  Jodeci consists of two pairs of
brothers from North Carolina who formed in
1990: Cedric (K-Ci) and Joel (Jo-Jo) Hailey
and Dalvin and Donald (DeVante Swing)
DeGrate. With their R&B sounds, urban
image, and sexy overtone, Jodeci has become
one of the premiere soul groups of the 90s.
Their name is derived from 3 of member's
nicknames: Jo-Jo, DeVante
Swing, and K-Ci. All 4 members of
Jodeci began their musical background in
their youth singing gospel music. The DeGrate
brothers, both born in Virginia, sang with
their father's gospel group, The DeGrate
Delegation, who have 18 gospel LPs to their
credit. The Hailey brothers performed in
their father's gospel group, Little Gedric
and The Hailey Singers. The four guys met
each other through each others' girlfriends,
and began singing together while still in
their teens. DeVante had run away in hopes of
working with Prince at the age of 16, but
didn't get too far in music before he
returned home. He told Vibe
magazine: " I was up at Paisley Park
every day begging for a job, asking people to
listen to my tape. The receptionist kept
saying she couldn't help me. I wasn't gonna
leave until they put me on." Jodeci's
big break came when they went to New York,
demo in hand. The guys brought their demo to
Uptown Entertainment and were almost rejected
until rapper Heavy D heard
their music. Eventually, Jodeci's music made
it to the president of Uptown and Jodeci were
offered and signed a recording contract.
 Jodeci's debut LP, Forever
My Lady was released. The guys hit
R&B and pop gold with the single "Come And Talk To Me" and went on to
sell over 3 million copies of their LP. Other
hits from the LP included "Forever My Lady" and "Stay."
Forever
My Lady was certified gold.
Jodeci hit the Top 40 with
"Forever My Lady."
 # 38
Singles Artist of the Year
Forever
My Lady was certified platinum.
Jodeci hit the Top 40 with
"Stay."
Jodeci topped the Billboard
R&B Singles chart for 2 weeks with "Stay."
Jodeci hit the Top 40 with
"Come And Talk To Me."
Jodeci topped the Billboard
R&B Singles chart for 2 weeks with "Come And Talk To Me."
The single "Come And Talk To Me" was certified
gold.
K-Ci contributed his vocals to a
track on Mary J. Blige's LP, What's
The 411?.
Forever
My Lady was certified 2x platinum.
 Jodeci: # 29
Singles Artist of the Year
Jodeci were
nominated for 2 American Music
Awards for Favorite Soul/R&B
Band/Duo/Group and Favorite Soul/R&B New Artist.
Jodeci could be heard on the
soundtrack for Who's
The Man? with "Let's Go
Through The Motions."
Jodeci hit the Top 40 with
"Lately."
Jodeci hit the Top 10 with "Lately."
Jodeci topped the Billboard Top
R&B Singles chart with "Lately."
The single "Lately" was certified
gold.
 Jodeci's second LP, Diary
Of A Mad Band, was released and was less
successful after receiving little promotion
from the record company. The band was not
thrilled with how Uptown was treating them
and considered finding a recording home at
Death Row Records. The guys didn't make any
videos for the LP after the first track,
"Feenin'" was released.
K-Ci stated the record company
"...wasn't treating us like we'd just
sold 3 million albums."
Jodeci hit the Top 40 with
"Cry For You."
Legal troubles hit Jodeci when
K-Ci and DeVante were accused of threatening
a woman for which both plead guilty (DeVante
for gun charges and K-Ci for sexual contact).
DeVante's home was violently
robbed and ransacked while he was home.
 Jodeci had a hit with the track
"Cry For You" and hit the Top
10 on the pop charts with the Stevie Wonder cover, "Lately" from MTV
Uptown Unplugged.
 Jodeci: # 54
Singles Artist of the Year
Jodeci topped the Billboard
R&B Singles chart for 4 weeks with "Cry For You."
The single "Cry For You" was certified
gold.
Diary
Of A Mad Band topped the Billboard R&B
Albums chart for 2 weeks.
Jodeci topped the Billboard
R&B Airplay chart for a week with "Cry For You."
Diary
Of A Mad Band was certified platinum.
Jodeci hit the Top 40 with
"Feenin'."
K-Ci could be heard on the
soundtrack for Jason's
Lyric with "Let's Go
Through The Motions."
