allure may not be as well known as other 90s r b girl groups like tlc swv and in vogue but
they made their mark their way also during the decade with their undeniable beauty and talent
however while dealing with the exit of one member and enough label changes to
make anyone's head spin they haven't been able to duplicate the success they once experienced
let's find out whatever happened to allure
allure formed in 1996 originally operating as a quartet with members aaliyah gray formerly
davis akissa mendez lilisha sanders and lenny belcher aaliyah lilisha and akissa
decided to form the group while they all were attending fiorello h laguardia high school of
music and art and performing arts in new york city the school that famously served as the inspiration
for the 1980 hit movie and subsequent tv show fame they ended up deciding to add a
fourth member lenny belcher who was attending a different high school at the time also in new york
over the next couple of years their hard work eventually gained the attention of poke one half
of the widely successful hip-hop production team trackmasters who's worked with some of the biggest
names in hip-hop and r b including nas ll cool j mary j blige jay-z jennifer lopez and mariah carey
allure didn't realize it at the time but teaming up with poke would ultimately set their career on
a collision course towards success while working on their debut album after signing with le face
records one of the singles leaked to mariah and not only did she love their sound but she insisted
on meeting them after singing live for her mariah knew she needed to make them an offer and allure
accepted becoming the first artist sign to her now defunct record label crave records in 1997.
prior to their self-titled debut album dropping in may of the same year they released two singles one
of which head over heels featuring rapper nas did make some waves on the billboard hot 100
peaking at number 35 but it was their third single that ultimately gave the group their
big push into the spotlight all cried out a cover version of the lisa lisa and cult jam 80s classic
featuring r b mail group 112 reached number four on the billboard hot 100
and became their biggest hit to date and was the driving force catapulting the album to gold status
the high from all cried out however didn't last long crave records dissolved which
left the group in limbo and needing new representation they initially found a home
at columbia records but were only able to release two movie soundtrack songs you're
the only one for me from runaway bride and when the shades go down from the best man
they then signed with mca records in 2000 and dropped a couple of singles as well as their
sophomore album none of which did very well on the charts possibly due in part to not receiving
much support from the label soon after lenny belcher now known as hemly decided to leave the
group and the other three members carried on as a trio in the years to follow the group released
several singles without much fanfare their third album chapter 3 finally arrived in 2004
after signing with true warrior records a label owned by former nba forward ron artest
also for a time known as meta world peace and currently as metta sanderford hyphen
artes
the album did about as well as their second album and much of the little attention that
it did receive was due to our tests nba suspension during that year's season
over the next several years aaliyah and alicia married they toured all over europe and worked
on their reality show that never ended up airing in 2010 they formed their own label
and release their first ep followed up by their fourth album time's up
after taking some time off to recover from their roller coaster experiences and focus on family
the group publicly announced in 2018 that they were working on a new album which has yet to be
released the single like i do with accompanying music video also debuted at the end of that year
in october 2020 allure and mariah carey's names
came together once again for a social media face-off the group publicly called
out their former boss in an instagram post after finding out that in her recently released memoir
the meaning of mariah carey the pop icon did not mention the group when speaking
about her short-lived label even though some of their label mates did receive acknowledgement
they also included with the post an old video clip circa 1997 where they speak about being the first
act signed to the label our first release is a group called allure so quick introduction lalisha
the single is called head over heels nas is is on it and i worked on it with the track masters
who are really incredible producers with us for the group and we was like
great we got some songs let's do it and then there's a beautiful ballad that mariah wrote
called last chance that is so massive that our batting average should be one for one
the post clearly highlights the hurt and disappointment the group felt about the
omission the quote slap in the face they felt was probably also compounded by the fact that
over the years the group has had a couple of not so pleasant run-ins with the pop diva
according to a report from hip-hop radio station hot 97 mariah accused one of the group members
of trying to have her jumped in a popular new york city club that they both attended one night
on another occasion while waiting in the lobby of a venue to perform at a christmas party
mariah walked in took one look at them acted like she didn't see the group and walked away
since the downfall of the label happened right around the time of mariah's divorce
from tommy mottola ceo of sony music entertainment which crave records was under
there was speculation that he not only played a major role in taking down the label but also
possibly barring mariah from speaking about it in detail according to the divorce settlement allure
also didn't want to take any chances of the posts going unnoticed so they made sure to tag mariah
at the time of the recording of this video she has yet to respond
in typical overzealous fashion mariah's lambs lambasted the group and let them know that
they were not going to let their queen be called out and disrespected on their watch
which resulted in allure temporarily setting their page to private thanks for watching
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