here when they met and heard their voices just melt into one another they knew that they had
something special however even an international smash hit and a platinum-selling album couldn't
prevent the failure drama and tragedy that was to follow for 90s r b group brownstone
monica mimi dobie charmaine maxi maxwell and nicole nicki gilbert met each other
after attending various singing auditions around los angeles mimi grew up in la
while nikki made her way to the city from detroit after dropping out of college and maxie arrived
after immigrating from her birth country of guyana they would cross paths with music executive jerry
greenberg and audition for him he said he had someone else that he wanted them to meet
they ended up auditioning for a second time in a pitch black conference room
after it was over they discovered that michael jackson was there later on they were told that
michael loved them and wanted brownstone to be the first artist signed to his record label mjj music
they first appeared on the scene with their debut single called past eleven
which didn't make an impact however their next single would big time if you love me dropped
in october 1994 and shot up to the number eight position on the billboard hot 100.
the track won them a billboard music award and their first grammy nomination for best
r b performance their debut album titled from the bottom up dropped in january 1995.
unfortunately the following singles grapevine and a cover of the eagles i can't tell you why weren't
as successful but that didn't stop the album from going platinum after extensive touring around
the globe mimi left the group due to health issues as she was suffering from bronchitis
the deeper cause of her split from the group was later said to be due to a beef between her
and nicki she was replaced by a college friend of nikki's keena cosper after a difficult transition
period brownstone released the song five miles to empty in may 1997 from their sophomore album
still climbing that dropped the following month overall the album didn't do as well as their
debut in a 2008 interview with urbanbridges.com maxie plainly summed up why lack of promotion
we didn't get as nearly as much promotion as we got for our first album for the second album
by the end of the year kina would leave the group and embark on a solo career her self-titled debut
album would be released in the summer of 2000 and include the single girl from the gutter
once the music slowed down nikki started acting a little bit doing guest roles on tv shows martin
living single and sister sister she also had her feature film debut in the 1998 romantic comedy
woo then she decided to leave la for atlanta there she would connect with tyler perry
he cast her for his stage play meet the browns from that experience nikki fell in love with
the idea of doing urban theater and stage plays around the same time and after a five-year hiatus
nikki signed with mca records and released her first solo album titled grown folks music in 2002
she married retired boxer leonard daniels in july 2010 together they launched a production company
called no ego entertainment two years later nikki would create co-star and executive produce tb1's
most popular docu franchise r b divas the show featured the lives of five 90s chart-topping r
b singers it was actually inspired by a musical stage play she wrote and directed called soul
kittens cabaret she was a cast member on the atlanta version alongside singers faith evans kiki
wyatt monifa and selena johnson for two seasons there was also a third season without nikki
as well as an la spin-off lasting three seasons years later she would talk about how proud of
herself she was for being able to execute her idea and watch it go on to be the most successful show
on the network however she does have some regrets in a march 2020 interview with urbanbridges.com
she voiced her disappointment with how short-lived it was due to the people in power stunting what
the show could have become i hate that i had to walk away from it i hate i was in the middle of
a lawsuit and i lost everything she also touched on the negative impression viewers got from her
behavior on the show some of it stemming from her being at odds with selena johnson
what you've done to these women is a sin and there's a special place in hell for like you
a special place that causes division within other women it is a special place for you the truth is
you're the common denominator everybody knows that you're a hot mess you're going to look a
mess with those black gums and all that's low fish and them knock ass knees thank you and good night
enter twitter black twitter specifically by the time nikki left the show she had felt the brunt
of the backlash and then some she had been labeled the villain and fans dubbed her as
trash and cancelled nikki went from being on top of the world to tired broken and broke she
put her own creativity talent and resources into the show and it continued without her she even
saw the clothing line she created and launched on the show skyrocket and plummet within days
i hate that people have this monolithic one-dimensional image of who i was who i am as
a person till this day there are still people who won't work with me because of it nikki partnered
with queen latifah in 2015 to produce a series for bet networks of the same name as brownstone's
debut album from the bottom up it ran for three seasons she also has a non-profit of the same name
maxie moved to london and signed with mercury records in 2000 to pursue a solo career she
achieved moderate success on the european charts with her debut single when i look into your eyes
on february 28 2015 charmaine maxi maxwell passed away she was 46 years old according to tmz it was
a freak accident she fell and cut her neck on a broken wine glass at her home in los angeles
she is survived by her husband danish music producer karsten soulshock shaq and their son
mimi has kept the lowest profile of them all until her brief reunion with brownstone in 2016
where they appeared on jimmy kimmel live alongside rapper singer tori lanes to perform his hit say it
which used the hook from if you love me she hadn't been heard from in over 20 years because after
leaving the group she chose a career far from the glitz and glam of the entertainment world
all this time she's been a school teacher with the los angeles unified school district
over the last several years nikki has been hard at work on a number of non-musical projects
she completed a documentary as well as a short film she also hosts the empowering late night talk
show series she speaks live and the nights with nikki podcast on her youtube channel no ego tv
in 2019 brownstone reunited with original member mimi plus tisha brown who joined in 2008
and new fourth member aaron jackson for the 25th anniversary of the essence festival
as well as the 25th anniversary of the group they also announced that the group was rebranding
themselves as the brownstone experience brownstone hasn't released any new music for over 20 years
however nikki updated fans in june 2021 on her personal instagram that the ladies were working
on new music and to stay tuned thanks for watching please like share and comment also don't forget to
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