when one thinks of the late 80s and early 90s influx of male r b
singing groups that would go on to produce timeless hits that everyone knows the words to
names like shy silk and jodeci automatically come to mind right
but what about portrait the r b vocal quartet consisting of members michelangelo salisbury
irving washington iii eric kirkland and philip johnson may not be talked about as much as the
aforementioned artists but they definitely made their mark in the genre as well initially a couple
of the guys started out as a production team producing and writing for other artists in the
late 80s they then made their vocal debut in 1992 with their self-titled album under capitol records
their debut single here we go again which sampled michael jackson's off the wall track
i can't help it reach number 11 on the billboard hot 100 and number three on the r b chart
their second single honey dip would also become a top 20 r b head portrait rode the wave of their
success all the way to the small and big screens appearing on a number of movie soundtracks between
93 and 94 including adam's family values and blank man as well as being featured on the black
men united song you will know for jason's lyric they were also featured on a memorable episode
of the hit abc sitcom family matters during the fourth season performing at the high school prom
three years later their second album all that matters dropped it had a few
minor hits with i can call you and how deep is your love a cover of the bg's number one song
the group also provided backing vocals on the quincy jones single slow jams
which featured babyface and tamiya on lead vocals from his 1995 project q's juke join
a third album was released the very next year but only in japan and probably as a result didn't make
any waves on the charts after that the group wasn't heard from again for nearly a decade
portrait finally resurfaced in 2005 with a new lineup eric and irving left and pj demarks and
reuben r c mong former lead singer of r b band po broken lonely were added they also dropped a new
album titled share my love once again it got pretty much the same reception as their third
album no doubt influenced by its exclusive release in asia another long hiatus followed
until 2018 when the now trio after pj's departure released a brand new single called in the moment
in anticipation of their forthcoming project former members eric and irving
were asked on several occasions if they wanted to join in bringing the group back but both declined
because of prior commitments in a 2018 interview with soul interviews.com michael and philip told
an endearing story about having ran into quincy jones the year prior before they could get a word
in he immediately hugged them apologized and reassured them that the downfall of the group
was really just a classic case of them being ahead of their time they were also very candid about
the true motivation behind their comeback for them it wasn't about money it was about wanting
to be heard and doing it for the love of the yard their latest project afrotrees ultimately
got off the ground in early 2020. around the same time all four original members made an appearance
on dj birds the group's official dj's youtube channel for an in-depth interview the discussion
was full of walks down memory lane laughs and love for one another they reiterated that they
never had any bad blood between them and they only separated when they did to focus on their
families and personal lives they likewise share their collective desire to come together as the
original four to produce more projects whenever their schedules would allow later that year the
original foursome surprised everyone by making an appearance on dj cassidy's pass the mic vol
3. they grace their fans with a dose of harmonic nostalgia performing their hit here we go again
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