R&B Group Vocalist Battle #6: Prince (The Revolution) vs. Sisqo (Dru Hill)

Prince (The Revolution)

During this period Prince referred to his band as The Revolution. The band's name was also printed, in reverse, on the cover of 1999 inside the letter "I" of the word "Prince". The band consisted of Lisa Coleman and Doctor Fink on keyboards, Bobby Z. on drums, Brown Mark on bass, and Dez Dickerson on guitar. Jill Jones, a backing singer, was also part of The Revolution line up for the 1999 album and tour. Following the 1999 Tour, Dickerson left the group for religious reasons. In the 2003 book Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince, author Alex Hahn says that Dickerson was reluctant to sign a three year contract and wanted to pursue other musical ventures. Dickerson was replaced by Wendy Melvoin, a childhood friend of Coleman. At first the band was used sparsely in the studio but this gradually changed during the mid-1980s.[citation needed]

Prince's 1984 album Purple Rain sold more than thirteen million copies in the U.S. and spent twenty-four consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The film of the same name won an Academy Award and grossed more than $80 million in the U.S.[26]
Prince performing in Brussels during the Hit N Run Tour in 1986

Songs from the film were hits on pop charts around the world, while "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy" reached #1 and the title track reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. At one point in 1984, Prince simultaneously had the number one album, single, and film in the U.S.; it was the first time a singer had achieved this feat.[27] Prince won the Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for Purple Rain, and the album is ranked 72nd Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[28] The album is included on the list of Time magazine's All-Time 100 Albums.[29]

After Tipper Gore heard her 12-year-old daughter Karenna listening to Prince's song "Darling Nikki", she founded the Parents Music Resource Center.[30] The center advocates the mandatory use of a warning label ("Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics") on the covers of records that have been judged to contain language or lyrical content unsuitable for minors. The recording industry later voluntarily complied with this request.[31]

In 1985 Prince announced that he would discontinue live performances and music videos after the release of his next album. His subsequent recording Around the World in a Day, held the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 for three weeks.

In 1986 his album Parade reached #3 on the Billboard 200 and #2 on the R&B charts. The first single, "Kiss", reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was originally written for a side project called Mazarati. That same year the song "Manic Monday", which was written by Prince and recorded by The Bangles, reached #2 on the Hot 100 chart.

The album Parade served as the soundtrack for Prince's second film, Under the Cherry Moon. Prince directed and starred in the movie, which also featured Kristen Scott Thomas. He received the Golden Raspberry Award for his efforts in acting and directing.[32] In 1986, Prince began a series of sporadic live performances called the Hit N Run Tour. The European tour went to Europe in the summer and ended that September in Japan.

After the tour Prince abolished The Revolution, fired Wendy & Lisa and replaced Bobby Z. with Sheila E. Brown Mark quit the band while keyboardist Doctor Fink remained. Prince then recruited new band members Miko Weaver on guitar, Atlanta Bliss on trumpet, Eric Leeds on saxophone, Boni Boyer on keyboards, Levi Seacer, Jr. on bass and dancer Cat Glover.[

Prince Bio

Sisqo (Dru Hill)

All four original members of Dru Hill were natives of Baltimore, Maryland. Mark Andrews and James Green met each other in middle school, and both later became acquaintances of Tamir Ruffin when all three began pursuing careers in the music industry. Ruffin, nicknamed "Nokio" (an acronym for "Nasty on Key in Octave") enlisted Andrews and Green (whose respective nicknames of "Sisqó" and "Big Woody Rock" came from their childhood) to form a singing group. The trio added Larry "Jazz" Anthony, an opera student, to complete their lineup. The group was named after Druid Hill Park, a popular park on the West side of Baltimore, the name of which is pronounced "Dru Hill" in the local accent.

The quartet made a name for itself by getting jobs at a local fudge factory, "The Fudgery," at the Inner Harbor, where they sang and performed to entertain guests while making fudge (this tradition is still a part of "The Fudgery").[1] Most of their early repertoire was made up of gospel music; the group eventually switched to the more commercially viable genre of R&B.
[edit] Big break and Dru Hill

Dru Hill's big break came in 1996, when manager Haqq Islam arranged for them to perform at the Impact Convention in May. The group was signed to Island Records's "Island Black" division shortly afterward through a production deal with Islam's University Music, and immediately began recording their debut album. The self-titled Dru Hill was released on November 19, 1996, and became a gold-selling album. The group's first single, "Tell Me", was featured on the soundtrack to the Whoopi Goldberg film Eddie, and was a Top 5 R&B hit in the United States.

Stylistically, Dru Hill was the middle-ground between the smooth, gentlemen-like Boyz II Men and the self-proclaimed "bad boys of R&B", Jodeci. Dru Hill received a lot of criticism, especially from the members of Jodeci, for what was perceived was a direct appropriation of Jodeci's style, particularly in frontman Sisqó's K-Ci Hailey-esque lead vocals. Other major influences for the group included Stevie Wonder and 1980s boy band New Edition.

