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"Forever My Lady" - Jodeci
from the album Forever My Lady (1991)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #25 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 12

Today's song of the day comes from the R&B group Jodeci, who came together in the late 1980s as brothers Cedric ("K-Ci") and Joel ("JoJo") Hailey hooked up with brothers Dalvin ("Mr. Dalvin") and Donald ("Devante' Swing") DeGrate. Each pair was involved in gospel music in younger years, but as a group they pursued a much more secular path musically. Signed to Uptown Records with help from rapper Heavy D, who was signed to the label. At first, they sang backup for acts like Father MC, for whom they scored a top-20 R&B hit as a featured artist on his "Treat Them Like They Want To Be Treated" (#14 R&B) in 1990.

In 1991, naming themselves Jodeci to combine aspects of their names (JoJo+DeGrate+K-Ci), they released their debut album Forever My Lady in the spring of 1991. The first single from the record was "Gotta Love", which was a new jack swing exercise in the Boyz II Men/Bell Biv Devoe vein; it slipped on to the R&B chart, peaking at #79, and not even making a dent on the pop Hot 100. With their second release, the title track "Forever My Lady", they changed all that, starting on a path that they would stick to most of their time together. Written by K-CI and Devante Swing with fellow R&B crooner Al B Sure!, the record was a combination of quiet storm romance and hip-hop-lite swagger. They would be followed by a flood of similar-sounding groups after...

"Forever My Lady" became Jodeci's first top-40 pop hit in December of 1991. The track was also their first to hit the top of Billboard's R&B chart, where it stayed for two weeks. In 1992, the group won two Billboard Music Awards for top R&B album and R&B Artist.

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Here's Jodeci appearing on Live At The Apollo to promote the album...