Cameo (band)

Infobox musical artist |
Name = Cameo


Img_capt =
Img_size =
Background = group_or_band
Alias =
Origin = New York City, USA
Instrument =
Genre = R&B / funk / soul / disco, electro
Occupation = Singer-Songwriter / Producer / Musician
Years_active = 1974 – present
Label = Chocolate City

Atlanta Artists

Mercury

Reprise

Way 2 Funky / Raging Bull

Crash / [http://www.discogs.com/label/Private+I+Records Private I]
Associated_acts =
Barbara Mitchell

Bobby Brown

Ca$hflow

Charles Earland

East Coast

George Howard

Howard Kenney

L.A. Connection

Malemen

Mantra

The Reddings

Tity Brothers ( Nathan & Arnett Leftenant / unreleased work )

Wynd Chymes
URL = [http://www.hiphopera.biz/ www.hiphopera.biz] ( Charlie Singleton )

[http://www.gregoryjohnson.com/ www.gregoryjohnson.com]
Current_members =
Larry Blackmon----On recent Cameo-shows

Aaron Mills

Charlie Singleton

Tomi Jenkins

Jonathan Moffett
Past_members = Anthony Lockett

Arnett Leftenant

Eric Durham

Eric Nelson

Gary Dow

Gregory Johnson

Jheryl Bright

Kevin Kendricks

Melvin Wells

Nathan Leftenant

Michael "Calamari" Burnett (deceased)

Wayne Cooper (deceased)

Willie "Chill Factor" Morris----Additional tour-members

Bruce Carter ( Pleasure )

Keni Hairston

Rayford Griffin ( Stanley Clarke Band )

Wayne Cobham ( brother of Billy Cobham )
Notable_instruments =horn section

keyboards / synthesizers

rhythm section

Cameo is a funk-influenced R&B group that was formed in the early 1970's. Cameo was initially a 13-member group known as the New York City Players, this name was later changed to Cameo to avoid confusion with another popular group of that era. Since then, Cameo has become a critically acclaimed group with several hits to their name. A few of the original members still continue to perform together, while two others have been recently hired by popular hip-hop group Outkast.

History

In 1974, Cameo started out with 13 members created by former Juilliard student and New York-area clubgoer Larry Blackmon (late of Black Ivory), 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, Blackmon, keyboardist Gregory Johnson, and the late Gwen Guthrie formed the band East Coast, together with James Wheeler (alto saxophone), Melvin Whay (bass), Michael Harris (percussion), and Pat Grant (trombone). They released one self-titled album in 1973 on the independent label Encounter.

Cameo started with a deep, funky sound, but it was obvious from the start 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".

Music career

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, 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 Gregory Johnson quit, making it a quartet: Blackmon, Tomi Jenkins, Nathan Leftenant, and Charles Singleton; keyboardist Kevin Kendricks would later be brought 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.

The song "Word Up!" hit the radio airwaves in mid-1986. 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.

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. Next, 1990's "Real Men Wear Black" and 1992's "Emotional Violence" failed to reach the same commercial success of "Word Up!". By this time, after their departure from Polygram on to their new label, Reprise, Blackmon 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. 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 saw the release of "In the Face of Funk" that got some club play and a single release, but for the most part, Cameo's reign was over.

Presently

Both ex-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 either Andre 3000 or Big Boi, and was asked if he had time to record a bassline for them, which was for "Ms. Jackson", OutKast's successful hit.

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

Larry Blackmon has a son, of the same name, in the NY political scene who has worked with Clinton, Bloomberg, and the NY Jets. Another of his sons, listed as N. Larry Blackmon, is successfully building a rock/hip hop empire of his own, and will soon be featured in a reality show featuring other music sons as well.

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.

Reuse of songs

Covers

*"Word Up!" was covered by metal band KoЯn on their "Greatest Hits, Volume 1", Scottish rock band Gun, German "Country Trash Punk Rock"-Band The BossHoss and Melanie B.

amples

*"Candy" was sampled by Tupac Shakur on his song "All Bout U", "Will Smith on his song "Candy", and by Mariah Carey on her song "Loverboy".
*"Two of Us" was sampled by Beyonce on "What's It Gonna Be", and by Tupac Shakur on his song "I Wonder If Heavens Got A Ghetto".
*"Rigor Mortis" was sampled by DJ Quik on his song "Get At Me", Brand Nubian on their song "Brand Nubian".
*"She's Strange" was sampled by Tupac Shakur on his song "Young Niggaz", Nate Dogg on his song "She's Strange" and Suga Free on his song "So Fly" featuring Snoop Dogg.
*"Back and Forth" was sampled by Wu-Tang Clan on their song "Gravel Pit".
*Oran Juice Jones sampled the intro of Cameo's ballad "Hangin' Downtown" on his song "Make Love to Your Mind".
*Speech sampled "I've Got Your Image" in one of his recent productions.

Use in multimedia

In October 2004 "Candy" appeared in popular videogame , playing on Funk radio station Bounce FM, also on , 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.

The song "Candy" was also played during the wedding scene in the movie "The Best Man".

Discography

Compilations

ee also

*List of Number 1 Dance Hits (United States)
*List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

References

External links

*
* [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Cameo Cameo @ Discogs]