You remember Dru Hill, don’t you? They were the four member group from Baltimore, named after a popular hometown park. With their platinum blond frontman Sisqo, possessor of one of R&B’s most potent voices, Dru Hill dominated R&B in the 90’s with hits like “Tell Me,” “We’re Not Making Love No More” “Never Make a Promise” and “In My Bed.”
In their heyday, Tamar “Nokio,” Ruffin, James “Woody Rock” Green, Mark “Sisqo” Andrews and Larry “Jazz” Anthony recorded seven top 40 hits and were among the most popular R&B groups of the era. But as is the story in many groups, whether the members are male or female, disputes over money, fame and differing life paths forced the group into dormancy after their last album together in 2003.
Now, they’re mounting a comeback, without original member Green who quit the group to pursue a career in gospel. (He returned at one point to record with his old bandmates, but quit again during a radio station interview in 2008, which prompted fisticuffs between him and bandmate Nokio).
The remaining members went on without him, holding auditions in Baltimore for a new member. Another native Baltimorean, Antwone “Tao”Simpson, blew them away in the audition and is now Dru’s fourth member.
Dru Hill will release “InDRUpendence Day” in June but will be live on the Fantastic Voyage 2010 www.blackamericaweb.com/fv2010 first. Don’t expect a total departure from their classic Dru Hill sound on “InDRUpendence Day.” Consider it an evolution, says Sisqo, who had his own solo success with the hits “Incomplete” and the pop phenomenon “The Thong Song.”
“Good hooks, good songs that are still there,” Sisqo told Centric.com. “But I think the best thing you can look for from this album is giving the younger generation something to look up to. There’s not really a group out there that’s kind of doing the singing that we do where everybody’s singing and harmonizing.”
The group has two preview singles out “Love MD” and “She Wants Me” – and you can listen to them here www.druhillonline.com. They will also be appearing on a Centric reality show called “Platinum House,” which debuts May 20th.
Singer Keith Sweat who collaborated with Dru Hill in the past suggested the group do the show to document their journey. It promises to show some of the ups and downs of their career and their comeback.
“I think it really gives an insight into the life and times of us as a group,” Sisqo says. “You get to see us interact together; you get to see us get along [and] not get along. There are a lot of questions that people have and I think “Platinum House” answers them. The title of the show is awesome because every album we’ve ever released has been either platinum or higher. So we only expect the same thing for the show.”
The group may face an uphill battle for the attention of music fans given their lengthy absence from the music game. Things have changed dramatically since their four-part harmonies reigned supreme. On the music front, technology and hip-hop have supplanted R&B and groups have become almost non-existent. But Dru Hill believes they still have something strong to offer music lovers.
“The pop sound did dominate when we did our last album and right now most of the R&B is kind of like pop R&B, you know?,” Nokio told BET.com. “With what we did with this album, we’re businessmen at the same time- we’re not stupid enough to make a record that’s not going to catch people’s ear. We made sure we took some of the elements in music today and incorporated it with what we do. But as always, the foundation is our melodies, the harmonies and singing songs about real stuff that happens every day.”
