SWV
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| SWV | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Sisters With Voices |
| Origin | Image:Flag of the United States.svg New York, New York, United States |
| Genre(s) | R&B, New jack swing, Hip hop soul, Dance |
| Years active | 1990 – 1998 2005 – 2007 |
| Label(s) | RCA |
| Associated acts | Teddy Riley, Brian Alexander Morgan, Pharrell Williams |
| Members | |
| Tamara "Taj" Johnson Leanne "Lelee" Lyons | |
| Former members | |
| Cheryl "Coko" Clemons | |
SWV, also known as Sisters With Voices, is an American female R&B trio from New York that formed as three school friends in 1990: Cheryl "Coko" Gamble-Clemons (born June 13, 1973), Tamara "Taj" Johnson-George (born April 1973), and Leanne "Lelee" Lyons (born July 17, 1974). They were a hugely successful group of the 1990s, dominating the R&B charts with a slew of hits. SWV has sold 27 million records worldwide. Their biggest hit today is Right Here/Human Nature featuring Michael Jackson it stayed number one for 10 weeks straight and sold over 2 million singles.
Contents |
[edit] Career
All three girls began singing in church at young ages. Brian Alexander Morgan took notice of a demo tape the trio created. He was one of the main producers responsible for the making of their debut album, It's About Time, released in 1992. The album went double platinum within its first year of release, then being certified triple platinum early 1994. So far the album has sold over 3.6 Million copies in the U.S. alone. SWV's series of top 10 hits on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart made them one of the most successful and popular urban groups of the 1990s. The girls originally wanted to name themselves "TLC", for Taj, Lelee, and Coko, but they were beaten to the punch by T-Boz, Left-Eye, and Chilli less than a year earlier.
Their first single, "Right Here", was released in the autumn of 1992. It peaked at #13 on the R&B chart, but the hit follow-up single, "I'm So Into You", is what caused them to become a commercial force among urban fans. The two singles were followed by the biggest hits of their career, "Weak" and "Right Here/Human Nature," a remix of their first single featuring samples of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature", produced by New Jack Swing pioneer Teddy Riley. Right Here/Human Nature also contains a small rap performed by a young and then unknown Pharrell Williams. "Weak" became their only single to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart where it stayed for 2 weeks while "Right Here/Human Nature" peaked at #2. Their fifth single, "You're Always on My Mind" was another top ten R&B hit. In December 1993 the group was honored with 11 Billboard Music Award nominations.
In the spring of 1994, SWV contributed the old school radio version of "Anything", featuring Wu-Tang Clan to the soundtrack of the movie Above the Rim; it became another hit single. Their remix EP, The Remixes, was unleashed the same year and reached gold status by the end of the year. In the summer of 1995, they lended their vocals to Blackstreet's top 40 hit "Tonight's The Night".
The trio returned in 1996 with a second album, New Beginning, and had another #1 R&B hit with the song "You're The One" and follow-up single "Use Your Heart" was a Top 10 R&B hit. The album was followed by next single, "Can We" produced by Timbaland and Missy Elliott, which appeared on the Booty Call soundtrack. Then they released a third album Release Some Tension in 1997, which featured a bevy of guest appearances by rappers Lil' Kim, Missy Elliott, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, Snoop Dogg, and E-40. Release Some Tension contained the hits "Someone" and "Rain" (another Top 10 R&B Hit). Later that year, they released a Christmas album titled A Special Christmas.
SWV disbanded in 1998 and Gamble moved on to continue with a solo career. Her solo debut, Hot Coko, was released in 1999, but the album and its main single, "Sunshine," which was dedicated to Coko's firstborn son Jazz, did not receive much commercial attention. The compilation Greatest Hits was released in 1999.
[edit] Personal life
Taj is married to former Dallas Cowboys and Tennessee Titans football player Eddie George and recently gave birth to a baby boy, Eriq Michael George. Taj and Eddie are currently starring in a reality television series on the TV One Network called I Married A Baller. Coko's son Jazz was from a previous relationship with Butterfly of the Hip Hop group Digable Planets. Coko is now married to producer/drummer Mike Clemons and the couple had a son named Jalen together. Lelee has been raising two children of her own; conceiving one child at 15 and the other at 17 years of age.
[edit] Reunion and latest happenings
In 2005, SWV reunited with plans for a new album. They performed in their first live performance in eight years at Los Angeles urban radio station KKBT 100.3 "The Beat"'s summerjam concert on August 20, 2005. They also appeared on the 2006 New Jack Reunion Tour and in 2007 they served as one of the opening acts for New Edition in Augusta, Georgia.
