From the start in 1983, with "Candy Girl" to the band's 2004 hit, "Hot 2nite," New Edition has been around for over two decades together and separate and has managed to maintain a noteworthy measure of success in the music industry.
quick bio
New Edition was founded in the Roxbury part of Boston. This band was one of the pioneers of the new jack movement, which was a sound that bridged hiphop and R make some extra cash, original founders Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins and Bobby Brown sang together in 1978, while still in primary school. Two years later, the trio recruited their friend Ralph Tresvant as a fourth member.
In 1980, the band managed to bailey button uggs win a local talent show.
Starr recorded New Edition's first hit entitled "Candy Girl," a chart topper that landed them an album. New Edition was offered a deal by MCA, but Starr wanted them to stay on his label, Streetwise, so they fired him and signed with MCA.
In 1984, New Edition's MCA album was wellreceived and they became teen idols.
In 1986, Bobby Brown left the group to launch a solo career and was quickly replaced by Johnny Gill.
Then, in 1989, the rest of the members went their separate ways:
Gill went solo and saw some success with hits like "Rub You the Right Way" and "My, My, My." Tresvant uggs on sale also went solo and had a major hit entitled "Sensitivity." Bell, Bivins and DeVoe fused to form the trio Bell Biv DeVoe and had some major hits, the biggest of which was entitled "Poison."
After many hits, albums and concerts, the group has released a new 2004 album entitled One Love. We had the chance to sit down with Ricky Bell to talk about New Edition's past, Bobby Brown, and the band's latest album.
If you want to read more about New Edition, click here.
Q: Ricky, why don't you tell us about your latest single "Hot 2nite."
Actually, the public perception is that we broke up and got back together. We were never broken up. This project is something that has been in the works for a long time. We weren't recording; we were on the road constantly, working all year round. We hooked up with Bad Boy [P. Diddy] at the BET Awards a couple of years ago. He caught a few of the shows on the road and he was impressed and wanted to sit down and talk business, and it made a whole lot of sense. As far as the record goes, "Hot 2nite" is our first single. We are working on a few remixes of it right now. The album has 15 tracks. This is a nice collaboration between Bad Boy and the New Edition sound. We feel like the people who grew up with us needed to be pleased, as well as appeal to the new audience. That's where we are.
Q: How does Bad Boy's input affect the sound?
I don't think it really changes it, it just adds to it. It gives us a whole new energy that appeals to what's going on today. New Edition is always going to be New Edition, as far as the songs that we do. This gives us a new bump so that it has that whole radio and club sound to it.
Quick fact ?
There is a petition circulating on the Net for VH1 to produce a "Behind The Music" piece on New Edition.
Q: How did being from Boston influence you guys?
In every city and every market, everybody has their own flavor. There is a West Coast style and an East Coast style. Our influences came from who we listened to and who our parents listened to when we were growing up. We listened to everything from the Jackson 5 to The Temptations, and even music that's out today. The New Edition style. back in that time, we didn't have BET or MTV, so a lot of our influences came from groups that were around the way. We went to talent shows and saw groups like The Untouchables and The Transitions that really inspired us to sing. We hooked up with our manager and choreographer, who gave us our name and tailored our style, and that's basically how we came up with that.
Q: Were you comfortable with being labeled "the Jackson 5 of the '80s?"
When we performed at the talent show in Boston, where the first prize was a demo contract on [Maurice Starr's] label, we did a medley and one of the songs that we did was a Jackson 5 song. They were a big influence on us. We always wanted to have a fiveman group and when we performed at that show, we were only four because we couldn't find a fifth member at the time. When Maurice Starr saw us, we coincided with what he was looking for. He was sitting on some songs that were already written, and he was waiting for the right act to record them. We didn't win the talent show; we came in second place, but he surprised us when we went up to accept our award and said that he would still bring us to the studio and work with us.