Today’s Throwback is the 1984 hit “Cool It Now” by New Edition, progenitors of the boy band movement of the 1980s and 1990s who led the way for groups like New Kids on the Block, Boyz II Men, Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync.
[mp3j track=”01-cool-it-now.mp3″]
BUY IT HERE
The quintet was formed in the Roxbury section of Boston, MA, by Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, and Bobby Brown, who began singing together in 1978 while still in elementary school, eventually adding friend Ralph Tresvant as a fourth member and later Ronnie DeVoe. They were discovered by producer Maurice Starr, who signed the group to his small Streetwise label in hopes of launching a Jackson 5 phenomenon for the ’80s. New Edition’s early, Jackson 5-inspired material made them precursors of two generations of teen pop. As they matured and progressed, they laid much of the groundwork for the fusion of hip-hop and R&B known as New Jack Swing. In fact, after New Edition drifted apart, all of its members had at least some significant success outside the group as part of the New Jack movement.
