the pursuit of higher education is what initially brought this foursome together but their vocal
talent would be what ultimately took their lives to new hides right from the start they captivated
every audience they performed in front of and soon after dominated the music charts then one member
left shortly followed by another leaving the last two standing to wonder if this was truly the end
let's find out what happened to american 90s r b group shy the original members of shy carl martin
mark gay darnell van renssallier and garfield bright formed the group on the campus of howard
university in washington dc in the early 90s their name is egyptian meaning the personification of
destiny in the male human form it was common for many groups as well as solo artists from their era
to do a lot of talent shows and establish a local following before making it big
shai only had to do one at an apollo esque variety show on howard's campus they performed the song
that would become their first career hit they signed a record deal shortly after it was meant
to be since garfield's trajectory at school went in a different direction from his close friend
and freshman year roommate darnell darnell joined a fraternity as well as carl and mark
while garfield joined the nation of islam so they ran in very different circles but still
remained friends darnell carl and mark enjoyed singing and would regularly rehearse with a
couple of other students garfield didn't have any grand aspirations to pursue music for a living
and he wasn't even initially a part of the group however just before that fateful performance a
couple of members dropped out darnell already knew garfield had vocal talent since he would
hang out with the group from time to time and became familiar with their material so he asked
garfield to join him mark and carl and the rest is history their debut single and the
song that blew away the howard crowd called if i ever fall in love dropped in september 1992
it peaked at number two on the billboard hot 100 chart
and remained there for many weeks the only reason it wasn't able to capture the top spot
was because whitney houston's i will always love you had a vice grip on it
it did however make it to number one on the r b chart that song also helps shai to become seen
as more of a pop crossover group where other similar acts out at the time such as jodeci
were well known and loved in mostly urban communities shy cultivated many fans on both
the mainstream and urban sides their debut album of the same name was released three months later
comforter the second single also did well on the chart it reached the top ten on the
hot 100 and top five on the r b chart an ep mostly containing unreleased material
remixes and live performances of tracks from their debut album came out one year later it was also at
this time that garfield and lead singer coco from r b group swv began dating that explains why he's
seen making a cameo in the music video for their 1993 hit song weak in 1994 the group scored the
song the place where you belong off the soundtrack for the action comedy film beverly hills cop 3
the track would end up being shy's final top 40 hit then they got caught up in some illegal
drama that could have ruined everything garfield carl and darnell were arrested in washington dc
just before performing at howard's homecoming the charges ranged from carrying an illegal firearm
to intent to sell the following year their second studio album titled blackface was released a
couple of singles were put out but they didn't make as much of an impact as they could have
since the label made a very odd decision to put the album out first several years would
pass before any new music would be heard from the former quartet that was now a trio carl martin
would leave the group in 1995 to focus on the songwriting and production aspect of the business
his departure was not at all a surprise he had always wanted to do more behind the scenes work
than be front and center on stage also around this time internal issues with their record label
were coming to the surface many of the people that worked on their first album were fired and a whole
new team was brought in when work on their second album began only for that same pattern of firing
and hiring to repeat once again the writing was on the wall and the group knew it was time to move
on destiny shy's third album would be released in february 1999. sadly no one paid it any mind then
mark would be the next member to exit the group he went on to marry his love interest featured in
shai's music video for their song baby i'm yours filmed on howard university's campus he then
became a licensed realtor and currently works in the los angeles area there's not much news on what
carl's been up to since he left the group in 95 and he hasn't made any waves in the industry one
fun fact is that he's now beyonce's step cousin after beyonce's mother tina married richard lawson
carl's uncle years later garfield would attribute the former members departure from the group
to simply being a natural part of life as people grow in different directions over time however in
the past without naming any names he was quoted as saying one dude thought he would be the man
he allowed the industry to come between us those people don't really have the talent that's why
they do that it's almost like a manual it's the same story every group has one guy who's that
garfield and darnell would continue on for several years as a duo they toured and tried
to bring fans the traditional shy sound or as close to it as they could they did continue to
release albums of mainly unfinished songs that they were just playing around with just so fans
could have something to chew on yet the two men knew that they couldn't deny that their harmony
would greatly benefit from bringing more people into the mix they tried out a couple of people
before finally settling on the lineup that still stands today new members dwayne jones
and george spencer iii were already familiar with shy since their early days when they were
just starting out and hustling to make it dwayne was previously a member of two r b groups by the
names of riff and menovision george or g fly was also a part of menovision along with dwayne they
found themselves available and ready for something new after leaving their respective groups and were
welcomed with open arms by garfield and darnell in 2018 shy would return with their first album
in a decade titled musically yours it includes alternate takes on their past hits if i ever
fall in love comforter and baby i'm yours during the group's downtime years ago garfield who's
always been an educator went into teaching at the high school and college level in california
then he became the student and went on to receive both masters and phd degrees and
is now a professor at georgia state university after the completion of his studies he also began
writing a non-fiction book titled lotus 3013 which he said will be released in 2021 garfield along
with groupmate darnell have also formed their own record label shiroglyphics entertainment llc
their plan is to release the group's own music on the label nurture the careers of
the next generation and produce educational as well as entertaining artistic projects
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