Meanwhile, Coko, now a gospel singer, has signed with Light Records, a division of Artemis Records. Faith Evans, Fantasia Barrino and Lil Mo collaborated with Coko on her second album called Grateful.[1] Her first single "Clap Your Hands" hit radio airwaves on many urban contemporary gospel radio stations in August 2006. The album itself was released October 31, 2006.[2]
The girls were recently featured in the XXL spin-off magazine "XXL Hip-Hop Soul" where they discussed single releases from their groundbreaking debut album It's About Time. In the interview, lead singer Coko mentioned that the group would no longer perform sexually-explicit songs such as "Downtown" and "Can We" anymore out of a new respect for her beliefs as a Christian.[3] It turned out the SWV reunion was put together to fix their friendship since their 1999 breakup. However, because of Coko's newfound spirituality, she refused to sing a number of the group's hit songs. Eventually, Coko told the rest of the group that she felt too strong of a conviction from singing their catalogue, and have since elected to no longer move forward with a SWV reunion. SWV had their last performance on June 30th. 2007 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Some clips are available on YouTube.
[edit] Trivia
| Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- In October 2004, "I'm So Into You" appeared in popular videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on R&B, Soul radio station CSR 103.9.
- Coko was the prominent background singer in Will Smith's Grammy-winning song "Men in Black".
- Brian Alexander Morgan originally wrote the song Weak for R&B singer Chante Moore, but shyed out on giving it to her, because he had a serious crush on her.
- Taj of SWV makes a cameo appearance in videos such as Lil Kim's "Ladies Night" and Missy Elliott's "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)".
- The Vocals for SWV's "Rain" were recorded the same day that Missy Elliott's "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" video was filmed.
- Chingy's "Pullin' Me Back" samples SWV's "Rain".
- In the video for "Rain," Tyrese makes a cameo appearance as a driver of the vehicle SWV is riding in.
- American Idol star Antonella Barba is a huge fan of the group.
- SWV is known to perform a remake of Patti Labelle's "If Only You Knew" in their concerts, which is a crowd pleaser, also Coko performed the song on Motown Live when she was a Solo Artist around the year 2000.
- SWV are referenced on the Ghostface Killah song "Winter Warz" by Cappadonna. "Because your weak in the knees like SWV, tryin' to get a title like Wu Killa Bees"
- Coko is a First soprano, Taj is a Contralto and Lelee is a 2nd Soprano and Coko have been known to hit the whistle register in SWV song Downtown.
- SWV sales of their CD's (Including remixes, LP'S and Music DVD'S)are kept hidden from fans and other people who are interested in them. Sites have said SWV sold more than fifthteen million albums not including the remixes, LP's and other misc albums.
- Famous Fans of SWV include Patti Labelle, Destiny Child, the late Aaliyah, Whitney Houston, Kelly Price, Miss Jones, Xscape who were good friends of SWV, Joe, Christina Aguilera, Jojo, Tyrese, Michael Jackson, Method Man, Tyson Beckford and many other superstars.
- For their first cars both Lelee and Coko had a BMW and Taj had a Jeep Grand Cherokee.
- SWV got signed with RCA in 1990.
- SWV is the third best selling R&B group after only Destiny Child and TLC.
- SWV toured in other countries to some of the countries were Japan who had over 15,000 fans in attendance, UK, Australia, Italy, Brazil, China, South Africa and many other countries, making them one of the only R&B groups to tour worldwide.
- SWV garnered enormous attention with their auspicious debut. They received nominations for a Grammy Award, an American Music Award and The Source Award in 1993. They won a Children's Choice Award and a BET "Best of Video Soul" Award. As if that weren't enough, they wowed audiences on a national tour with Bobby Brown, were "poster girls" for Cross Colours, appeared on "The Tonight Show", "Arsenio Hall", "New York Undercover", hosted "Showtime At The Apollo", and were chronicled in several notable publications, such as People, Us, Ebony, Essence, USA Today and Vibe.
- Coko is known to be one of the highest ranged Sopranos in the business, and is able to sing in the seventh octave, and can sing high in her head register as well. She is also known to do good riffs and runs and she can switch notes very quickly.
- In 2007 Coko grabbed a Grammy nomination for her hit gospel CD Greatfull.
