r&b Group Vocalist Battle #20: Jeffrey Osborne (L.T.D.) vs. Cindy Herron (En Vogue)

Jeffrey Osborne

Osborne was born in Providence, Rhode Island. He is the youngest of 12 children and is part of a musical family. He has five brothers and six sisters, some of whom went on to have music careers (his brother Billy was an L.T.D. bandmate). Osborne's father, Clarence "Legs" Osborne, was a popular trumpeter who played with Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington and died when Osborne was thirteen.[1] Osborne started his music career in 1970 with a band called Love Men Ltd., who would later become known as L.T.D.[2] The band recorded hit singles such as "(Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love Again", "Concentrate on You," "Love Ballad" and "Holding On (When Love Is Gone)". At first, Osborne was a drummer, but then became the lead vocalist. He left L.T.D. in late 1980 to start a solo career. His solo success includes five gold and platinum albums.[1]
[edit] Solo career

In 1982, Osborne released his self-titled debut album, which featured two hit singles, "On the Wings of Love" and "I Really Don't Need No Light", peaking at #29 & #39 on the pop chart respectively. This was followed up the next year by Stay with Me Tonight, his first gold album (later reaching platinum album status), which spawned two more hits, "Don't You Get So Mad" (#25) and the title track (#30). "Stay with Me Tonight" (April 1984, #18) and "On the Wings of Love" (June 1984, #11) reach the UK Singles Chart.

In 1985, he wrote the lyrics to the Whitney Houston hit "All at Once" (music by Michael Masser). He appeared on USA for Africa's fundraising single, "We Are the World" in 1985. He would later appear on Celebrity Duets in 2006, performing "On The Wings Of Love" with Alfonso Ribeiro. Osborne lent his vocals to the theme song of the soap opera, Loving, from 1992 to 1995.[1]

Osborne had two more gold albums, Don't Stop and Emotional, the latter of which had his highest charting solo pop hit, "You Should Be Mine (The Woo Woo Song)", which peaked at #13 in 1986.

The following year, Osborne had the highest-charting hit of his career duetting with Dionne Warwick on "Love Power", which reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and also topped the Adult Contemporary singles chart. This was a turning point in his pop success, as his albums and singles began charting lower and lower on the pop charts. Osborne's 1988 single "She's on the Left" would be his final Hot 100 entry, as well as his only #1 R&B hit.

After scoring two more substantial R&B hits in the early 1990s, "Only Human" and "If My Brother's in Trouble", Osborne would be absent from the charts for the remainder of the decade.

In the new millennium, he returned with a series of albums that, while far from the success he enjoyed in the 1980s, returned him to Adult R&B radio, scoring modest chart singles such as "Rest of Our Lives" (#75, 2003) and his cover of Barbara Mason's classic "Yes, I'm Ready" (#64, 2005).

In 2008, Osborne sang the national anthem before Game 4 of the NBA Finals at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, a feat which he repeated in 2009, before Game 1 of the 2009 NBA Finals, and also again in 2010 before Game 1 of the NBA Finals, all at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. He also regularly sang the national anthem before Hartford Whalers games.

On March 1, 2010, Osborne appeared on The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love season finale, "After the Final Rose", singing his hit "On the Wings of Love" while Bachelor Jake Pavelka took to the dance floor with his newly announced fiance, Vienna Girardi.
[edit]

Cindy Herron (in the pink)

En Vogue

In 1988, Herron was chosen along with Dawn Robinson and Maxine Jones to be in a three-woman girl group by producers Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy. After adding Terry Ellis to the line-up, the group become a quartet and chose the name En Vogue.[6]

During 2004, Herron chose not to tour with En Vogue, but returned to the group the following year. Herron and Ellis are the only members of En Vogue to have appeared on every album the group has made.[7]

R&B Battle Group Vocalist Battle #19: Michael Mcdonald (The Doobie Brothers) vs. Lil G Jenkins (Silk)

Michael Mcdonald

McDonald was recruited by the band The Doobie Brothers in April 1975 when lead singer Tom Johnston became ill during a national tour. His time with the band proved so successful that they decided to retain him as a full time member.

As a member of the Doobies, he recorded some of his most well-known songs, such as "Takin' It to the Streets", "Little Darling", "It Keeps You Runnin'", "Minute by Minute" and "What a Fool Believes" (which became a number one single in the U.S. and earned him a 1980 Grammy Award for Song of the Year). At the same time he appeared as a session singer and piano player for artists like Christopher Cross, Jack Jones, Bonnie Raitt, the rock band Toto and Kenny Loggins.
[edit] Solo career

This Is It
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"This Is It", written and sung together with Kenny Loggins.
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After the Doobies' first farewell tour, McDonald compiled some of his earlier songs in the 1982 release That Was Then: The Early Years which has never been issued on CD. His first solo album, If That's What It Takes, also released in 1982, featured the hits "I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near)," a duet with his sisters Kathy and Maureen, and "I Gotta Try," a song co-written with Kenny Loggins, who recorded it as well.

