Ready for the World: Difference between revisions
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==External links== |
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*[http://www.readyfortheworld.net/ Ready for the World] official website |
*[http://www.readyfortheworld.net/ Ready for the World] official website |
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*[http://zapom.com/ready+for+the+world Ready for the World Music Videos] |
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*{{Allmusic|class=artist|id=p5237}} |
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Revision as of 22:38, 23 December 2010
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2008) |
Ready for the World |
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Ready for the World is an American R&B band from Flint, Michigan who scored several moderate pop, soul, and dance hits in the mid to late 1980s. They were founded by Melvin Riley and Gordon Strozier.
History
The group originally consisted of lead vocalist/keyboardist/occasional rhythm guitarist Melvin Riley with Gordon Strozier (lead guitar), Gregory Potts (keyboards), Willie Triplett (percussion/keyboards), John Eaton (bass guitar),and Gerald Valentine (drums). They had performed throughout Flint at high school talent shows and were discovered by WJLB Detroit Radio personality The Electrifying Mojo in 1982. They gained regional fame with their first release "Tonight" in 1983. "Tonight" was an underground hit in Flint and Detroit which helped garner them national prominence shortly after their signing under the MCA label. Ready for the World recorded their album Ready for the World during 1984 in Flint, Michigan under the production of Bernard Terry and recording engineer Charles Brown, Jr.
Success
In 1985, the band signs to the Steven Machat-Rick Smith management company AMI, the agreement with MCA are redrawn and promotion and marketing dollars is committed to break the group. This Machat and Smith do as the two men steer the group to number one on the US pop charts as well as top five in all the Western European countries and Australia as well, with the hit ,their best-known hit "Oh Sheila,". This song in the US went to number one on the R&B, Pop Charts, and the Hot Dance Club Play charts that year, becoming the first ever single to hold the number one spot on all three of these charts simultaneously. The song "Digital Display" followed and hit number 21. In 1986, the band released their second album Long Time Coming, which returned them to the Top 10 on the pop charts when the slow jam "Love You Down" climbed to number nine. (source: Book of Billboard Top 40 Singles)
The band would go on to release a couple more albums into the 90s, but they weren't as successful as the first pair. This caused the band to break up in 1991.
Post-break-up
After the break up, lead singer Riley went on to record solo albums, one in 1994 and one in 2000. A Ready for the World reunion album followed in 2004, featuring mostly urban ballads.
In 2007, Demetrius Nichols also played Bass for the group on a brief visit to Japan. He also performed with Ready for the World at the PURPLE MOON NIGHT CLUB in Flint, Michigan in January 2010.
"Oh Sheila" is according to legend written about Sheila E, although according to the Book of Billboard Number 1 singles, Riley claims that the song wasn't about anybody in particular, as he just "made her up." (source: Book of Billboard Number 1 Singles)
A cover of "Oh Sheila" by Angel City (entitled "Love Me Right") was released in 2003.
The cast of the TV Show Psych also did a cover of the song "Oh Sheila" as one of their "Psych-outs"
Discography
Studio albums
| Year | Album | Chart Positions[1] | U.S. Certifications[2] |
Record Label | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. | U.S. R&B | |||||
| 1985 | Ready for the World | 17 | 3 | Platinum | MCA | |
| 1986 | Long Time Coming | 32 | 5 | Gold | ||
| 1988 | Ruff 'N Ready | 65 | 17 | — | ||
| 1991 | Straight Down to Business | — | 43 | — | ||
| 1994 | Ghetto Love (Melvin Riley solo) |
155 | 23 | — | ||
| 2000 | Bedroom Stories (Melvin Riley solo) |
— | — | — | ||
| 2004 | She Said She Wants Some | — | — | — | Thump | |
| "—" denotes the album failed to chart, was not released, or was not certified | ||||||
Compilation albums
| Year | Album | Chart Positions | Record Label | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. | U.S. R&B | |||||
| 1993 | Oh Sheila! Ready for the World's Greatest Hits | — | — | MCA | ||
| 2002 | 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Ready for the World | — | — | |||
| "—" denotes the album failed to chart or was not released | ||||||
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart Positions[1][3][4][5] | Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Hot 100 |
U.S. R&B |
U.S. Dance |
U.S. AC |
UK | |||
| 1984 | "Tonight" | — | 6 | — | — | — | Ready for the World |
| "Deep Inside Your Love" | — | 6 | — | — | — | ||
| 1985 | "Oh Sheila" | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | 50 | |
| "Digital Display" | 21 | 4 | 3 | — | — | ||
| 1986 | "Slide Over" | — | 57 | — | — | — | |
| "Ceramic Girl" | — | 82 | — | — | — | ||
| "Love You Down" | 9 | 1 | — | 24 | 60 | Long Time Coming | |
| 1987 | "Mary Goes Round" | — | 23 | — | — | — | |
| "Long Time Coming" | — | 54 | — | — | — | ||
| 1988 | "My Girly" | — | 6 | 49 | — | — | Ruff 'N Ready |
| "Gently" | — | 30 | — | — | — | ||
| 1991 | "Straight Down to Business" | — | 15 | — | — | — | Straight Down to Business |
| "Can He Do It (Like This, Can He Do It Like That)" | — | 9 | — | — | — | ||
| 1994 | "Who's Is It?" (Melvin Riley solo) |
— | 43 | — | — | — | Ghetto Love |
| "What Makes a Man (Wanna Cheat on His Woman)" (Melvin Riley solo) |
— | 73 | — | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes the single failed to chart or was not released | |||||||
See also
- List of number-one hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
References
- ^ a b "Ready for the World Chart History". billboard.com. Retrieved 2009-06-11. Cite error: The named reference "billboard" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ "Ready for the World U.S. Certification History". riaa.com. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
- ^ "Ready for the World Chart History". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
- ^ "Ready for the World UK Chart History". chartstats.com. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
- ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 451. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
External links
- Ready for the World official website
- Ready for the World Music Videos
- Ready for the World at AllMusic