Heavy D & The Boyz
Heavy D & The Boyz were the first act signed to Andre Harrell’s Uptown/MCA Records in New York City. Heavy D’s first album “Livin Large” dropped in 1987, but it was 1988’s platinum selling ‘Big Tyme’ that really set things off for the “overweight lover”. With production by Teddy Riley, songs like “We Got Our Own Thing”, and the Al. B. Sure laced “Somebody For Me” were all the rage in the clubs and at HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities). Heavy D’s stage presence was magnetic – the ‘Boyz’ consisted of dancers Trouble T-Roy and G-Whiz, along with DJ Eddie F. In 1990, Trouble T-Roy passed away in a tragic stage accident.
In 1991, Heavy D and The Boyz released ‘Peaceful Journey’ their third LP (which went platinum) dedicated especially to the memory of Trouble T-Roy. Featuring the hits “Now That We Found Love”, “Is It Good To You”, “Don’t Curse”, and the title track, this album served as an appropriate end to the positive spirit of the New Jack Era.
As the years wore on, Heavy D acquired a harder sound on 1993’s ‘Blue Funk’. By 1994, Heavy scored his last major hit in the form of “Nuttin’ But Love’, the group’s final album. Comedian Chris Tucker made an early appearance in the video, along with a bevy of models. In 1995, Heavy D started acting, and as president of Uptown Records signed (Andre Harrell had left for Motown), groomed and released Soul for Real’s ‘Candy Rain’. In 1996 he released a solo album, left his post at Uptown to focus on acting and performing (the label folded shortly afterwards).
Heavy D has been seen in a variety of productions on film, television and stage such as “Riff Raff” (written and directed by Lawrence Fishburne), “The Cider House Rules”, and on Fox-TV's "Boston Public" as a high school counselor named Big Boy.
The Honeys
Editor's note: the autographed press pic you see above was given to me in the fall of 1991 at California High School in San Ramon, CA. San Francisco radio station 107.7 KSOL (switched to KYLD "Wild" 107.7 before transforming to the current Wild 94.9) had brought the Honeys to our high school. Jo-Jo Wright (now at L.A's KIIS-FM) conducted the interview. This is probably the only image of this group in existence, so I decided to use this piece of memorabilia from my personal collection...
This “answer-group” to Michael Bivins’ Another Bad Creation scored a minor hit in late 1991 entitled “How Low (Can You Go)?”. Featuring members Iesha, Kelly, Porshe, and Sammie, the Honeys seemed to disappear just about as quickly as they emerged.
Hi-Five
These five guys from Waco Texas were all that. Actually, the lead singer (Tony Thompson) did pretty much all the work, while the other four danced and smiled their way to the top on songs like “I Just Can’t Handle It”, “I Like The Way” (an eternal classic now – produced by Teddy Riley), and “I Can’t Wait Another Minute”. Early on in Hi-Five’s career, they switched out one of their members for Treston Irby from the Bronx, N.Y.
In 1992, Hi-Five worked heavily with R. Kelly (they were labelmates on Jive Records) and released “She’s Playing Hard To Get”, and “Quality Time”. Then one of their members (Roderick ‘Pooh’ Clark) was in a near fatal car accident.
In 1994, the group emerged with their final album, and two new members. They were also featured on the Sister Act 2 soundtrack. In 1995, Tony Thompson released a solo album, featuring a song called “I Wanna Luv Like That”. In 1996, Hi-Five released a greatest hits album, and then were never heard from again.