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R&B/Soul group Jodeci was formed in 1990. The group's wild, sexual, bad-boy image made them a famous group during the '90s. They comprise two sets of brothers, the Hailey brothers (K-Ci and Jojo) and the DeGrate brothers (Mr. Dalvin and DeVante Swing). The brothers toured the south singing gospel songs, and also recorded albums and eventually met each other through their girlfriends. When they met, a fight almost broke out between K-Ci and Dalvin because Dalvin was dating a girl K-Ci was going with. The Hailey brothers and DeVante started hanging out and talking about making albums together.
DeVante journeyed to Minneapolis when he was 16 to join Prince's organization, but was turned down. He then went back to Charlotte, North Carolina to record a song JoJo was performing. Soon the two went to New York to shop the demo tape around as K-Ci and Dalvin tagged along. By the time they got to New York, they had 29 demo songs. Eventually, Heavy D heard one of the demo tapes and loved it. He then talked Uptown Records CEO Andre Harell into listening to the tape. Harell was impressed, and signed the group.
On May 28, 1991, Jodeci released their debut album, Forever My Lady, which included the single "Come and Talk To Me" (#1 R&B/#11 Pop). The single eventually went gold, and the album sold over three million copies. There was a minor dispute with their second album when the group thought they were being treated unfairly. Jodeci received almost zero promotion, but their second album, Diary of A Mad Band, went platinum. It spawned such hits as "Cry For You" (#1 R&B/#15 Pop), and "Feenin'" (#2 R&B/#25 Pop).
On July 18, 1995, Jodeci released their third and to date, final album, The Show, The After Party, The Hotel. It spawned the hit "Freek'n You" (#3 R&B/#14 Pop). Things got bad for the group in 1994; DeVante's house was robbed of over $160,000 in jewelry and clothes as their producer had guns pointed at his head.
In 1997, K-Ci and Jojo left the group and pursued a musical career on their own as the duo K-Ci & Jojo. They had a string of hits in 1997 and 1998, including a number one song, "All My Life." In 2000, they scored another big pop hit with "Crazy" from the soundtrack to Save The Last Dance.
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