McDonald co-wrote Van Halen's Top 20 hit "I'll Wait", from their landmark 1984 album. McDonald co-wrote "You Belong to Me" with Carly Simon.

"Yah Mo B There", a duet with James Ingram, won him the 1985 Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.[2] He followed that up with "On My Own", a duet with Patti Labelle, which reached #1 on the U.S. charts in 1986. That same year he also performed the single "Sweet Freedom" that appeared on that summer's hit movie Running Scared soundtrack.

McDonald's 1990 album Take It to Heart featured a minor hit with the title song, co-written with Diane Warren. The following year he joined the New York Rock and Soul Revue, put together by Steely Dan's Donald Fagen. 1991's "Ever Changing Times" with Aretha Franklin, a duet on Arista Records, had moderate success and radio play (peaking at #19 on US R&B charts). In 2003, he earned two Grammy nominations for his album Motown, a tribute to the Motown sound.

In 2008 McDonald released his 'SoulSpeak' album. Which (in addition to including three new songs penned by McDonald himself) featured his interpretations of 11 carefully-selected soul-inspired songs. Ranging from universal evergreens like Dionne Warwick's 'Walk On By' and Stevie Wonder's 'Living For The City' to lesser-known numbers like Van Morrison's atmospheric 'Into The Mystic' and the late-Sixties Chicago soul of Tyrone Davis' 'Baby Can I Change My Mind'.[3]

McDonald has reunited as a guest performer with the Doobies several times since their initial dissolution in 1982, and joined Steely Dan on their 2006 summer tour, both as the opening act and as part of the band.[4]

Gary "Lil G" Jenkins

Gary began singing in church at the age of seven, which earned him a role as a featured soloist on BET's The Bobby Jones Gospel Show for many years. By the age of nine, Gary had mastered the guitar after only a few lessons[citation needed] and had self taught an assortment of keyboards, drums and guitars.

While attending Tennessee State University (TSU) in Nashville, Gary majored in music, with an emphasis in piano and voice. As a member of the prestigious TSU Jazz Collegians, he was selected to accompany Dizzy Gillespie on piano during Gillespie's visit to the school. He also appeared in several opera productions and performed with the TSU marching band.

In 1992, Gary answered an audition call and earned the role as lead singer for Keith Sweat's newly-formed R&B group, Silk. Their career began with the success of "Freak Me" and "Lose Control" from Silk's 1992 debut album Lose Control. Their career spanned the globe for nearly ten years, with more than five million records sold. The success of their second album, Silk, led to the follow-up, Tonight. Remaining consistent, they released their fourth album, Love Session in 2001. The group gained national recognition with his appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Live with Regis and Kathi Lee, MTV, BET, Soul Train, Jenny Jones, Ricki Lake, Moesha, Showtime At The Apollo and Motown Live among others. Achieving international acclaim, Gary has toured throughout the world in such countries as Japan, Korea, the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, France, the Netherlands and Germany.

With unresolved dissension among the group members mounting after the folding of their record label, Elektra, Gary resigned from the group in 2002. Over the following 18 months, Gary wrote, recorded and produced (with live instruments) his first independent solo project, The Other Side.

Gary also studied theater in school, co-starring in Hello, Dolly! and Harvey. He made his professional debut in 1997 in the production of Sneaky. He has since appeared in numerous nationally touring stage plays including Fake Friends, Perilous Times, Secret Lovers, Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion, What Men Don't Tell and Whatever She Wants.

Gary is a member of the R&B supergroup, Blayse, along with Marc Nelson and Tony Grant formerly of Az Yet and Terrell Phillips formerly of Blackstreet. The group has yet to release a single.

After appearing with Silk during Keith Sweat's "Sweat Hotel" tour in 2006 and subsequent release of the concert footage on the DVD "Sweat Hotel", Jenkins reunited with Silk and began touring and recording in late 2007.

R&B Battle Group Vocalist Battle #18: Diana Ross (Supremes) vs. Kevon Edmonds (After 7)

Diana Ross

In 1959, Ross was brought to the attention of Milton Jenkins, the manager of the local doo-wop group The Primes, by Mary Wilson. Primes member Paul Williams convinced Jenkins to enlist Ross in the sister group The Primettes, which included Wilson, Florence Ballard and Betty McGlown. Ross, Wilson and Ballard each sang lead during live performances. In 1960, Lu Pine Records signed the group and issued the Ross-led single "Tears of Sorrow" backed with the Wilson-led "Pretty Baby".Soon after winning a singing contest in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Ross approached former neighbor William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. for an audition at the label with which he recorded, Motown Records. The group garnered the audition and impressed Motown's CEO, Berry Gordy, Jr. (who arrived at the audition during the group's performance), but declined to work with the group due to them being underaged. Undeterred, the group would stand outside the label's Hitsville USA studios hoping to grab attention, eventually providing backing vocals & hand claps for many of Motown's more established artists. Meanwhile during the group's struggling early years Ross earned pay in the day as Berry Gordy's secretary. She also served at the group's main hair stylist, make-up artist, seamstress & costume designer during this period.
The Supremes in 1965. Left to right: Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson and Diana Ross.

