[Music] foreign
public came onto the music scene in the early 90s as part of the New Jack Swing explosion they were
noticeably different however in the sense that the members actually play their own instruments the
group consists of lead singer and bass guitarist Kevin Kev Scott keyboardist and guitarist Joe J
Carter percussionist and drummer Dwight du Wyatt and lead guitarist Joe J.R Salas one
of eight children CAD listened to every record he could get his hands on Growing Up old and new he
started playing an older brothers guitar at age seven and has been making music ever since Dew
got his start in music by practicing on the pots and pans in his house eventually he was gifted
some Bongos Jake was in a church choir and also played trumpet he was about 12 when he joined
a neighborhood band that Kev and do would also take part in he never intended to make a career
out of music though he had dreams of NBA stardom but never grew to the ideal height Jr was always
more interested in music than anything else he started playing in his first band by the age of
10. the group originally began as two Bands J Kev and Dew got together in the seventh grade
as part of a 15-member band when they decided to really get serious about their music they
broke free of the other members during this time Jr was in a separate group when his band broke
up Kev du and Jake invited him to join them they played proms clubs and Parks under various names
including their last one attention in 1987 the group participated in a local Battle of the Bands
contest where music executive Lionel job saw them play he knew the group had potential but felt they
needed refinement the band worked on their craft at Aloft in Buffalo provided by Lionel who then
became their manager their diligent work helped them hone their writing skills and sharpened their
musical abilities two years later they released the album deaf on arrival under the name of
attention which also featured two other members bringing the total number to Six they released
two singles let me push it to you and crazy about you which were moderately successful on the r b
charts after those other two members left the band decided that they needed to do an aim change since
there were two Joes in the group they joked around one night and came up with Joe Public
public came about after they looked up the word in the dictionary and found that one definition was
to serve the people they all agree that the name suited them Joe public then moved to New York City
where they put in 16-hour days in the rehearsal Studio meanwhile Lionel began playing their demo
tape to Major record companies one day he received an offer from Columbia Records their self-titled
debut album was released on Columbia in 1992. it contained their hit single live and learn which
became their only top 40 hit peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 the track made
waves internationally as well well breaking top 10 charts in Belgium Canada and the Netherlands
in a 1992 interview with the Buffalo News the ban explained the message behind the song we're trying
to live what we say in that song which is you have to learn from your own experience we've seen a lot
in the places where we grew up there's a lot of bad things out there like dope that can destroy
black people and black neighborhoods we're not a message band but live and learn is a message
song you got to learn what's right and try to do it to help yourself you can't be discouraged or
think negative the members of Joe public can be proud to say that they play live music on their
records and in performance they've made a point of moving away from technology and drum machines back
to live instruments they also write and perform all their own material we want to inspire Young
Musicians to go out there and start playing their own instruments I mean when we started
playing people would come up to us and say wow you really play your own instruments it's like
nobody plays anymore we want to change that to us us everything starts with a song and a Melody
that's what matters most and to think they almost gave up hope of ever making it at one point they
had no money at all and had to sleep on the floor one thing they did have a lot of was the belief in
themselves that they would make it the band's follow-up single I miss you didn't fare well
on the Hot 100 but did become a top 10 r b chart song a few other singles were also released barely
touching any charge MTV invited Joe public to serve as performers and house band for the first
ever MTV Unplugged r b Edition starring Boyz II Men and Shanice Wilson Joe public was also the
backup band for Chris Cross for their appearance on the Arsenio Hall Show they later released their
second and last studio album to date Easy Come Easy Go in 1994. it didn't make the album chart
nor did the title song and Lead single do well Joe public then hosted the NBA Jams music video
which was a VHS promotional release for the video game NBA Jam tournament Edition it contained music
videos intercut with professional basketball highlight footage including their hit live and
learn after rapidly declining success Joe public ended up dissolving by 1995. although the members
would go on to write produce and arrange for numerous popular r b and pop stars such as Keith
Sweat and Tyrese Jake specifically formed his own production company and studio in 2013 Joe public
was inducted into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame Joe actually thought the ban was already in when a
friend of his was inducted the year before he went and did some research what he found was nothing as
in the band's name despite its popularity was nowhere to be found on the roster so he quickly
got to work on a nomination the musician and songwriter who first picked up the guitar after he
received one as a Christmas gift from his mother told the Niagara Gazette honestly I thought we
were already in but I was excited when I found out to go into any Hall of Fame is an honor
[Music]