[edit] Tours
- 1994 Sisters With Voices Tour
- 1994-1995 Europe Tour
- 1996 New Beginnings Tour
- 1997-1999 Release Some Tension
- 2005-2007 New Jack Swing Tour
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- It's About Time (1992) Pop #8 / R&B #2 6.3 million copies sold (RIAA)
- The Remixes (EP) (1994) Pop #92 / R&B #9 500,000 copies sold (RIAA)
- New Beginning (1996) Pop #9 / R&B #3 4 million copies sold (RIAA)
- Release Some Tension (1997) Pop #24 / R&B #5 2.5 million copies sold Platinum (RIAA)
- A Special Christmas (1997) R&B #85
- Greatest Hits (1999)
- Best of SWV (2001)
- Platinum and Gold Collection (2003)
[edit] Solo Albums
[edit] Coko
- Hot Coko (1999) R&B #14 / Pop #68 [4]
- Grateful (2006) R&B #40 / Indie #21
[edit] Singles
| Year | Title | Album | US | US R&B | UK | Single Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | "Right Here" | It's About Time | 92 | 16 | - | 300,000 |
| 1992 | "I'm So Into You" | It's About Time | 6 | 2 | 17 | 800,000 |
| 1993 | "Weak" | It's About Time | 1 | 1 | 33 | 1.5 Million |
| 1993 | "Right Here/Human Nature" | It's About Time | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2.3 Million |
| 1993 | "Downtown" | It's About Time | 3 | 1 | 8 | 1 Million |
| 1994 | "You're Always On My Mind" | It's About Time | 54 | 8 | - | |
| 1994 | "Anything" | It's About Time | 18 | 4 | 24 | 942,000 |
| 1996 | "You're the One" | New Beginning | 5 | 1 | 13 | 1.1 Million |
| 1996 | "Use Your Heart" | New Beginning | 22 | 6 | - | 750,000 |
| 1997 | "It's All About U" | New Beginning | 61 | 32 | 36 | 400,106 |
| 1997 | "Can We (Featuring Missy Elliott)" | Release Some Tension | 75 | 31 | 18 | 1 Million |
| 1997 | "Someone (Featuring Sean Puffy Combs)" | Release Some Tension | 19 | 5 | 34 | 1 Million |
| 1998 | "Rain" | Release Some Tension | 25 | 7 | - | 1.8 Million |
[edit] Solo Singles
[edit] Coko
- 1999 "Sunshine" #70 US #19 R&B
- 2006 "Clap Your Hands"
- 2006 "I Get Joy"
[edit] Awards & nominations
| Year | Award |
|---|---|
| 1993 | American Music Award nomination for Favorite New Artist - Pop / Rock |
| 1993 | American Music Award nomination for Favorite Band, Duo or Group - Soul / Rhythm & Blues |
| 1993 | American Music Award nomination for Favorite Album - Soul / Rhythm & Blues ("It's About Time") |
| 1993 | American Music Award nomination for Favorite New Artist - Soul / Rhythm & Blues |
| 1993 | Billboard Music Award Win for Top Hot 100 Singles Artists - Duos/Group |
| 1993 | Billboard Music Award Win for Top R&B Artists - Duos/Group |
| 1993 | Billboard Music Award Win for Top R&B Singles Artists - Duos/Group |
| 1993 | Billboard Music Award nomination for Top Pop Artists - Duo/Group |
| 1993 | Billboard Music Award nomination for Top New Pop Artist |
| 1993 | Billboard Music Award nomination for Top Hot 100 Singles Artist |
| 1993 | Billboard Music Award nomination for Top Hot 100 Airplay Track for "Weak" |
| 1993 | Billboard Music Award nomination for Top R&B Artist |
| 1993 | Billboard Music Award nomination for Top New R&B Artist |
| 1993 | Billboard Music Award nomination for Top R&B Album Artists - Duos/Group |
| 1993 | Billboard Music Award nomination for Top R&B Singles Artist |
| 1994 | Grammy Award nomination for Best New Artist |
| 1994 | Billboard Music Award nomination for Top R&B Singles Artists - Duos/Group |
| 1994 | Billboard Music Award nomination for Top R&B Artists - Duos/Group |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Bonner, Gerald. Grateful Album Review. GospelFlava.com.
- ^ Interview with Coko: A New Beginning. GospelFlava.com.
- ^ The Black Shakespeare Chronicles — The Rebirth of Coko. GospelCity.com (January 23, 2007).
- ^ Coko Chart History. Billboard.com.