In 1961, having already replaced McGlown with Barbara Martin, the quartet signed with Motown Records under their new moniker, The Supremes, chosen by Florence Ballard, who was the only member to be present when the group was offered a name change. Both Ross and Wilson initially disliked the name, afraid they would be mistaken for a men's group (Ruby & The Romantics' original name was The Supremes) but the name stuck regardless.

Following Martin's exit in 1962, the group remained a trio. In 1963, Ross became the group's lead singer, as Berry Gordy felt the group could "cross over" to the pop charts with Ross' unique vocal quality, and the Ross-led "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes" became the group's first Billboard Top 20 Pop single. The Supremes hit number one with "Where Did Our Love Go", a song rejected by The Marvelettes, and then achieved unprecedented success: between August 1964 and May 1967, Ross, Wilson and Ballard sang on ten number-one hit singles, all of which also made the United Kingdom Top 40.

Gordy removed Florence Ballard from the group in July 1967 and chose Cindy Birdsong, a member of Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, as her replacement. Shortly thereafter, he changed the group's name to Diana Ross & the Supremes.

Motown initially conceived of a solo career for Diana Ross in 1966, but did not act on it until 1968. Television specials such as TCB (1968) and G.I.T. on Broadway (1969) were designed to spotlight her as a star in her own right, and much of the later Ross-led Supremes material was recorded by Ross with session singers The Andantes, not Wilson and Birdsong, on backing vocals. By the summer of 1969, Ross began her first solo recordings. In November of the same year, three years after it was first rumored, Billboard magazine confirmed Ross's departure from the group to begin her solo career. That same year, Ross introduced Motown's newest act, The Jackson 5, to national audiences on the Hollywood Palace television variety program.

Ross recorded her initial solo sessions with a number of producers, including Bones Howe and Johnny Bristol. Her first track with Bristol, "Someday We'll Be Together", was tagged as a potential solo single, but it instead was issued as the final Diana Ross & the Supremes release. "Someday We'll Be Together" was the 12th and final number-one hit for the Supremes and the last American number-one hit of the 1960s. Ross made her final appearance with the Supremes at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas on January 14, 1970.

Kevon Edmonds

Kevon Edmonds (in Indianapolis, Indiana) is a singer and actor and is the 4th younger brother of famous producer/songwriter/singer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. Growing up, Kevon shied away from the church choir, preferring to sing for his own satisfaction. It was only during his teenage years that he joined his friends in the junior high and high school choirs.

Edmonds went to Indiana University where he began to further expand his musical ambitions. Taking I.U. Soul Revue, an extensive course in music theory, performing and the business, Edmonds began to see music as a real career. Pursuing this idea, he started the group After 7 with his brother, Melvin Edmonds, and his classmate in Soul Revue, Keith Mitchell.

The group did shows in local clubs, but on graduation went on to standard 9-5 jobs. However, brother Kenneth was moving up the ladder with L.A. Reid and when they signed a deal with Virgin Records, one of the acts they brought up was their relatives in After 7.

As a member of After 7, Kevon had some huge successes, earning a platinum album as well as several gold singles. They continued to tour the country and established themselves as one of R&B's top performing groups. After their 1995 album, Reflections, After 7 left Virgin Records due to frustrations with the label. The departure from Virgin Records allowed the members to pursue their own personal projects and over time, saw the group separate.[1]

At roughly the same time, Babyface brought his brothers, as well as siblings K-Ci and JoJo of Jodeci on for a project in a fictional group Milestone. The group performed in the movie Soul Food and had a hit single with the track "I Care About You". For a brief period, Milestone nearly became a real group, instead of just the fictional group portrayed in the movie, but label conflicts caused the project to collapse.[2]

In 1999, Kevon released his first solo album, 24/7. The title track from the album was a big hit, going gold and reaching #10 on the Hot 100. The album's second single, "No Love", performed moderately well, reaching #25 on the R&B charts.

Edmonds' second solo CD, Who Knew, is scheduled for release on October 13, 2009 through Make Entertainment/Image Distribution. The first single was released in early August and is titled "Oh."[3]

"Who Knew" has generated mainly positive reviews since its release. Thomas Leo on Grown Folks Music rated the album 4/5 citing "What he did was give r&b fans a very solid album full of good music in a time when the genre seems to be moving away from what it once was."[4]

In a recent interview, he promised fans they won't have to wait another 10 years for his next album: "I can assure you that you won’t have to wait another ten. *Laughs* “Oh yes, new album 2019, I’m going to be dropping a new album.” *Laughs* No, I’ll be back long before, that is a promise."