Both the group themselves and songwriters/producers such as Daryl Simmons and Keith Sweat wrote the songs for the Dru Hill album, with the group themselves writing the single "5 Steps". Nokio also did some co-production, and would become the group's main producer by 1998.Nokio took most of his influence from talented singer songwriter Nicky Owen

All four members took turns singing lead, with Sisqó making the biggest impression on audiences with his dancing style, David Ruffin-styled emoting, and bleached-blond hair. The Sisqó-led "In My Bed" was the group's first Top 5 pop hit and first #1 R&B hit. Jazz took the lead on the third single, "Never Make a Promise", which became a second #1 R&B hit. "Never Make a Promise"'s music video starred Michelle Thomas as Jazz's girlfriend, and was noted for its message against child molestation.
[edit] Soundtracks, protégés, and controversy

Between their first and second albums, Dru Hill contributed "We're Not Making Love No More", a #2 R&B and #13 Pop hit, to the Soul Food soundtrack. "We're Not Making Love No More" was written and produced by star producer Babyface. Dru Hill and rapper Foxy Brown recorded "Big Bad Mama", a remake of Carl Carlton's 1981 hit "She's a Bad Mama Jama (She's Built, She's Stacked)", which was the main single for the soundtrack to the 1998 Bill Bellamy film Def Jam's How to Be a Player. The group was also instrumental in writing and producing for new University artist Mýa, whose first two singles "It's All About Me" and "Movin' On", were co-written by Sisqó, who also performs guest vocals on "It's All About Me".

In 1997, Dru Hill filed a lawsuit against Island Records, seeking a release from its contract, after an Island employee hit the group's manager, Keith Ingram, over the head with a pool cue.[2] It was discovered that the employee in question had a criminal record. At an October 1997 deposition hearing, Eric Kronfeld, president and chief operating officer of Island's parent company PolyGram, was asked why he had hired such an individual. His response was that if he were not to hire African-Americans with criminal records, then "there would be virtually no African-Americans employees in our society or in our industry."[3]

Kronfield's remarks set off a wave of controversy when word of them reached the media in November. The Reverend Jesse Jackson became personally involved, publicly stating that PolyGram, based in the Netherlands, had "a pattern of race and sex exclusion." [4] Jackson met with PolyGram chairman Alain Levy and several other executives, who issued a public apology for Kronfield's statement, and replaced Kronfield as president with Motown Records' chairman Clarence Avant.[5] By the end of the month, Dru Hill had settled with Island Records, with the agreement that they would remain on the label.[6]
[edit] Enter the Dru

Dru Hill's second Top 5 pop hit came in the form of 1998's "How Deep is Your Love" (Pop #3), a hip hop styled track which was included on the soundtrack to the Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker film Rush Hour. The single,"This Is What We Do" featuring a guest rap from Method Man, set the tone for the group's second album, Enter the Dru. The album featured several other mid-tempo tracks in the vein of "How Deep", as well as the R&B Top 5 single "These are the Times" (Pop #21), co-written and co-produced by Babyface featuring guitar work from Atlanta based session guitarist and former Earth Wind & Fire member Dick Smith

Enter the Dru eventually sold two million copies by 1999.[7] That year, Dru Hill recorded a version of "Enchantment Passing Through" for the soundtrack to the Broadway musical Aida.
[edit] The Dru World Order project

Among the press and the public, Sisqó was singled out as a de-facto solo act, and the other three members were regarded as sidemen. The singer was even erroneously referred to (presumably by mistake) as Dru Hill by confused fans, most notable on MTV's Spring Break 1999. When Dru Hill made a high-profile guest appearance on Will Smith's #1 pop hit "Wild Wild West", the lead single from the soundtrack to Smith's 1999 film of the same name, it made a star out of Sisqó alone. Both the song and its video prominently featured Sisqó alongside Smith, with the other three members relegated to the background.

During the "Wild Wild West" video shoot in April 1999, Woody quit the group, feeling a need to return to his gospel music roots. At first, Island decided to keep Dru Hill a trio, and shot a video for a hip-hop-styled remix of Enter the Dru's "You are Everything" with only Sisqó, Jazz, and Nokio, who performs a rap with Def Jam artist Ja Rule. Def Jam artist Case was subsequently enlisted to sing backgrounds on a remix of "Beauty" from Enter the Dru, whose video was shot but not released.

After Island merged with Def Jam to become The Island Def Jam Music Group in mid-1999, all four members, Woody included, signed new contracts with Def Jam's R&B imprint Def Soul, creating what was termed the "Dru World Order" project. Between November 1999 and November 2000, each member would release a solo album: Sisqó a pop album, Jazz a traditional R&B/soul album, Nokio a hip hop album, and Woody a gospel album. All four members reunited with a fifth member named Scola and recorded their third album Dru World Order, which was released in November 2000.

Sisqó released his debut Unleash the Dragon LP, and had a minor hit with his first single, "Got to Get It" featuring Make It Hot. His second single, a playful novelty record entitled "Thong Song", became a major hit during the spring of 2000, and his third, "Incomplete", became a number-one hit during the fall. As a result, the Dru World Order project schedule was continually pushed back, and, by November 2000, none of the other solo albums had been released.

In the early fall of 2000, Def Soul had Dru Hill re-enter the studio to record the Dru World Order album, and the song "Without Me" was chosen as the lead single. However, the time the group had spent apart created tension and conflict: Sisqó walked out of a November 2000 Dru Hill photo shoot for VIBE magazine, and the group broke apart completely shortly afterward.

Dru World Order was placed on indefinite hold, and Sisqó began work on a second solo LP, Return of Dragon. "Without You" was issued as an album track on Return of Dragon, which performed below expectations after its June 2001 release. By the end of the year, Sisqó and Nokio had begun plans to reassemble Dru Hill, enlisting Baltimore associate Rufus Waller, who performed under the name "Scola", as a fifth member.

Woody eventually arranged a solo deal with Kirk Franklin's Gospocentric Records, which released his gospel album, titled Soul Music, on April 9, 2002. Scola wrote the songs "My Homie" and "No Matter What" for Woody's album, and sings backgrounds on several tracks.

Sisqo Bio