Arts and Entertainment – Guide Source

112: An American R and B quartet from Atlanta, Georgia. Formerly artists on Diddy’s Bad Boy Records, the group signed to the Def Soul roster in 2002. They had great success in the late 1990s and early 2000s, most notably winning a Grammy in 1997 with the song “I’ll Be Missing You” with Puff Daddy and Faith Evans for Best Rap Performance by A Duo Or Group. The group has sold collectively a total of about 16+ million records world wide; they have resigned with Def Jam and Bad Boy Records.

3Deep: a soul-pop music boy band composed of American actors Eddie Cibrian (Third Watch) and Joshua Morrow (Young and the Restless), and Canadian singer CJ Huyer. Their success was mostly limited to Canada, Europe and Asia. Their record label did not release their debut album in the United States. Their first album Yes yes yes…no no no was released in 1999 and featured their biggest hit, the soulful single “Into You”, a top-10 hit on the Canadian charts. Their second album Can’t Get Over You was released in 2001. Among the artists they collaborated with was Michie Mee on a track from their first album and with Howie Dorough on a track from their second.

98 Degrees: Taking a series of jobs including landscaping, working as club security officers, and delivering take-out food, the band continued to refine its harmonies and presentation, looking to groups such as Boyz II Men, Take 6, and Jodeci for inspiration. The new group also made the rounds of auditions in Los Angeles and gradually built up its contacts in the music industry. Fortunately, the group’s wait for a manager and a recording contract would not take long, as they seized an opportunity to perform during a radio broadcast of a Boys II Men concert, which they had attended in the hope of passing a demo tape to the band. Paris D’Jon, the manager of hip-hop singer Montell Jordan, heard the group during the broadcast and quickly arranged for 98 Degrees to open for Jordan on his tour. D’Jon also became the band’s manager, and they were signed to Motown Records by the time they finished the tour.

Blue: An English boy band, featuring four singers: Simon Webbe, Lee Ryan, Duncan James and Anthony Costa. The band has had success in both the United Kingdom and international arena, with about 15 million records sold world-wide. The group originally formed in 2001 before splitting in 2005. In April 2009, the group reunited and a Best of Blue Tour was announced.

2Be3: 2Be3 was formed in 1996 and comprised three childhood friends from Longjumeau (a suburb of Paris): Filip Nikolic, Adel Kachermi and Frank Delay. Inspired by English bands like Take That and Worlds Apart, the group produced 3 studio albums and various compilations before disbanding in 2001. The name 2Be3 was a pun on the English language phrases to be free (in French, “tre libre”) and to be three (“tre trois”). Hence the band’s name was pronounced in English (“Two Be Three”) rather than French (“Deux Be Trois”)

Backstreet Boys: An American vocal group, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1993. The band originally consisted of A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson. In 2006 Richardson left the group to pursue other interests leaving the band as a four-piece, but the remaining members did not rule out a possible return of the singer. They rose to fame with their debut album, Backstreet Boys (1996). The following album, Backstreet’s Back (1997) continued the group’s success worldwide. They rose to superstardom with their album Millennium (1999) and it’s follow-up album, Black and Blue (2000). After a three-year hiatus, the band regrouped and have since released three albums: Never Gone (2005), Unbreakable (2007) and This Is Us (2009). The band has sold over 130 million records worldwide, making them one of the biggest selling groups of all time. According to the US Billboard 200, they are the first artist since Sade to have each of their albums reach top 10 on the chart.

Michie Morrow is not only a music lover, he is also a self an artist. Thanks to music maker software available online, Michie has been able to create music to call his own and invites you to do the same.

The Soldiers: A propaganda tool, consisting of serving British Army soldiers from the British Army, signed to CPW Productions Warner Bros. Records, whose debut album, Coming Home, was released on 26 October 2009. The trio consists of Lance Corporal Ryan Idzi, Sergeant Richie Maddocks and Sergeant Major Gary Chilton. The Soldiers’ first national interview was with The Sun, with a free download of the lead song from the album Coming Home. The concept was devised by Jeff Chegwin and Nick Patrick.

Next of Kin: They were discovered after former Young Guitarist of the Year Mark Bass played a guitar in the Musical Exchanges music shop in Birmingham, the brothers visiting the shop because an event that they had planned to attend at the nearby NEC had been cancelled, prompting shop owner Gary Chapman to put them in touch with manager Ian Allen. They were signed by Allen and to former Spice Girls-manager Simon Fuller’s 19 Productions, and signed a record deal with Universal Records. They played on the Smash Hits tour in 1998 and supported Boyzone on their UK tour in 1999.

Hi-Five: An American R and B quintet based out of Waco, Texas who had a #1 hit on Billboard’s Hot 100 in the early 1990’s with “I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)”. Hi-Five was formed in 1990, and consisted of the late Tony Thompson, Roderick “Pooh” Clark, Marcus Sanders, Russell Neal, and Toriano Easley. Easley was later replaced by Treston Irby.

Natural: The original band was formed in 1999 when future members Marc Terenzi and Ben Bledsoe met at a party. Terenzi and Bledsoe met future band mates Patrick King and Michael Johnson at an industry party. The four got together and after subsequent members joined and left (at one point they had 6 or 7 members total), settled on fifth member Michael Horn who Bledsoe had found through his vocal coach.

Take That: A BRIT award-winning English pop band consisting of Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Howard Donald, and Jason Orange. Barlow acts as the group’s main songwriter. Each member primarily performs vocals, though each has some instrumental/songwriting capability. In the early to mid 1990s, the band achieved major success as a five person boyband act with Robbie Williams. The current lineup reformed without Williams in 2005 and achieved new success as a four-piece man version of the band. Formed in Manchester in 1990, Take That sold more than 25 million records between 1991-96.

The Moffatts: A Canadian pop/rock band, composed of brothers Scott, Clint, Bob and Dave Moffatt. Eldest brother Scott was born on March 30, 1983 in Whitehorse, Yukon. Less than a year later, on March 8, 1984, triplets Bob, Clint and Dave were born in Vancouver, British Columbia. Although born on the same date, Bob and Clint are identical twins while Dave is a fraternal triplet.

Michie Morrow is a music lover and a self proclaimed artist. Using music maker software found online, he has put together a portfolio and hopes to make it ‘BIG’ one day.