Press
Badd Boys to Good Dads
April 24, 1998,
The Straits Times [Singapore]
author unknown
* I got these articles from the website of a CMB fan in Singapore named Peiling, back in '98.
It is not every day that Sony Music boss Tommy Mottola comes up to you and belts out the chorus of your new song. But that is exactly what happened to vocal harmony quartet, Color Me Badd, four months ago.
There they were, in hip New York City restaurant Mr Chow's, when Mottola (ex-husband of Mariah Carey) approached them. His rendition of the chorus of Remember When left them stunned. "That is the first single of the new album, we said there and then," Badd member Kevin Thornton told Life! on Wednesday. That song will also be dedicated to the memory of the victims of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing (see other story).
Added Mark Calderon, 27: "He has a great tone. He can sing real well." The group was here to perform at the M1 show at Boat Quay last night, and to promote its upcoming album, Awakening, which will be released in June. This is its first album on the Epic Records label under the Sony umbrella.
For a long time, the group which produced hits such as I Wanna Sex You Up in the early '90s, was facing "some problems" with the independent label it was signed to. Singapore last heard Color Me Badd when it was here in 1996 to perform at Sparks Disco and promote its last, and third album, Now And Forever, which contained the song The Earth, The Sun, The Rain. Then, the group got a lucky break with Epic last year and that was how Mottola picked up its song. Which is good news for the group.
In 1991, even before Boyz II Men released album Cooleyhighharmony, credited for reviving the doo-wop style of vocal groups in the '50s and '60s, Color Me Badd had already hit the charts with I Wanna Sex You Up. That song from its debut self-titled album also spawned the No.1 hits All 4 Love and I Adore Mi Arnor. Now, seven years down the road, a barrage of boy groups such as Backstreet Boys and Boyzone have come up, with their own take on the vocal-harmony style. So where does that leave Color Me Badd? Still in the front, said the group.
"You can sense an originality in the creators of a trend," Sam Watters, 27, said. "When we were doing it, it wasn't a trend yet." But, the group was quick to add, it enjoys and respects the music the newer groups are making. "There's a lot of talent out there and they keep us on our toes," said Calderon. What sets them apart today is also the fact that its music and style have matured.
"We are going to add new members to the group," Calderon said playfully. "All of us have babies now. Changing diapers is sure great inspiration!" He has a three-year old girl.
Thornton, the first among the four high-school friends to become a father, has a six-year old son, and two daughters aged three and nine months. Watters' baby boy is due in three months, and the fourth member of the group, Bryan Abrams, has a three-year-old son. In a more serious vein, Abrams, 28, said: "You look at things differently when you have kids. You start thinking about what they will say when they are old enough to think about what you are singing about."
But something that they have always been singing about has not changed. "We have evolved, but Color Me Badd has always been about making people feel good," added Watters. It remains to be seen if the group's new effort, Awakening, can stir more than a sleepy interest among today's music fans, with a barrage of similar R&B and pop albums to choose from. But the group already has plans to come back here for a full concert later this year. And with heavyweight backing from big boss Mottola himself, CMB might just punch out the competition. Said Abrams jokingly: "He told us that if we sold 20 million copies of the first single, he'd give us 50 per cent of Sony."
Tribute to Oklahoma bomb victims
also April 24, 1998, The Straits Times [Singapore], author unknown
On April 19, 1995, a bomb went off in an Oklahoma City federal building killing 168 people. "It happened just five miles from where we lived," said Color Me Badd member Sam Watters. At the time, the group was in New York City. It could only watch the tragedy in its hometown helplessly. But now, it is doing its bit to honour the victims of the bombing. It is re-working the first single of its upcoming album, Awakening, and dedicating it to the memory of the victims.
That song, Remember When was originally written as a love song. "We wanted to re-write the lyrics to tell about the tragedy from the point of view of the victims," added Watters. The song, which can be heard over local airwaves now, was recorded with a symphonic arrangement and children's voices, courtesy of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra and the Oklahoma City Public Schools Honor Choir. The group will also be shooting a music video of the song. Proceeds from the sales of the single will go to the Oklahoma City National Memorial Foundation, which is bulding a memorial on the bombing site.
In December, a federal jury in Denver found bombing conspirator Terry Nichols guilty of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter, but he was spared the death sentence. His former army buddy and conspirator Timothy McVeigh was convicted and sentenced to death earlier last year. Said Watters: "We just want to give something back to our hometown."