|  •Name: Ronnie Devoe •Age: 33 •Height: 6'0 •Birthday: November 16, 1967 •Birthplace: Roxbury, Mass. •Resides: n/a •Marital Status: Relationship •Current Projects: Solo Album and BBD album |
It sounds like the premise for a riotous backstage comedy: Six former members of a once hugely successful teen pop group reunite for their first tour in 10 years after their solo careers start to lose steam... One of the characters, let's call him Bobby Brown, left the group to become one of the hottest artists in pop... Ten years later, though, the volatile star finds himself overshadowed by his pop-diva - movie-star wife... With bar fights, car accidents and paternity suits, he makes tabloid headlines more regularly than he makes the charts... Actually, it has been a few years since he made the charts... Another character, let's call him Johnny Gill, was Brown's replacement in the group... After the act split up, he, too, went on to a successful solo career... He has been having a dry spell, but wonder of wonders, he scores a couple hits, "It's Your Body" and "Let's Get the Mood Right," just as the reunited group - let's call it New Edition - is embarking on a two-month national tour... Sparks are bound to fly between him, the more talented singer, and Brown, the flashier showman... Another guy, Ralph Tresvant, scored one platinum album on his own but needs to get something happening career-wise again... Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins and Ronnie DeVoe, as we'll call the other three original members, saw their stars rise when they formed a trio named, say, Bell Biv DeVoe... However, they took too long to record a follow-up to their smash debut album, and the hits stopped coming... Now they, too, find it expedient to return to the group that made them teen idols... Naturally, egos expand, tempers flare, tensions explode, and the moviegoing public is treated to 90 hilarious minutes of outrageous backstabbing... Alas, reality isn't always quite that high-concept... From what the real-life Ronnie DeVoe said in a recent phone interview, relations in the New Edition camp are perfectly pleasant and wouldn't provide much fodder for a screenplay... "We all have little squabbles, because we're like family pretty much, but nothing that gets in the way too much," said the genial DeVoe from a tour stop in Milwaukee... DeVoe said that, in fact, the members had remained close during their time apart... The music business being a small world, they'd all see each other at awards shows and stuff... Sometimes, the guys tagged along on one another's tours for a few days or a week, just to hang out... And rather than fostering rivalries, individual successes have helped make the group better than ever now, DeVoe said... "Bobby just being out there on his own, he was able to do a lot of things to become a better performer, as well as BBD, and Johnny and Ralph being out there on their own," he said... "Coming back to the table, we had kinda watched each other, and we know each other's strengths as far as vocally and performing live... It's easy to know where each person fits in the puzzle, pretty much... There's a little friendly competition going on, definitely... But it's all good... It keeps you on your toes... It keeps you learning, keeps you wanting to succeed and just be more successful, having five other guys that know how to perform just as well as you, on the same stage." New Edition was formed in Boston and launched by producer Maurice Starr who wanted to create his answer to the Jackson Five... The group was an immediate success, scoring a hit with its first single, "Candy Girl." New Edition's second album, 1984's New Edition, went platinum on the strength of "Mr. Telephone Man" and the Top 4 crossover hit "Cool It Now... When the group broke away from Starr, it wisely hooked up with hitmakers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis... Its success continued through its last album, 1989's Heart Break, which yielded the singles "Can You Stand the Rain" and "If It Isn't Love." Throughout the group's history, DeVoe said, he was happy to remain slightly in the background... "I was the type of person that didn't want to rock the boat, so I just kinda sat back and let things happen," he recalled... "I didn't want to add to any confusion that might've been out there... There definitely was a little bit of competition going on." Things seem to be a little more democratic now... The current show is a mixture of old New Edition songs, members' solo hits and BBD songs... DeVoe said there weren't really any disputes over what should or should not be included although each member is eager for his turn in the spotlight... "We do individual things within the show, so everybody definitely wants to go out there and get their screams and everything," he said... DeVoe said the group has been drawing a mix of nostalgic old fans and kids who know the group for its double-platinum reunion album, Home Again, which includes "Hit Me Off," a former No. 1 on the R&B chart, and the crossover Top 10 hit "I'm Still in Love With You." "I think the old diehards are with us, and we appreciate that more than anything," DeVoe said... "And putting out a song like "Hit Me Off", that kinda has that Bell Biv DeVoe hip-hop kinda thing a lot of youngsters are into - that's giving us a whole new audience as well." Was DeVoe at all surprised that New Edition could regain its place at the top so quickly? "Naw!" DeVoe exclaimed... "I figured we still had an audience out there because we had success as individuals, and to put all those individuals back together was a story to me... I figured somebody out there had to be interested in that story... I didn't see how it could fail." The recording of the reunion album went smoothly, DeVoe said... The producers the group called on included top veterans - Jam & Lewis, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Gerald Levert and Jermaine Dupri - and it mostly trusted them to decide how to divide up singing duties... "There might've been a couple times where somebody wanted to sing a part somebody else was designated to sing, but for the most part, it seemed like everything kinda fit into place," he said... DeVoe said that, to him, the first years with New Edition and then the years with BBD were like the first half of a football game... Then he had two years off to sit back and watch the industry - that was the half-time show... Now his career is in the second half... He hopes that will include solo success... DeVoe has been preparing the groundwork for his solo career through his entertainment company, Private Line... Its activities include a telephone line where fans can leave him messages and get updates on his career... Sometimes, he picks it up when he's at home to chat with fans around the world, he said... "Can I say the number?" DeVoe asked eagerly. "It's 818-340-2300." Most stars would let a publicist handle something like that... They wouldn't want fans calling one of their home numbers... "I realize that," DeVoe said. "That's the main reason why I wanted to do it... I just don't want to lose the fact that these are the people that put me into the position that I'm in... It's also a promotional vehicle... When you have all these names and addresses of people across the country and across the world, you can let 'em know about things you have coming up... When it's time for that big Ronnie DeVoe album to come out, a lot of those people across the country and across the world will get first dibs on it!" | 
Born November 17, 1967, Ronnie DeVoe became the final member to join the original edition of New Edition... DeVoe's uncle Brook Payne recruited his nephew to New Edition giving N.E. the Fab-Five look of an R&B & PoP group... Along with Michael Bivins, DeVoe & Bivins became known for their rap lyrics & background vocals within' the group... In 1990, the two, along with Ricky Bell formed BBD... DeVoe stepped up as one of the front men in the group blessing audiences everywhere they performed with edgy dance steps... DeVoe helped BBD break into the Top Ten with hits such as "Poison", "Do Me", "I Thought It Was Me", "When Will I See You Smile Again" & "She's Dope"... In '93, DeVoe returned with BBD on "Hootie Mack"... In '96, DeVoe found himself on top of the charts once more with New Edition for their "Home Again" album... Ronnie DeVoe gave fans a lil taste of what's coming in the future by releasing "Heat It Up" in 1998... "Poison"Release Date: '90 "WBBD - Boot City! The Remix Album"Release Date: '91 "Hootie Mack"Release Date: '93 "The Best Of Bell Biv DeVoe"Release Date: 2000 |
