Cameo (band)
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| Cameo | |
|---|---|
| Origin | New York City, USA |
| Genre(s) | R&B / funk / soul / disco, electro |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-Songwriter / Producer / Musician |
| Years active | 1974 – present |
| Label(s) | Chocolate City
Way 2 Funky / Raging Bull Crash / Private I |
| Associated acts | Barbara Mitchell
East Coast Howard Kenney L.A. Connection Malemen Mantra Tity Brothers ( Nathan & Arnett Leftenant / unreleased work ) Wynd Chymes |
| Website | www.hiphopera.biz
( Charlie Singleton ) |
| Members | |
| Larry Blackmon
On recent Cameo-shows Aaron Mills Charlie Singleton Tomi Jenkins Jonathan Moffett |
|
| Former members | |
| Anthony Lockett
Arnett Leftenant Eric Durham Eric Nelson Gary Dow Gregory Johnson Kevin Kendricks Melvin Wells Nathan Leftenant Michael "Calamari" Burnett ( rip ) Wayne Cooper ( rip ) Willie "Chill Factor" Morris Additional tour-members Bruce Carter ( Pleasure ) Keni Hairston ( Network / Slave ) Rayford Griffin ( Stanley Clarke Band ) Wayne Cobham ( brother of Billy Cobham ) |
|
| Notable instrument(s) | |
| horn section | |
Cameo is a funk-influenced R&B group. Formed in the early 70's Cameo was initially a 13 member group known as the "New York City Players," this name was later changed to Cameo to avoid confusion with another popular group of that era. Since then Cameo has become a critically acclaimed group with several hits to their name. A few of the original members continue to still perform together, while two others have been recently hired by popular hip-hop group Outkast.
Contents |
[edit] History
Formed in 1974, Cameo started out as a 13-member group created by former Juilliard student and New York-area clubgoer Larry Blackmon (late of Black Ivory), called the New York City Players. Signed by Casablanca Records to their Chocolate City imprint in 1976, the group soon changed its name to Cameo after concerns "New York City Players" might cause confusion between them and the funk band Ohio Players. Prior to this, Blackmon, keyboardist Gregory Johnson, and the late Gwen Guthrie, formed the band East Coast, together with James Wheeler (alto saxophone), Melvin Whay (bass), Michael Harris (percussion), and Pat Grant (trombone). They released one self-titled album in 1973, on the independent label Encounter. Cameo started with a deep, funky sound, but it was obvious from the start their sights were set on the dance floor. Their first albums Cardiac Arrest, Ugly Ego, We All Know Who We Are, and Secret Omen contained dance floor songs such as "Rigor Mortis", "I Just Want To Be" and "Find My Way," the latter which was a major disco smash and was included on the soundtrack to Thank God It's Friday.
[edit] Music career
By the time Cameosis came out in 1980, Cameo had gained considerable momentum through singles such as "Shake Your Pants". Albums such as 1981's Knights of the Sound Table and 1982's Alligator Woman saw the band playing up their eclectic style.
However, by the mid-1980s Blackmon and crew were ready to move on. With Alligator Woman in 1982, Cameo stripped down to "five main members", still keeping a full band for shows. Then Gregory Johnson quit, making it a quartet: Blackmon, Tomi Jenkins, Nathan Leftenant, and Charles Singleton; keyboardist Kevin Kendricks would later be brought more into the creative fold. Blackmon also moved from New York City to Atlanta, Georgia and started his own label Atlanta Artists, which was distributed by Polygram. Inspired by the edgy synthesizer arrangements being pushed forward by the new wave groups of the time, he moved the band into a hard-core "electronic funk" direction. It utilized heavily sequenced drum machines, bass and occasional horn arrangements. He put his trademark "Ooow!" into the forefront of Cameo's mixes and markedly changed their sound. Cameo's 1983 release Style was one of the first to come from this new label and was the first disc to capitalize on Cameo's new sound. She's Strange came out in 1984 and its "12-inch mix" was a major smash in the R&B clubs. The title track and its follow-up, "Talkin' Out the Side of Your Neck", were minor successes on the pop charts. 1985's Single Life was also an R&B hit that saw some crossover success. With this album, Singleton left the group, but continued to work with Cameo from time to time as a friend of the band.
Word Up! hit radio airwaves in mid-1986. Critically acclaimed with large amounts of club and radio airtime, the resulting album Word Up! turned Cameo into superstars. The follow-up tracks, "Candy" and "Back and Forth", were also huge hits for the funk trio.
Two years later, Cameo would release Machismo to lukewarm pop response but favorable critical reviews and R&B success. Kendricks left the band at this point. 1990's Real Men Wear Black and 1992's Emotional Violence failed to reach the same commercial success of Word Up!. By this time, after their departure from Polygram on to their new label, Reprise, Blackmon represented himself (besides his band-activities and side-productions) as A&R-agent for this label, a division of Warner Bros. Records. It also saw the absence of Nathan Leftnant, but the return of guitarist Charlie Singleton as one of "main" members. Leftnant returned again for the next album, which they released on a new label (Way 2 Funky/Raging Bull), and recorded at their next headed location, Miami, Florida. 1994 saw the release of In the Face of Funk that got some club play and a single release, but for the most part, Cameo's reign was over.
