Representative Albums: "Another Level," "No Diggity: The Very Best of Blackstreet," "Blackstreet"
Representative Songs: "No Diggity," "Fix," "The City Is Mine"
Biography
One of the top R&B vocal groups of the '90s, Blackstreet was founded by singer, producer, and new jack swing pioneer Teddy Riley after the breakup of his seminal trio Guy. Riley had taken a few years to concentrate on his booming production career, which saw him working with Wreckx-N-Effect, Bobby Brown, Michael Jackson, and SWV, among others. His itch to get back in the performing arena resulted in the formation of Blackstreet in 1994, which included singers Chauncey "Black" Hannibal, Levi Little, and Joe Stonestreet in addition to Riley. Stonestreet was replaced by Dave Hollister prior to the recording of the group's self-titled debut album, which appeared in the spring of 1994. On the strength of "Before I Let You Go," a Top Five hit on the R&B charts, Blackstreet was a platinum-selling hit even without much crossover exposure. Two more singles from the album, "Booti Call" and "Joy," were minor hits as well.
Hollister subsequently left for a solo career and Little exited as well; their replacements were Mark Middleton and Eric Williams. The new additions helped set the stage for Blackstreet's pop breakthrough with 1996's Another Level. More specifically, it was the inescapable smash single "No Diggity," which featured special guest Dr. Dre, that put them over the top. "No Diggity" reigned for four weeks on top of the pop charts and won a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal by a Duo or Group; it also pushed sales of Another Level past the four million mark. The follow-up single, "Don't Leave Me," was a decent-sized hit in 1997, and the group later made a guest appearance on Jay-Z's "The City Is Mine" and teamed with Mya and Mase for the hit "Take Me There" from the Rugrats soundtrack. More personnel shifts had ensued following their blockbuster success, however: Middleton left for his own solo career and was replaced by Terrell Phillips.
Blackstreet's third album, Finally, was released in early 1999, and though it contained "Take Me There" (and a bevy of guest cameos), it spent only one week in the Top Ten. The group's commercial momentum had slowed in the intervening years, and Finally struggled to go gold. Tensions within the group and with their label, Interscope, ran high, and a rift between Hannibal and Riley spelled the end of the road for Blackstreet before the year was even out. Reports surfaced in early 2000 that Hannibal had sued Riley for two million dollars, but after Riley filed a countersuit, Hannibal denied that he had ever taken legal action and the matter was dropped. Riley recorded a reunion album with Guy in 2000, and subsequently began working on material for his first solo record. However, he had second thoughts about disbanding Blackstreet, and patched things up with Hannibal; Middleton and Williams returned to restore the Another Level lineup, and Riley's solo project became a Blackstreet reunion. The resulting album, Level II, was released in early 2003. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
BLACKstreet is an American R&B group founded in 1992 by Thomas R. Taliaferro Jr. and Teddy Riley, the inventor of New Jack Swing known for his work as a member of Guy. Chauncey Hannibal and Levi Little were signed under contract with Taliaferro and were merged with Joseph Stonestreet into what became Blackstreet featuring Teddy Riley. The current members are, Teddy Riley, Chauncey Hannibal, Dave Hollister, Mark Middleton, and Eric Williams. The original lineup released their first single in 1993 on the soundtrack to the movie CB4 starring Chris Rock titled "Baby Be Mine" produced by Teddy Riley. Stonestreet however left the group shortly after the single was released due to personal differences with Riley and was replaced by Dave Hollister.
The first single from their third album, "Girlfriend/Boyfriend", a collaboration with Janet Jackson featuring Ja Rule and Eve - BLACKstreet finally had a top ten album with Finally. But personnel shifts wrecked the group and contributed to the relative failure of Finally (1999 in music) and BLACKstreet soon broke up. After rumors of legal action and a preemptive countersuit, the group re-banded and released Level II in 2003 (see 2003 in music).
J-Stylz left the group in 2008 and Chauncey returned marking the reunion of the Another Level lineup in late 2008 the Another Level lineup of Teddy Riley, Chauncey Hannibal, Mark Middleton, and Eric Williams have reunited and are working on a new album. Riley has also reunited his other group Guy with the Hall brothers Aaron Hall and Damion Hall and both groups are gonna tour together and release new albums. Dave Hollister rejoined the current lineup at the Core DJ's Event in Atlanta during a show given by both of Riley's groups he sang "Before I Let You Go" with the four current Blackstreet members and also performed No Diggity with them. DaveHollister has returned to the group after a 13 year absence making the group a quintet of Teddy Riley, Chauncey Hannibal, Mark Middleton, Eric Williams, and Dave Hollister. Currently, Blackstreet is under the vocal direction of Romeo Johnson, an LA Vocal trainer.
"Baby Be Mine" ·"Booti Call" ·"Before I Let You Go" ·"Tonight's The Night" ·"Joy" ·"U Blow My Mind"
Another Level
"No Diggity" ·"Never Gonna Let You Go" ·"The Lord Is Real (Time Will Reveal)" ·"Don't Leave Me" ·"Fix" ·"(Money Can't) Buy Me Love" ·"I Can't Get You (Outta My Mind)"
