Home » Music

blaque

Ranked #69,381 in Music, #3,051,282 overall

Blaque

Blaque' is an American R&B vocal trio. Blaque stands for Believing in Life and Achieving a Quest for Unity and Everything.

Contents at a Glance

Blaque
New Guestbook

Blaque

When you think of African-American R&B vocal trios, the first names that spring to mind are Destiny's Child, or TLC. One of the lesser-known but no less talented trios is the band Blaque, which is an acronym for Believing in Life and Achieving a Quest for Unity and Everything. Formed in 1999 by Natina Reed, Shamari Fears and Brandi Williams, the band may not be that well known, but their music is.

With collaborations with none other than R Kelly and JC Chasez of the boy band, Nsync, their debut album, the 1999 self-titled 'Blaque', was a huge success. Reaching a chart high of #23 on the US R&B chart, it went platinum, with two singles from it both reaching the Top Ten on the Billboard 100 Singles Chart. The first of these singles, '808', was actually written for the band by R Kelly.

Following this success, the band went back into the studio and started work on their second album, 'Blaque Out'. With TLC's Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes taking the trio under her wing, they seemed set for major success. However, the car crash that took Lopes' life also took away their momentum, and instead of their second album receiving a release, their record label dropped Blaque. The album did see the light of day, although it was only in Japan, and therefore, never achieved the success it may have deserved.

Although things went quiet for a while, Blaque did resurface with the single 'I'm Good' for the soundtrack to the 2003 movie 'Honey'. With positive feedback in both America and Europe, it seemed that the band's comeback would be complete. However, despite radio stations playing the song, once again Blaque's record company seemed to want them to fail and stopped any further releases, even in the United Kingdom where the single was picking up good press.

If this was a knock back, the fate of their third full-length album, 'Torch', was even more depressing. Despite some of the biggest names from the world of music being involved, such as Missy Elliot and mega-songwriter Linda Perry, the relative poor sales numbers of the single 'I'm Good' (in no small way due to the record company) meant the initial release date of 'Torch' was delayed. The final nail in the coffin was when founder member Natina left to be a minister. Despite replacing her and writing some new material, the album was never released and Blaque broke up.

However, like all good stories, the Blaque one would appear to have a happy ending. The original three members have since gotten back together, and a new album is due for release later this year on Geffen Records. With a history of singles like 'Bring It All To Me' and 'As If' never getting the credit they should have, maybe this time Blaque will have the success anyone who listens to their CDs knows they deserve.