Cameo (band)

Cameo is a funk-influenced R&B group.

History

Formed in 1974, Cameo started out as a 13-member group created by former Juilliard student and New York-area clubgoer Larry Blackmon, 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 that "New York City Players" might cause confusion between them and the funk band Ohio Players. Prior to this , Larry , keyboardist Gregory Johnson and the late Gwen Guthrie , formed the band East Coast , together with fellow-members James Wheeler ( alt-saxophone ) / Melvin Whay ( bass ) / Michael Harris ( percussion ) and Pat Grant ( trombone ). They released one self-titled album in 1973 , on the independent Encounter-label. Cameo started with a deep, funky sound, but it was obvious from the start that 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.

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 Larry 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 keyboardist Gregory Johnson quit, making it a quartet that included Blackmon, Tomi Jenkins, Nathan Leftenant and Charles Singleton, bringing keyboardist Kevin Kendricks 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 and instantly became one of the biggest pop songs of the year. 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. By the end of 1986, Word Up! seemed to be everywhere: radio, clubs, MTV, Coca-Cola commercials and even in people's conversations as it became a national catch phrase. Larry explained in his interviews that the inspiration for the title came from a fan who shouted "Word Up !" after a UK-show. Some music critics have hailed "Word Up!" as the defining song of the 1980s.^{[citation needed]}

Cameo had become one of the most well-known bands in the world, but the touring and fame that came from Word Up! took its toll. The group became overexposed, and needed to take some time before releasing its follow-up. 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. In 1990 they released Real Men Wear Black which didn't contain a "smash hit". 1992's Emotional Violence also did well critically, but again didn't contain the "smash-hit" radio singles that Word Up had. By this time , after their departure from Polygram on to their new label , Reprise , Larry 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 once again. 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's In the Face of Funk album contained an excellent cover of Slave's "Slide" that got some club play and had a single plus video-release , but for the most part, Cameo's reign was over.

Of course, nothing could top the phenomenon of the Word Up! period, and Cameo has kept this all in perspective. Instead of infighting or collapse - which many bands experience after falling from superstardom - Cameo has stuck together. The band has continued to tour the globe to this day. Their many years of a solid live-reputation got awarded around 1999 by the US Vibe-magazine.

Both 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 Andre 3000 or Big Boi , and was asked if he had time to record a bass-line for them , which was for "Miss Jackson" , Outkast's successful hit.

In 2000 , Cameo released their last-recorded album as a group. Sexy Sweet Thing , the album-title , had also a single and video-release. Around these years they frequently performed in the US and at various dates in Europe.

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.

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", 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.

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

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

Trivia

Frontman Larry Blackmon was notorious for wearing bright colored codpieces and flamboyant costumes in the music videos.
Comedian Arsenio Hall released in the early 90's a CD as his alter-ego, Chunky A.

He recorded "You Make Me Say Owww !" on that album which is a parody at Larry Blackmon's nasal snarl , a sound which goes back to the 70's and was introduced one of the first times by Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner from the Ohio Players. Arsenio released a video from the track , in which Larry and a few of his band-members make another cameo-appearance.

SNL performer Tracy Morgan parodied Cameo (mainly lead singer Blackmon) in the March 10, 2001 episode of the show, with host Conan O'Brien as Right Said Fred, as both were appearing before Congress to discuss the file sharing/Napster issue. Morgan repeatedly says "Word Up!" whenever talked to.

In 2007 Cameo made a cameo in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theatres in a deleted scene. They perform for the gang, but are deemed way too funky.

External links