|
|
14-May-1998 Thursday
Last month, singers K-Ci and JoJo dethroned Will Smith's "Gettin' Jiggy Wit
It" to score the No. 1 pop single in the nation.
In completing their meteoric rise, jumping from No. 15 in their triumphant
week, the brothers -- more properly, Cedric and Joel Hailey -- cut quite a
jiggy figure themselves, as their stylishly old-school romantic balladry
topped the once-Fresh Prince's trendy hip-hop.
Remarkably, the Haileys' comet, a sincere JoJo Hailey composition called
"All My Life," is K-Ci and JoJo's first pop hit. The first two singles from
the duo's debut album, aptly titled "Love Always," were segregated onto the
urban/R&B charts; a similar fate happened to Jodeci, the Haileys'
now-on-hiatus partnership with another pair of brothers, Dalvin and Donald
Degrate Jr. (The latter, who appears on "Forever Love," is better known as
Devante Swing.)
Perhaps even more remarkable, "All My Life" almost didn't end up on the
duo's album.
"I was writing this song for someone else, actually. I was trying to write
this song for Amy Grant, I believe," a rather sheepish JoJo Hailey admitted
by phone last week from Austin, Texas, where the duo was preparing to
perform a date with fellow romantic smoothies Boyz II Men. (They team up
again Wednesday at the San Diego Sports Arena.)
But JoJo did record the song "and we were kind of nervous," he recalled.
"Because of the strong urban base that we had . . . this really wasn't a
song you could listen to and right away you say, `This is a K-Ci and JoJo
song.'
"So we talked to our manager and he said, `Let's keep it.' K-Ci heard it
and everybody had a feeling about it. Everybody said, `Let's not give it
away.'
"So we kept it and, still, nobody really believed in it at first; it was
just on the album and it didn't come out (as a single) until the third
song."
"All My Life" reached the top in a relatively hype-free fashion. Starting
at a radio station in Honolulu and then sweeping across the mainland, the
ladies-friendly ballad became a by-request phenomenon.
The song's success is "giving us a chance to show that we can be accepted
in any type or genre of music," JoJo said, "from R&B to pop -- as long as
it's good music. People seem to be accepting it, and that's what we're
happy about.
"Before, we always felt we were limited. The pop stations or the crossover
stations wouldn't give us a chance. You'd say, `Oh, that's Jodeci,' so
automatically that's an urban record. But this time they were open to it
and people accepted us just for our singing, and (did) not put us in a
category."
"All My Life" is especially satisfying for JoJo. In a rare solo turn, he
both wrote the lyrics and sang all the vocals, rather than relying on the
duo's trademark interplay between K-Ci's imploring delivery and his own
more laid-back style.
If the double-platinum "Love Always" finds the Haileys growing away from
their image in Jodeci, where they adopted something of a bad-boy pose, it
also harks back to their pre-Jodeci musical upbringing.
"We have a very heavy gospel background," JoJo explained. "We made three
gospel records before this, as kids. So we decided to go into the R&B thing
when we were 15, 16, 17 years old."
Now 28 and 26, K-Ci and JoJo decided to try "the R&B thing" after running
into their future Jodeci mates at a recording studio. (Actually, K-Ci and
Dalvin were fighting outside the studio, JoJo said with a laugh, while he
and Devante Swing were inside discovering their common musical ground.)
Jodeci was modeled on the more soulful groups of the time, like the Deele
-- led by key influence Babyface, who contributed a song to "Love Always"
-- the youthful New Edition and the Terry Riley-led Guy, widely acclaimed
for pioneering new jack swing.
Although their vocals often were overshadowed by the group's sample-heavy
sound -- "Jodeci's music was really phat beats and grooves," JoJo said --
K-Ci and JoJo managed to carry on an R&B tradition, eventually earning
favorable comparisons to the likes of Al Green, Bobby Womack and David
Ruffin.
That placed them in marked contrast to the prevailing trends, toward
streetwise bravado and beat-centric dance music and away from, well . . .
"Real singing?" JoJo replied, helpfully. "Yeah, I think so. I think in the
end the real singers are always going to be the ones who survive."
DATEBOOK
Boyz II Men, K-Ci and JoJo, Uncle Sam, Destiny's Child and Mya
8 p.m Wednesday; San Diego Sports Arena, 3500 Sports Arena Blvd., Midway
area. $25 to $60; (619) 220-TIXS.
More Articles