[edit] Presently
Both ex-Cameo musicians Aaron Mills (bass) and Kevin Kendricks have been hired by the hiphop group OutKast for live and studio sessions. Aaron's story is that he had just arrived back home in the middle of the night from touring or recording when he got a call from either Andre 3000 or Big Boi, and was asked if he had time to record a bassline for them, which was for "Ms. Jackson", OutKast's successful hit.
In 2000, Cameo released their last-recorded album as a group. Sexy Sweet Thing, the album's title track, also had a single and video release. Around this time, they frequently performed in the US and at various dates in Europe.
[edit] Present action
A few members of Cameo , such as Tomi Jenkins , Charlie Singleton , Anthony Lockett and Gregory Johnson are currently active at online-facilities like MySpace or their own site. Tomi released his new album The Way , performs his own work , appears as guest-singer for other artists and works at this moment for a movie-project about a fictional 70's funkband called Icemosis , for which he also contributed to the music which can be heard at their MySpace page. Charle Singleton released a new album called Phantom Of The Hip-Hopera , which he represents via his own website and MySpace-page. Anthony Lockett went in the direction of gospel music and presents this through MySpace , on which Gregory Johnson also can be found ( besides his website ) with a new and jazz-oriented album.
[edit] Covers and samples
"Word Up!" has been covered by various artists, including metal band KoЯn on their Greatest Hits, Volume 1, Scottish rock band Gun, and Melanie B (aka Scary Spice) as featured on the soundtrack of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. "Candy" has been sampled by artists such as Tupac Shakur in his song "All Bout U", Tupac's "I wonder if Heaven got a Ghetto", and Beyonce's "What's it gonna be" samples "Two of us" from the "Ugly ego" album. Mariah Carey in her song "Loverboy" (in which video , Larry & Tomi had a cameo role, riding on customised sports-vehicles) and Will Smith in his song "Candy." DJ Quik sampled "Rigor Mortis" in his song "Get At Me". Tupac also used "She's Strange" for his song "Young Niggaz," as did Nate Dogg for his own song titled "She's Strange". Tupac's "Against All Odds" was inspired by "Skin I'm In", but it is not sampled. The song "Back and Forth" was sampled by The Wu-Tang Clan for their single "Gravel Pit". Oran Juice Jones sampled the intro of Cameo's ballad , "Hangin' Downtown" , in "Make Love To Your Mind" , on his "Playerscall"-CD from 1998. Speech, formerly from Arrested Development, used the mid-tempo jazz-swing of "I've Got Your Image" in one of his recent productions.
In October 2004 Candy appeared in popular videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on Funk radio station Bounce FM, also on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, was Brand Nubian's "Brand Nubian", which samples "Rigor Mortis".
In the movie The 40 Year-Old Virgin, Andy (Steve Carell) is shown performing "Word Up!" on a karaoke machine in his apartment. Jackpot, a film which follows a karaoke singer hoping to get his big break, features an androgynous man giving a scene-stealing performance of "Candy". Larry Blackmon and T-Man were also supposed to be featured as celebrity cameos (not as the band, Cameo) in the 2007 release of "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theatres". Although they did not appear in the film itself, they are featured in the extras on the DVD. This footage shows them doing motion capture/CGI in order to be animated, as well as studio recording of the song written for the film.
The song "Candy" was also played during the bachelor party scene in the movie The Best Man.
[edit] Discography
| Year | Album | Label | Additional info |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Cardiac Arrest | Chocolate City | |
| 1978 | We All Know Who We Are | Chocolate City | |
| 1978 | Ugly Ego | Chocolate City | |
| 1979 | Secret Omen | Chocolate City | |
| 1980 | Cameosis | Chocolate City | |
| 1980 | Feel Me | Chocolate City | |
| 1981 | Knights of the Sound Table | Chocolate City | |
| 1982 | Alligator Woman | Chocolate City | |
| 1983 | Style | Atlanta Artists | |
| 1984 | She's Strange | Atlanta Artists | |
| 1985 | Single Life | Atlanta Artists | |
| 1985 | Single Life | Club | Released by a UK-division of Phonogram
Manufactured in a different album-sleeve / Bonus-track : She's Strange |
| 1986 | Word Up! | Atlanta Artists | |
| 1988 | Machismo | Atlanta Artists | |
| 1990 | Real Men... Wear Black | Mercury | |
| 1992 | Emotional Violence | Reprise | |
| 1994 | In the Face of Funk | Way Too Funky / Raging Bull | |
| 1996 | Nasty ( Live ) | Intersound | |
| 2000 | Sexy Sweet Thing | Crash / Private I |
[edit] Compilations
| Year | Compilation | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Shake Your Pants | Polygram |
| 1993 | The Best of Cameo | Mercury |
| 1996 | The Best of Cameo, Volume 2 | Mercury |
| 1998 | Best of Cameo | Universal |
| 1998 | Live: Word Up | Universal |
| 1998 | The Ballads Collection | Mercury |
| 1998 | Greatest Hits | Polygram |
| 1999 | 12" Collection and More | Mercury |
| 2001 | The Hits Collection | Universal |
| 2001 | The Millennium Collection: The Best of Cameo | Mercury |
| 2002 | Anthology | Mercury |
| 2003 | Original Artist Hit List | Intersound |
| 2003 | Classic Cameo | Mercury |
| 2004 | The Best of Cameo | Collectables |
| 2005 | Gold | Mercury |
| 2006 | The Definitive Collection | Mercury |
[edit] See also
- List of Number 1 Dance Hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
