Lo-Key? is an American hip hop/R&B group that formed in Kansas City, Missouri and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Their single, "I Got a Thang 4 Ya!" (1993), reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart,[1] and No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Lo-Key? | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Kansas City, Missouri, U.S., Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Genres | R&B, hip hop, new jack swing |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Labels | Perspective |
| Members | Andre "Dre" Shepard Darron "D" Story Tony "Prof-T" Tolbert Tyrone "T-Bone" Yarbrough |
| Past members | Lance Alexander |
History
editLo-Key? formed in Kansas City, Missouri and Minneapolis, Minnesota, consisting of singer/trumpeter Darron "D" Story, singer/multi-instrumentalist Andre "Dre" Shepard, bassist Tyrone "T-Bone" Yarbrough, producer/keyboardist Lance Alexander and rapper/singer Tony "Prof-T" Tolbert. The group honed their skills on the Minneapolis club circuit, where Alexander and Tolbert became in-house producers for Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis' Flyte Tyme Productions. The group signed with Jam & Lewis' record label, Perspective Records, and released their debut album, Where Dey At?, on October 6, 1992. They scored a hit with the single "I Got A Thang 4 Ya!" in 1992, which spent a week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart, and reached No. 27 on the Hot 100.[2] Arthur Jafa, director of photography for the independent film Daughters of the Dust (1991), directed the video for the single.[3]
Alexander and Tolbert were also successful songwriters and producers in their own right. Among the hit songs they produced for other artists were "Butta Love" by the group Next, "Love Makes No Sense" for Alexander O'Neal, "I Wish" for Shanice and "Strawberries" for Smooth. Tolbert continued to collaborate with Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, contributing as a songwriter and background vocalist on albums by Earth, Wind & Fire, Janet Jackson and Usher. Meanwhile, Lance Alexander went on to found his own label called Baby Honey Records[4][5] and teamed up with Minneapolis producer Christopher Starr to form the group V.IP.[5] The group released the single entitled Lil Mama How Ya Do Dat[6] featuring Juvenile.
Discography
editAlbums
edit- Where Dey At? (Perspective Records, 1992) No. 121 Billboard 200, No. 18 US R&B Chart[7]
- Back 2 Da House (Perspective Records, 1994) No. 64 US R&B Chart[7]
Singles
edit- "Kansas City" (1992)
- "I Got a Thang 4 Ya!" (No. 27 Billboard Hot 100, No. 1 US R&B Singles, 1992)[8][1]
- "Hey There Pretty Lady" (No. 56 US R&B Singles, 1993)[8]
- "Sweet on U" (No. 91 Billboard Hot 100, No. 13 US R&B Singles, 1993)[8]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Whitburn, Joel (2006). Billboard Book of Top 40 R&B and Hip Hop Hits. Record Research. p. 809.
- ^ Rice, Glenn E. (October 22, 1996) "A rising star finds his true voice". The Kansas City Star. p. 4.
- ^ McAdams, Janine (October 17, 1992). "Lo-Key? Well, Not really... Hi-Energy Quintet's Time Has Come". Billboard.
- ^ "Baby Honey Records | Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 2016-05-10.
- ^ a b "Lance Alexander (Lo-Key, Next, Michael Jackson, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis) | CSP Music Group". cspmusicgroup.com. Retrieved 2016-05-10.
- ^ "All Access by V.I.P. on iTunes". iTunes. 9 July 2002. Retrieved 2016-05-10.
- ^ a b Billboard, Allmusic.com
- ^ a b c Billboard Singles, Allmusic.com