Jodeci topped the Billboard
Year-End Charts as the Top R&B
Artist - Duo/Group (singles & albums),
the Top R&B Album Artist - Duo/Group
(singles & albums), and the Top R&B
Singles Artist - Duo/Group.
 Jodeci: # 61
Singles Artist of the Year ~ K-Ci
Hailey: # 113
Singles Artist of the Year
Jodeci were nominated for an American Music
Award for Favorite Soul/R&B
Band/Duo/Group.
K-Ci hit the Top 40 solo with
the remake "If You Think You're
Lonely Now" from the Jason's
Lyric soundtrack.
Jodeci hit the Top 40 with
"Freek 'N You."
 Jodeci released The
Show, The After Party, The Hotel. The LP showcased more
of Jodeci's funkier side and "traces a
night in the life of Jodeci."
The single "Freek 'N You" was certified
gold.
The
Show, The After Party, The Hotel topped the Billboard
R&B Albums chart for a week.
The
Show, The After Party, The Hotel was certified
platinum.
Jodeci hit the Top 40 with
"Love U 4 Life."
 Jodeci: # 138
Singles Artist of the Year
Jodeci were nominated for an American Music
Award for Favorite Soul/R&B
Band/Duo/Group.
More legal troubles hit Jodeci
when Dalvin was arrested in Los Angeles for
refusing to move his car, as ordered by a
police officer.
Jodeci started focusing on
individual ventures in music and business.
Dalvin was doing production work as well as
working on a solo LP. He has also acted in
the film Player's Anthem. DeVante
also has been hailed for his production work
and owns two production companies: Swing Mob
and 4HISDAMNSELF.
 Jodeci could be heard with the
track "After Last Night" from the Eddie soundtrack.
Jodeci hit the Top 40 with
"Get On Up."
Diary
Of A Mad Band was certified 2x platinum.
 Jo-Jo and K-Ci started work on
an LP of their own and lent their vocals to
some of 2Pac's work including the
hit "How Do U Want It." The duo
also had a hit with a song from the Bulletproof soundtrack,
"How Could You."
 K-Ci &
JoJo: # 137
Singles Artist of the Year
K-Ci told Black Beat
that another Jodeci LP is unlikely for at
least a couple years. Fans can mostly likely
expect solo releases in the meantime.
K-Ci & JoJo were nominated
for a Grammy Award for
Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group
("How U Want It" (with 2Pac)).
 K-Ci & JoJo released Love
Always.
K-Ci & JoJo hit the Top 40
with "You Bring Me Up."
K-Ci and JoJo's Love
Always was certified gold.
 K-Ci &
JoJo: # 25
Singles Artist of the Year
K-Ci & JoJo hit the Top 40
with "All
My Life."
 Love
Always eventually hit the Top 10. JoJo
told MTV that the tune "All My
Life" was written about his daughter:
"I wrote it for her, and I wrote it
about her." The duo also stated that
they almost didn't get to record it:
"The song was originally supposed to be
used for... another artist... but we listened
to it after we got out of the studio and it
was like, 'I'm keeping this, this is too
hot'..."
K-Ci and JoJo's Love
Always was certified platinum.
K-Ci and JoJo hit the Top
10
with "All
My Life."
K-Ci and JoJo topped the
Billboard R&B Singles Airplay chart with
"All
My Life"
for 9 weeks.
K-Ci and JoJo's Love
Always was certified 2x platinum.
K-Ci & JoJo hit #1 with "All
My Life"
for a week.
"All
My Life"
topped the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart
for 3 weeks, the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart
for 2 weeks, the R&B Singles chart for 2
weeks, and the R&B Singles Sales chart
for a week.
K-Ci told The Washington
Post that Jodeci might be back as a
group in the year 2000 with a gospel LP.
K-Ci & JoJo teamed with
Planned Parenthood with their single
"Don't Rush" by distributing free
copies of their video for the song.
K-Ci and JoJo's Love
Always was certified 3x platinum.
K-Ci & JoJo were nominated
for a MTV Video Music
Award for Best R&B Video ("All
My Life").
MTV reported that K-Ci and JoJo
were back in the studio to work on their next
LP - and on the prospect of the whole group
recording again, K-Ci said: "The group
hasn't busted up or anything like that but
we're just putting Jodeci on hold for now on
working on our side projects."
K-Ci & JoJo topped the Billboard Year-End
Charts
as the Top R&B Album Artist - Duos/Group.
