| Ready for the World | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Flint, Michigan, USA |
| Genres | R&B, Funk, soul, Pop, Electro, New jack swing |
| Years active | 1982–1991 2004–present |
| Labels | MCA Records Thump Records |
| Members | |
| Melvin Riley Gordon Strozier Gregory Potts Willie Triplett John Eaton Gerald Valentine Vincent Hunt |
|
Ready for the World is an American R&B band from Flint, Michigan who scored several moderate pop, soul, and dance hits in the mid to late 1980s. They were founded by Melvin Riley and Gordon Strozier.
Contents |
The group originally consisted of lead vocalist/keyboardist/occasional rhythm guitarist Melvin Riley with Gordon Strozier (lead guitar), Gregory Potts (keyboards), Willie Triplett (percussion/keyboards), John Eaton (bass guitar), and Gerald Valentine (drums). They had performed throughout Flint at high school talent shows and were discovered by WJLB Detroit Radio personality The Electrifying Mojo in 1982. They gained regional fame with their first release "Tonight" in 1983. "Tonight" was an underground hit in Flint and Detroit which helped garner them national prominence shortly after their signing under the MCA label. Ready for the World recorded their album Ready for the World during 1984 in Flint, Michigan under the production of Bernard Terry and recording engineer Charles Brown, Jr.
In 1985, the band signs to the Steven Machat-Rick Smith management company AMI, the agreement with MCA are redrawn and promotion and marketing dollars is committed to break the group. This Machat and Smith do as the two men steer the group to number one on the US pop charts as well as top five in all the Western European countries and Australia as well, with their best-known hit "Oh Sheila,". This song in the US went to number one on the R&B, Pop Charts, and the Hot Dance Club Play charts that year, becoming the first ever single to hold the number one spot on all three of these charts simultaneously. The song "Digital Display" followed and hit number 21. In 1986, the band released their second album Long Time Coming, which returned them to the Top 10 on the pop charts when the slow jam "Love You Down"(Written by Vincent Hunt) climbed to number nine. (source: Book of Billboard Top 40 Singles)
The band would go on to release a couple more albums into the 90s, but they weren't as successful as the first pair. This caused the band to break up in 1991.
After the breakup, lead singer Riley went on to record solo albums, one released in 1994 and the other in 2000. A Ready for the World reunion album followed in 2004, featuring mostly urban ballads.
| Year | Album | Chart Positions[1] | US Certifications[2] |
Record Label | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B |
|||||
| 1985 | Ready for the World | 17 | 3 | Platinum | MCA | |
| 1986 | Long Time Coming | 32 | 5 | Gold | ||
| 1988 | Ruff 'n' Ready | 65 | 17 | — | ||
| 1991 | Straight Down to Business | — | 43 | — | ||
| 2004 | She Said She Wants Some | — | — | — | Thump | |
| 2011 | Love, Money & Music | — | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes the album failed to chart or was not certified | ||||||
| Year | Album | Chart Positions | Record Label | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B |
|||||
| 1993 | Oh Sheila! Ready for the World's Greatest Hits | — | — | MCA | ||
| 2002 | The Millennium Collection: The Best of Ready for the World | — | — | |||
| "—" denotes the album failed to chart | ||||||
| Year | Single | Chart Positions[1][3][4][5] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B |
US A/C |
US Dance |
UK | |||
| 1984 | "Tonight" | 103 | 6 | — | — | — | |
| "Deep Inside Your Love" | — | 6 | — | — | — | ||
| 1985 | "Oh Sheila" | 1 | 1 | — | 1 | 50 | |
| "Digital Display" | 21 | 4 | — | 3 | — | ||
| 1986 | "Slide Over" | — | 57 | — | — | — | |
| "Ceramic Girl" | — | 82 | — | — | — | ||
| "Love You Down" | 9 | 1 | 24 | — | 60 | ||
| 1987 | "Mary Goes 'Round" | — | 23 | — | — | — | |
| "Long Time Coming" | — | 54 | — | — | — | ||
| 1988 | "My Girly" | — | 6 | — | 49 | — | |
| "Gently" | — | 30 | — | — | — | ||
| 1991 | "Straight Down to Business" | — | 15 | — | — | — | |
| "Can He Do It (Like This, Can He Do It Like That)" | — | 9 | — | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes the single failed to chart | |||||||