blaque an acronym that stands for believing in life and achieving a quest for unity in everything was
way ahead of their time when they burst onto the music scene on the cusp of the new millennium
in 1999 they had multiple hit songs a platinum album and worked with some of the biggest names in
the music industry like tlc and nsync then after a long hiatus they decided to make a comeback
that ultimately was not meant to be when the group tragically lost one of its beloved members
this is the story of r b girl group blaque
new york city born natina reed and detroit born shimari fears met in atlanta georgia
in elementary school after both families relocated shimari developed an interest in music and started
performing publicly at a very young age she formed a group called intrigue and they went on to win a
recording contract with elektra records while she was doing her thing with her group natina did the
same with the group she formed called blaque while a member of the group intrigued shamari attended
a talent show where she was introduced to brandy williams who would later go on to become the third
member of black eventually shimari left intrigue to team up with netina in black who had separated
with the original members they needed a third person and invited brandy to join shortly after
originally the group was named black ivory and they were forced to change it since another group
already had the name that group was american so they were still able to use the original name
outside of the country while peddling jingles for extra money netina crossed paths with
ronald lopez brother of lisa leftie lopez one third of mega successful r b girl group tlc
he introduced natina to his sister and after hitting it off black was signed to her production
company left eye productions left eye also played an instrumental role in helping the group
sign a major deal with columbia records through their association with left eye
black was able to join in on other artists project before striking out on their own the world got
their first glimpse of the group when they made a cameo in the 1997 music video for little kim's not
tonight remix which also featured left eye along with de brat missy elliott and angie martinez
after a couple more years of hard work black's debut album dropped the self-titled album went
on to reach certified platinum status largely due in part to the lead single 808 penned by natina
and r kelly the follow-up single bring it all to me featuring jc chase of nsync
did even better than 808 climbing all the way to number five on the billboard hot 100 singles chart
left eye's influence was especially evident in the group's fashion style on the album cover
as well as their music videos the third and final single off the album i do didn't fare as well
however that was the least of the group's worries because in the summer of 1999 black got a great
opportunity to tour as one of the opening acts for nsync and later that year on tlc's fan mail tour
the following year the group was bitten by the acting bug and all three members starred
as east compton clover's cheerleaders in the hit teen comedy bring it on of course it was
only natural that they would also lend their vocals to the movie's soundtrack which they did
with an up-tempo song called as if for unknown reasons as the group was getting ready to debut
their second album blackout which they also were executive producers on in 2001 columbia records
pulled the rug out from under them and shelved the project along with the music video for the
first single can't get it back to add insult to injury the album ended up being released in japan
many years later it finally appeared on itunes in the ufc
2002 brought more bad news after lisa leftie lopez was tragically killed in a car crash in honduras
in an interview with the guardian brandy said she was a true friend a big sister a mother figure for
us to lose her at such an early time in our career was just a devastating blow the group tried to get
back on track by signing with electra records and after natina gave birth to a son with rapper
corrupt they went to work on their third album torch unfortunately this album suffered the same
fate as the second as it became shelved as well after the group were released from their contract
there was some speculation that natina was leaving the group due to her pregnancy which may have
influenced the label's decision to not release the project believing she wouldn't be around long term
an alternate version did find its way onto itunes for a while before being taken down
one silver lining out of all of this was i'm good
a song slated to appear on the album ended up on the soundtrack of the 2003 dance movie honey
at this time it only seemed natural each member of black began to pursue solo endeavors natina
officially left the group to go into ministry in 2003. the remaining members did replace her for
a short time to make the trio complete again but they never debuted with their new member
brandi signed a record deal as well and started working on her solo album
she also provided vocals on the hook of nelly's chart-topping single
grills shimari went on to sign with dark child records in 2005 and was set to debut her solo
album the following year but those plans fell through when all the original members of black
decided to reunite and spend the next several years working on their fourth album private show
during this time the group was also filming a reality show called black in
the house documenting the recording process for the album and their return to the stage
the show was scheduled to air in the summer of 2008 however it was never picked up and the
album was you guessed it shelved the group took to social media and released several songs on youtube
before finally deciding to disband several more years passed during which shamari married ronnie
devoe of new edition and belle bib duval fan in 2006 and brandi married jay harris in 2009 while
also working on her own solo music netina focused on acting and book writing but in april of 2010
she did have a brush with the law when she was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct there
were several other charges such as prostitution and cocaine possession that appeared to be on her
booking papers but those were proven to be a fake and pathetic attempt by a blog to generate his
however many people understandably believe the charges after seeing her
very road hard and put away wet looking mug shot it's also worth mentioning that just over a year
later it happened again a very special event the left eye music festival in the summer of 2012
encouraged the group to reunite once again where they perform their hit single 808 whether it was
the feeling they experienced paying homage to their fallen mentor or maybe just the high of
being on stage again in general shortly after the performance the group signed with new management
started working on a new album and got back into the world of reality television production
unfortunately the reunion was not meant to be as natina died after being hit by
a car while crossing a street near atlanta georgia two days before her 32nd birthday
it's unclear why she was in the roadway the driver was deemed not at fault and no charges were laid
she is survived by her only son the accident also revealed some interesting information
about natina's life the address that was listed on the incident report was of an extended stay motel
a questionable spot filled with transients that led people to believe she was possibly homeless
reed's mother insisted that her daughter was not homeless and just in transition and about
to move into a new home another factor to add fuel to the fire that natina was not in a good
place at the end of her life was that her 10 year old son had been in the custody of her ex corrupt
for the last four years in 2017 shamari and her husband welcomed twin boys and the following
year she joined the cast of the bravo reality television series the real housewives of atlanta
for the show's 11th season also at this time her and ronnie collaborated on a single
called love comes through after natina reid's death in 2012 fans ramped up their need for the
group's long-awaited third album to be released by starting a petition it was an uphill battle
to make that happen since matthew knowles their one-time manager and father of the lead singer of
another popular girl group owned the rights things worked out in their favor in 2019.
black announced they'd finally be releasing the torch album on all digital platforms the timing
couldn't have been more perfect since 2019 also marked the 20th anniversary of their debut album
the fans soaked it all up taking the album to the number three spot on itunes on the first day
in an interview with you know i got soul brandy revealed that new music is also in the works but
before hitting the fans with something new they wanted to say thanks for all the support over
the years with a little bit of the old with the exception of natina's arrest the group
has stayed very much drama and scandal-free however around the same time that torch dropped
brandy who at some point must have divorced her first husband since she was currently engaged to
hip-hop artist moses memphis mo adams got caught up in a cheating scandal it was revealed that
she allegedly cheated on her fiance with her best friend's ex jazz singer tony hightower oh
my god something must have happened since during an interview with sister circle she announced
that she was single and interested in doing the reality show the bachelorette ironically she's
already had some reality tv experience she had already filmed an episode of say yes to the dress
a show about following brides as they search for the perfect wedding dress in early 2019.
the second half of 2019 proved to be much less chaotic for brandy and black as a whole
after the release of torch they were able to squeeze in a few stage performances toward the
end of that year and also schedule more for 2020 which ended up being postponed due to covet 19.
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