 K-Ci &
JoJo: # 50
Singles Artist of the Year
K-Ci & JoJo won an American Music
Award for Favorite Soul/R&B
Band/Duo/Group and were nominated for
Favorite Soul/R&B Album (Love
Always).
K-Ci & JoJo were nominated
for 2 Grammy Awards for Best R&B Vocal
Performance by a Duo or Group ("All
My Life")
and Best R&B Song
(awarded to the songwriter) ("All
My Life"
with Rory Bennett).
K-Ci & JoJo were nominated
for a NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Duo
or Group, and a Soul Train Music Award for
Best R&B/Soul Single, Group, Band or Duo
("All
My Life").
K-Ci and JoJo took home a
Blockbuster Award for Best Group - R&B.
 K-Ci and JoJo released their
second LP together, It's
Real.
The duo hit the Top 40 with
"Tell
Me It's Real."
K-Ci and JoJo hit the Top
10
with "Tell
Me It's Real."
It's
Real was certified platinum.
 K-Ci & JoJo: # 173
Singles Artist of the Year
K-Ci & JoJo were nominated
for an American Music
Award for Favorite
R&B Band/Duo/Group.
 Dalvin DeGrate released his
first solo LP, Met.A.Mor.Phic with the single
"Why Can't We."
K-Ci and JoJo told MTV their
next LP should hit stores in the fall:
"When we're coming with the album, we're
coming with more than just the album... It's
going to be an adventure-type thing..."
The duo joined the SoulFest tour
in the summer.
 K-Ci & JoJo released X and hit the Top 40
with "Crazy." K-Ci told MTV
that title of their new LP refers to
"...the Roman numeral X, the number 10,
and we're just celebrating. We're just so
happy and blessed that we've been around for
10 years. We came a long way, and we still
have a long way to go, but we just thank God
that he let us be able to see 10 years being
in the music business successfully."
Controversy hit the duo at a
performance in Los Angeles with mostly
teenage girls when K-Ci allegedly dropped his
boxers while performing (as part of the
'KIIS-FM Jingle Ball 2000'). K-Ci later said
of the allegations: "If y'all know K-Ci,
y'all know K-Ci didn't do it."
 K-Ci &
JoJo:# 32
Singles Artist of the Year
X was certified
platinum.
 K-Ci & JoJo hit the Top 10 with "Crazy."
K-Ci was charged with 23 counts
of indecent exposure and 1 count of lewd
conduct for an incident last December.
K-Ci pleaded 'no contest' to
lewd conduct charges (from a December
incident), and his lawyer stated: "It
was in his best interest to put this matter
behind him. He's regretful of what happened.
He just got caught up in the moment."
K-Ci & JoJo hit the Top 40
with "All The Things I Should
Have Known."
K-Ci & JoJo were
nominated for a MTV Video Music
Award for Best Video from a Film ("Crazy").
 K-Ci &
JoJo: # 152
Singles Artist of the Year
 K-Ci & JoJo released Emotional.
K-Ci & JoJo hit the Top 40
with "This Very Moment" which also could
be heard on the soundtrack for Deliver
Us From Eva.
 K-Ci and JoJo were arrested and
jailed overnight on tax evasion charges in
North Carolina. The brothers denied having
any knowledge of the tax charges.
Jodeci came in at # 176 on
the Top Pop Artists
of the Past 25 Years chart and K-Ci &
JoJo came in at # 210.
 Jodeci released the hits
compilation Back
To The Future: The Very Best Of Jodeci.
K-Ci released a solo LP My
Book.
