Guy
Formed in 1988, this trio revolutionized R&B music. Featuring members Aaron Hall, his brother Damion, and Teddy Riley, Guy won the hearts of urban audiences with their self-titled debut, and enjoyed a mild crossover success with 1990’s ‘The Future’. Originally, Guy was composed of Teddy Riley, Aaron Hall and Timmy Gatling, but Timmy left to become a solo artist and producer.
Notable Guy from the first album include “Groove Me”, “Spend The Night”, “Piece Of My Love”, “I Like”, “You Can Call Me Crazy”, and “Goodbye”. From the second album, songs like “I Wanna Get With U”, “Let’s Chill”, “Do Me Right” and “D-O-G- Me Out”, were all notable. In the summer of 1989, Guy scored with “My Fantasy” from the ‘Do The Right Thing: Soundtrack’.
In the fall of 1991 when the New Jack Era was coming to an end, Teddy Riley announced the break-up of Guy. Then Aaron Hall struck out first as a solo artist with “Don’t Be Afraid”, a single featured on the early 1992 ‘Juice’ soundtrack, along with Teddy’s “Is It Good To You” featuring Tammy Lucas. By early 1993, Teddy emerged with BLACKstreet with a song entitled “Baby Be Mine” from the ‘CB4 Soundtrack’.
In 1994, Teddy, Aaron and Damion emerged with separate projects. Damion Hall released an album entitled ‘Straight To The Point’, which proved that Damion could sing by himself. Teddy’s BLACKStreet emerged with their debut album this year, with the hits “Before I Let You Go”, “Joy”, and “Booti Call”. Aaron Hall’s ‘The Truth’ impacted most profoundly with “I Miss You”, a surprise hit of the summer, with a depressing video to boot. Things seemed to be good for Guy in 1995, as reunion rumors began to heat up around this point. The group even started to record together, eventually ending up with a track on the ‘New York Undercover Soundtrack’.
But things didn’t work out. Aaron Hall ran into legal trouble, and reportedly scoffed at Teddy’s new track, “No Diggity”. So, it was back with BLACKstreet, and “No Diggity” went on to become the group’s biggest hit, just in time for the New Jack Reunion of New Edition, Keith Sweat and Teddy Riley (with BLACKstreet) on the New Edition “Home Again” Tour of 1997.
In early 2000, Guy finally reunited to release a lackluster third album. Although the DJ Eddie F-produced “Dancin” was okay, the rest of the album sounded hopelessly out of step with the musical soundscape (Dru Hill, *Nsync, Jay-Z) surrounding it. The Guy ‘III’ album tanked. However, Guy has nothing more to prove…they are perhaps the most important act from the New Jack Era – period.
The Guys Next Door
This pop group was formed in 1991 to compete against the New Kids On The Block – they were given their own Saturday morning TV show on NBC, their own album, and even released a halfway decent pop song called “I Was Made For You”. One of the members (Eddie Garcia) was a dancer for Michael Jackson on both his “Bad” and “Dangerous” tours. Another member (Patrick Dancy) had a recurring role on ABC’s “Family Matters” as Laura Winslow’s boyfriend. By early 1992, the Guys Next Door as a group were never heard from again.
The Gyrlz
...bio coming soon!