Blaque

Blaque
Also known as	Blaque Ivory
Origin	Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Genres	R&B, pop
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Columbia (1996-2001) Elektra (2002-2005)
Members
Natina Reed (1999-2003, 2004-present) Shamari Fears (1999-present) Brandi Williams (1999-present)
Past members
Erica Pullins (2003-2004)

Blaque is an American Urban-R&B group that had a string of hits in the late 90’s. The group's name stands for Believing, Life, Achieving, Quest, Unity, Everything. Their debut album sold more than 1.5 million copies and was certified Platinum. The group's debut included the gold selling single “808”, the international hit “Bring It All To Me”, and a third single, “I Do”. The group went on hiatus from 2002 until 2007, releasing only three unsuccessful singles, “Can’t Get It Back”, “Ugly”, and the international single from the film Honey, “I’m Good”. The group has three members: Shamari Fears-Devoe, Natina Reed, and Brandi Williams.

In 1999, Billboard named Blaque the 4th Best New Artist of 1999, with Bring It All To Me landing at #30 on the 2000 Year End Chart.

Discovery

Reed and Fears both moved to Atlanta, Georgia and met while in high school. Reed formed Blaque Ivory while Fears formed another group called Intrigue. Intrigue won a recording contract with Elektra Records, and Fears met up with Williams at a talent show while a member of that group. Fears left Intrigue to join up with Reed in Blaque Ivory and Williams joined the group shortly thereafter. Reed met Ronald Lopes while singing jingles to earn extra cash and he introduced her to his sister Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes of TLC. Lisa Lopes signed the group to her production company, Left Eye Productions.

Music career

1997 - 2001: Rise to Fame and Debut album

In 1997, the group made a cameo appearance in the video Lil' Kim's "Not Tonight (Remix)."

Their self-titled debut debuted at number 23 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart, and at number 53 on the official Billboard 200 and was certification platinum by RIAA. The album's lead single "808" was a success in the U.S. reaching number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and Gold certification. The follow-up single "Bring It All to Me" which featured JC Chasez, was a hit making #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The last single "I Do" wasn't a success like the previous singles with only reaching #73 on the R&B/Hip-Hop single chart. Their single "I Do" was nominated for a MTV Video Music Award for Best Editing. Blaque was also one of the opening acts for TLC's FanMail Tour.

They later made their film debut in Bring It On in August 2000.

2001 - 2002: Death of Lisa "Left eye" Lopes and Blaque Out

While their self-titled debut album went platinum, the second album called Blaque Out, which was set for release in 2001, went unreleased as the group was dropped from Columbia Records. The video for the first single "Can't Get It Back" was never released. The album was soon leaked on the Internet. After Lisa Lopes's death in a car crash in Honduras on April 25, 2002, they signed with Elektra Records and began work on their third album. An alternate version of the shelved album was released to iTunes on May 22, 2007, but was later on taken down. December of 2011, Blaque Out was released back onto iTunes.

2003: Torch

Their third album Torch featured a number of A-list music industry figures including Missy Elliott, songwriter Linda Perry, and producer Rodney Jerkins. The buzz single was "No Ganksta" which was an answerback song to 50 Cent's song "Wanksta". Missy Elliott produced the intended first single "Ugly". However, because radio did not pick up the song, it was decided that "I'm Good" would be released instead.

"I'm Good" also appeared on the soundtrack for the film Honey as well as themselves.

Due to the poor success "I'm Good" achieved, the release date for Torch was pushed back. Finally, news came up their next single would be "Hopeless" - a man-bashing, Darkchild produced song; however, it failed to be released. Torch was scheduled to be released exclusively to iTunes in 2008, nearly 5 years after its completion by Music World Entertainment, but was later canceled for a second time. It has been confirmed that Mathew Knowles owns the rights to the album "Torch" and "Blaque Out".

Temporary split

Reed went into ministry in early 2004. She was soon replaced by singer/rapper Erica Pullins who performed with them overseas. They recorded some new songs and re-recorded old ones with new member, but the album failed to be released and Blaque disbanded.

Shamari was signed to Darkchild Records in 2005. Brandi also signed a new record deal and started working on a solo album. She also provided vocals on the hook of Nelly's first single from his 2005 album Sweatsuit, "Grillz".

2004 - 2007: Blaque Reunited and New Album

In 2004, Shamari Fears-DeVoe, Brandi Williams, and Natina Reed reformed Blaque. They performed on several occasions in Germany and other countries. During that time, Erica Pullins kept fans up to date via the internet. She stated she is currently working on a solo record.

In 2005, Blaque began work on their long awaited fourth studio album Private Show (originally titled Beauty).

In 2007, a song "It Is What It Is" was slated to be released as the lead single, but this was confirmed to be false, and was heavily denied to be part of the album.

2010-Present

In 2009, Private Show" was to be released, with Tionne 'T-boz 'Watkins as the manager , but the album was cancelled , the group disbanded so the girls went on solo careers. Later on in 2011, Blaque reformed by creating a profile on Facebook called "Blaque in the House" and are now finishing the album, "Private Show" and are planning to release it in 2012.

Other media

In addition to their recording work, Reed, Fears, and Williams appeared in the 2000 film Bring It On as members of the East Compton Clovers cheerleading squad fronted by Gabrielle Union. Williams also had a small role (playing herself) in the 2001 movie On the Line. Blaque also appears on Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes's 2001 solo debut album, Supernova, on the track titled "Head to the Sky", which was only released internationally. In 2005, two clips of Shamari's solo songs titled "The One" (Covered & released by Megan Rochell in 2006) and "NJ2" were leaked onto the internet. The girls were also set to do a song with Bahamian Artist T Jay but had to back out.

Discography

Albums

• 1999: Blaque
• 2002: Blaque Out
• 2004: Torch
• TBA : Private Show

Compilations

• 2007: Blaque By Popular Demand

Album/Soundtrack appearances

Year	Song	U.S. Hot 100	U.S. R&B	UK singles	Album
1999	"808"	8	4	31	Blaque
	"Bring It All to Me"	5	15	37
	"I Do"	—	73	40
2002	"Can't Get It Back"	—	91	—	Blaque Out
2003	"Ugly"	—	—	—	Torch
2004	"I'm Good"	—	95	17	Torch
Year	Title	Album
2000	"As If"	Bring It On
2001	"Head To The Sky" with (Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes)	Supernova
2001	"Can't Trust Myself"	On the Line
2003	"I'm Good"	Honey

Tours

• TLC: Fanmail Tour
• Blaque & N'Sync Tour
• Blaque Germany Tour
• Blaque Switzerland
• Blaque Amsterdam Tour

Awards and nominations

MTV Video Music Awards

Year	Result	Category
2000	Nominated	Best Editing In A Video For: "I Do"

BET Awards

Year	Result	Category
2001	Nominated	Best Female Group For: "Blaque"

Soul Train Lady Of Soul Awards

Year	Result	Category
1999	Nominated	Best R&B/Soul Or Rap New Artist For: "808"
2000	Nominated	R&B/Soul Album Of The Year, Group, Band Or Duo For: "Blaque"

Billboard Video Awards

Year	Result	Category
2000	Won	Best New Artist-R&B For: "Bring It All To Me"

Filmography

Films

• 2000: Bring It On
• 2003: Honey (cameo)

External links

• http://www.therealnatina.com (Natina Reed Official Site)
• http://www.twitter.com/ShamariDevoe (Shamari Devoe Official Twitter)
• http://www.twitter.com/TheBrandiW (Brandi Williams Official Twitter)