K-Ci & JoJo :: Red Entertainment Booking Agency

K-Ci & JoJo
Whether singing of love or loss, joy or heartbreak, K-Ci & JoJo always make a place for the genuine. The brothers broke big last year, thanks largely to the #1 smash hit "All My Life" from their multi-platinum debut album Love Always. Many months of dizzying success, including a world tour, two Grammy nods and an American Music Award, only reaffirmed the duo's commitment to keeping it real. So even if K-Ci & JoJo hadn't titled their new MCA album It's Real, their fans might have called it that anyway. 

Working with a variety of top flight producer/songwriters, such as Babyface, Rory Bennett, Ralph Stacy, Daryl Pearson, and Emanuel Officer, K-Ci & JoJo ended up writing and producing more than half of the new album themselves, further expanding their considerable talents. "I got my feet wet as a producer on It's Real," says JoJo. "It was a challenge, but one I wanted to get into." 

As founding members of the multi-platinum-selling band Jodeci, K-Ci & JoJo have had long experience with success, yet both agree that only now have they finally found their own unique voice. "On the last album we were still trying to find our sound," says K-Ci. "On this one, we've matured. Now we know what our sound is all about, and this album reflects that 100%." 

Trading leads on every song, both K-Ci & JoJo put everything into their vocals, drawing on their gospel backgrounds to ignite fires of passion. The album's first single, "Tell Me It's Real," is a classic love ballad filled with lush harmonies and tender sentiments. With its hushed intro and explosive chorus, "Hello Darlin'" addresses the longing for a distant lover, while "Here He Comes Again," co-written by Babyface, is an equally moving ballad warning a cherished lover away from an abusive relationship. 

K-Ci & JoJo revisit their old Jodeci style on "Fee Fie Fo Fum," a funky ballad about suspicion minds, while "Girl" is a boisterously upbeat love song in the great pop/R&B tradition. Other songs like the intense "What Am I Gonna Do" and the sleek "I Wanna Make Love To You" reveal the flip sides of love, while "Makin' Me Say Goodbye" and the achingly beautiful "How Long Must I Cry" are twin pleas to ease the pain of love gone wrong. The album ends with a surprise, the upbeat "Mama's Song," which boasts lyrics by Anita Hailey, K-Ci & JoJo's mother and a fine gospel singer in her own right. "She was watching TV one day," recalls K-Ci, "and getting upset about all the crazy stuff in the world today. So she wrote the lyrics, we set them to music, and put the song on the album." 

That kind of family connection should come as no surprise to those familiar with K-Ci & JoJo. The two Hailey brothers, originally from Charlotte, NC grew up in a home filled with music, family, love and life. While still in their teens, they hooked up with DeVante and Dalvin Swing, two friends from the local church choir. At first, they drew attention locally as a gospel quartet, but later they began singing secular songs and decided to take their chances in the big city. 

The four, calling themselves Jodeci, headed for New York, where a now-legendary impromptu audition at Uptown/MCA Records landed them a record deal. The group recorded three hit albums, beginning with 1991's Forever My Lady, followed by Diary of a Mad Band and The Show, The Afterparty, The Hotel. All crossed the double-platinum mark thanks to hit singles like "Come And Talk To Me," "Stay," "Forever My Lady," "Cry For You," and "Lately." Jodeci struck a nerve as an R&B vocal group, and they found great success around the world. As close as the foursome was, K-Ci & JoJo dropped hints of their ambitions to go duo when they provided lyrics on Tupac Shakur's 1996 hit "How Do You Want It." 

That same year, the two began work on Love Always, working with producers like Mtume, Babyface, and DeVante of Jodeci. The album was released in June 1997 and began a steady rise to the top. The hit singles "All My Life" and “Don't Rush" catapulted K-Ci & JoJo to the top of the charts and into the mainstream of the world music scene. "The success made us closer," says JoJo. "As artists, everyday we'd walk on stage and get a whole new respect for each other. Of course, as family, we always had that respect." Whereas with Jodeci they'd been used to large, but primarily urban crowds, "now we were getting the whole rainbow," notes K-Ci. "Everybody was coming out to see us. Yes, we are a deeply-rooted R&B group, but good music is good music, and anyone can enjoy it." Highlights during that exciting time were having a #1 song, earning two Grammy nominations(Best R&B Performance, Duo or Group with Vocal and Best R&B Song for "All My Life") and winning the American Music Award for Favorite R&B/Soul Band, Duo, or Gr
oup. 

After wrapping up their world tour and filled with a new confidence, K-Ci & JoJo returned to the studio to begin work on It's Real. "We have a tight-knit team," says JoJo. "Our manager Damon Jones and us. We set things up so that the pressure wasn't there. Some people come off a big album and start worrying too much about what worked last time. But you can never really recreate the past. So you just go in, do what feels right, and hope it sticks." Adds K-Ci, "We just want our fans to know that there is no K-Ci & JoJo without them. We take responsibility for what we sing, for our image, because we know kids look up to us." With the simultaneous worldwide release of It's Real, the months ahead will be incredibly busy for K-Ci & JoJo, but the two are up for it. They've got the good will and good wishes of countless fans behind them, as well as a spectacular new album. And that's about as real as it gets.
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