I’m So into You”, and “You’re the One”. The group disbanded in 1998 to pursue solo projects and reunited in 2005. SWV has sold more than 25 million records worldwide.
SWV (an abbreviation for Sisters With Voices) was formed by Cheryl “Coko” Gamble, Tamara “Taj” Johnson and Leanne “Lelee” Lyons (with Lelee and Coko as founding members). After getting their demo together, their manager at the time, Maureen Singleton sent out demo tapes along with bottles of Perrier (“We couldn’t afford champagne”, says Taj) to catch the attention of record execs all over America. In 1991, after being invited to sing live in front of RCA executives, SWV was signed to an eight-album record deal.
It’s About Time, the debut studio album by SWV, was released by RCA Records on October 27, 1992 (see 1992 in music). It was certified multi platinum by the RIAA for more than two million copies shipped to store. SWV’s first single, “Right Here”, was released in the fall of 1992, reaching No. 13 on the R&B charts. Their second single, “I’m So into You”, peaked at No. 2 on R&B and reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. The third single, “Weak”, reached No. 1 on both the R&B and Hot 100 charts. “Right Here/Human Nature”, the fourth single and a remix of their first single, “Right Here”, featured samples of Michael Jackson’s hit “Human Nature”. Pharrell Williams performed a small rap solo on “Right Here (UK Remix)”.
“Right Here/Human Nature” peaked at No. 1 on R&B and No. 2 on the Hot 100 and it stayed at No. 1 on the Billboard R&B charts for 7 weeks, making it one of the longest-running singles of 1993. It was followed up with the additional Top 10 R&B hits, “Downtown” (No. 2), and “You’re Always on My Mind” (No. 8).The album peaked at 8 on the US Billboard 200. Following the success of their first album, SWV appeared on the soundtrack for the 1994 film Above the Rim. The single, “Anything”, became a top ten R&B hit and reached No. 18 on the Hot 100 in the spring of 1994. That same year, SWV released The Remixes, which went gold by the end of the year. In the summer of 1995, the trio lent vocal harmonies to Blackstreet’s Top 40 R&B hit “Tonight’s the Night”.
Honorable mention: Jade