Bell Biv Devoe Biography
On their arrival on the music scene in 1989, this trio of former New Edition members, Ricky Bell (18 September 1967, Boston, Massachusetts, USA), Michael Bivins (b. 10 August 1968, Boston, Massachusetts, USA) and Ronnie DeVoe (b. 17 November 1967, Boston, Massachusetts, USA), heralded a new development in American urban music, infusing their hip-hop-inflected rhymes with a more stylish and less brutal timbre. The hybrid became known as Ghetto Swing. Their debut singles, "Poison" and "Do Me!", both made US number 3, and the album that followed was similarly successful, earning over three million sales. In 1991, at the initiation of Motown Records president Joe Busby, Bivins was asked to become A&R executive for his own record company - Biv Entertainment - to be licensed through Motown. Signings included Another Bad Creation and Boyz II Men, both of whom found almost immediate success. Bell and DeVoe would oversee a similar set-up through PolyGram Records, established in 1992. The second Bell Biv DeVoe album included a New Edition reunion on "Word To The Mutha!". Bivins has produced for MC Brains in addition to the aforementioned Another Bad Creation and Boyz II Men, and put together the East Coast Family hip-hop project. After the release of Hootie Mack, and the attendant "Gangsta' single, the trio launched their own range of clothes through Starter merchandising. All three members participated in 1996"s full-blown New Edition reunion. They eventually got round to recording a new Bell Biv Devoe album in 2001.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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