| Jodeci |
|
Forever My Lady
Released: May, 1991
US: 3x Platinum
Billboard
peak:
# 18
Tracks: "Stay" - "Come And Talk To Me" - "Forever My Lady" - "I'm
Still Waiting" - "U &
I" - "My Phone" -
"Gotta Love" - "Play
Thang" - "It's Alright" -
"Treat U" - "Xs We
Share" |
|
Diary Of A Mad Band
Released: December, 1993
US: 2x Platinum
Billboard
peak:
# 3
Tracks: "My Heart
Belongs To U" - "Cry For You" - "Feenin'" - "What
About Us" - "Ride &
Slide" - "Alone" -
"You Got It" - "Won't
Waste You" - "In The
Meanwhile" - "Gimme All You
Got" - "Sweaty" -
"Jodecidal Hotline" -
"Success" |
|
The Show, The After
Party, The Hotel
Released: July, 1995
US: Platinum
Billboard
peak:
# 2
Rolling Stone
review: 
Tracks: "Bring On
Da' Funk" - "Fun 2 Nite" -
"S-More" - "Get On Up" - "Can
We Flo?" - "Zipper" -
"Let's Do It All" - "Pump
It Back" - "Freek 'N You" - "Time
& Place" - "Fallin'" -
"Love U 4 Life" - 4U" -
"Good Luv" |
|
Back To The Future: The
Very Best Of Jodeci
Released: June, 2005
Billboard
peak:
# 27
Tracks: "Forever My Lady" - "Stay" - "Come And Talk To Me" - "I'm
Still Waiting" - "Lately" - "Cry For You" - "Feenin'" - "My
Heart Belongs To You" - "What
About Us" - "Love U 4 Life" - "Freek 'N You" -
"Alone" - "Success" -
"Get On Up" -
"S-More" - "Good Luv" |
 iTunes
Amazon.mp3 |
The Past, The Present,
The Future
Released: March 31, 2015
Billboard
peak:
# 23
Tracks: "Too
Hot" (featuring AV) - "Sho
Out" - "Checkin For You" -
"Those Things" - "Every
Moment" - "Nobody Wins"
(featuring B.o.B) -
"Incredible" -
"Jennifer" - "Body
Parts" (featuring Mila J) -
"Stress Reliever" - "Sho
Out" (featuring Liana Banks) -
"Nobody Wins" |
| K-Ci
& JoJo |
|
Love Always
Released: June, 1997
US: 4x Platinum
Billboard
peak:
# 6
Tracks: "Last
Night's Letter" - "Baby Come
Back" - "Just For Your
Love" - "Now And Forever"
- "Don't Rush (Take Love
Slowly)" - "You Bring Me Up" -
"Still Waiting" - "Love
Ballad" - "How Many Times"
- "All My Life" - "How
Could You" |
|
It's Real
Released: June, 1999
US: Platinum
Billboard
peak:
# 8
Tracks: "Fee Fie Foe
Fum" - "I Wanna Make Love To
You" - "I Wanna Get To Know
You" - "Hello Darlin'" -
"How Long Must I Cry" -
"Makin Me Say Goodbye" - "Tell Me It's Real" -
"Life" - "Girl" -
"What Am I Gonna Do" -
"Here He Comes Again" -
"Momma's Song" |
|
X
Released: December, 2000
US: Platinum
Billboard
peak:
# 20
Tracks: "Honest
Lover" - "Wanna Do Right"
- "Get Back" - "Crazy" - "Game
Face" - "Thug N U Thug N
Me" - "If It's Going To
Work" - "All The Things I
Should Have Known" - "I
Can't Find The Words" -
"Something Inside Of Me" -
"One Last Time" -
"Suicide" - "Ooh
Yeah" |
|
Emotional
Released: November, 2002
Billboard
peak:
# 61
Tracks: "This Very Moment" -
"Special" - "It's Me"
- "I Don't Want" - "Say
Yes" - "Down For Life" -
"Goodbye" - "So
Emotional" - Love Me Carefully"
- "I Don't Mind" - "How
Can I Trust You?" - "How
Long" |
| K-CI |
|
My Book
Released: August, 2006
Tracks: "My
Book" (Prelude) - "My
Book" - "It's All Love" -
"Conversation (Can I Talk 2 U)"
- "Thug By Heart" -
"Ghetto Woman" - "Woman
Gotta Have It" - "I
Apologize" - "Much To
Soon" - "What Else Can I
Do" - "Limousine" -
"Baby I'm Back" -
"Soldier" - "Cheatin' On
Us" - "You" - "Care
For U" |
| Dalvin
DeGrate |
|
Met.A.Mor.Phic
Released: April, 2000
Tracks: "I Got
That" - "Why Can't We" -
"Dangerous" - "She
Wanted" - "Long Day" -
"More Than Friends" - "Not
My Girl" - "Scandalous" -
"'Til U Get Enough" - "I
Can't Help It" - "Love
Bites" |
| Note: Song
title and position links lead you to the
song's Top 40 chart run (from the
ARC Weekly Top 40) and LP links take
you to Amazon.com for that
LP (often including track listings and
sound samples). |
|
|
