Ronnie DeVoe
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Ronnie DeVoe, aka R.D., (born Ronald Boyd DeVoe, Jr. on November 17, 1967 in Roxbury, Massachusetts) is one of the members of the R&B quintet, New Edition.
DeVoe was the last member to join the group after being brought in by his uncle (the group's choreographer) Brooke Payne. In 1982, the group took second place at a talent show. Their performance caught the eye of music impresario Maurice Starr who decided to manage the boys and signed them to his Streetwise record label.
For the better half of the mid-1980s, DeVoe and fellow members Michael Bivins, Bobby Brown, Ricky Bell and Ralph Tresvant were the biggest teen group almost escalating the success of their role models, The Jackson 5. In 1990, Devoe, along with Bivins and Bell, broke away from the group to form the hip-hop group Bell Biv DeVoe. His raps on songs like "Poison", "Do Me" and "I Thought It Was Me" helped make the songs big hits and their debut album sold more than 5 million copies. While the group went on to release two more albums, all three members rejoined New Edition for the album and reunion tour Home Again in 1996.
Devoe currently performs and records with New Edition. He is an owner of a RE/MAX Real Estate agency in Atlanta, Georgia and is currently married to Shamari Fears of the R&B group Blaque.
