| Sisqó | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Mark Durrell Andrews |
| Born | November 9, 1978 |
| Origin | Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Genres | R&B, Pop Rap |
| Occupations | Singer, songwriter, record producer |
| Instruments | Singing, piano, guitar |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Labels | Def Soul |
| Associated acts | Dru Hill, Petey Pablo, Tenacious The Tablist |
Mark Durrell Andrews[1] (born November 9, 1978),[2] known by his stage name Sisqó, is an American R&B singer and actor. He is best known as the lead singer of R&B group Dru Hill, and also for "Thong Song", a song from his first solo LP, Unleash the Dragon, that became an international hit. [3]
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Sisqó was born Mark Althaean Andrews on November 9, 1978. He attended Mervo and graduated in 1994.
Sisqó has a daughter, Shaione, who was born in 1994.[4]
On September 13, 2003, Sisqó was charged with assault, reckless endangerment and resisting arrest in relation to an incident in which he allegedly shot at a car from the front porch of his home in Randallstown, Maryland.[5]
After Woody Rock left Dru Hill in 1999 to pursue a solo career, it was decided that the other three members would do the same. Sisqó's solo debut, Unleash the Dragon, was released on Def Soul Records in November 1999. Unleash the Dragon sold moderately at first, until the February 2000 release of its second single, the novelty "Thong Song". A runaway hit, "Thong Song" and its follow-up, "Incomplete", were major hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, with "Thong Song" making it to number three, and "Incomplete" going to #1. The success later got Sisqó a doll made of himself by Play Along Toys in 2001.
Conflicts within the group prevented Dru Hill from reuniting as planned in late 2000, and Sisqó set about recording a second solo LP. During this period, Sisqó branched out into hosting the dance competition program Sisqó's Shakedown on MTV, and into film, taking on supporting roles in the films Get Over It (2001) with Kirsten Dunst and Snow Dogs (2002) with Cuba Gooding, Jr.. He also starred as a vampire in Sabrina The Teenage Witch (Season 6 episode6). Although his second LP, Return of Dragon, released in June 2001, eventually went platinum, its singles "Can I Live" and "Dance for Me" performed far below expectations (apart from in the UK, where "Dance for Me" became his third top-10 hit), and by 2002, Sisqó was back with Dru Hill, which released its third LP in late 2002. The LP underperformed, and the group was eventually released from their recording contract.
Sisqó's visual trademarks are his eclectic hair styles and flamboyant stage costumes, which were regularly flashier than those of his groupmates. Over his career as a recording artist, both with and without Dru Hill, Sisqó's hairstyles have included a bleached blond Caesar, a platinum Caesar (colored with silver spray paint), blond cornrows, a neon-red dyed Caesar, and a blond Mohawk.
During a performance in Doha, Sisqó announced he is currently working on his third album "Last Dragon" to be released in 2012.[6]
Sisqó finished his third solo album, Last Dragon (completing a trilogy), for release in 2008, but it was never released. The first single, "Who's Ur Daddy" featuring the new artist E-money, has been released online, and a music video especially formatted for iPods, cell phones, and other digital devices has been released on YouTube.[7]
Sisqó appeared on CMT's Gone Country, a reality show about "non-country" artists vying to win a country music recording contract.
In early 2008, the original quartet version of Dru Hill began touring alongside fellow 1990s R&B acts Tony! Toni! Toné!, Bell Biv Devoe, and their former producer Keith Sweat. On March 6, the group appeared on WERQ, a Baltimore radio station, to promote their reunion. In the midst of their interview, however, Woody Rock announced he was quitting the group again to dedicate himself to his gospel ministry. A YouTube video shows Sisqó walking out on the interview as a result, and Woody and Nokio fighting while Jazz and the manager Kevin Peck try to break it up.[8][9] The group held a contest in their native Baltimore for a replacement for Woody, settling upon a new singer known as Antwuan "Tao" Simpson. The group never said why they did not keep Scola in the group, although it was later stated by Nokio that "five people [mess] up the money." Before then, Scola however came out and said the reason is that Woody did not want him in the group anymore because they had a falling out over money issues.[10][11]
Dru Hill's first song leaked from their new album InDRUpendence Day and was heard in the summer of 2008 called Loose. The groups first two singles will be a ballad called Away again with Sisqó on lead vocals and "If You Fall" produced by an upcoming producer named J-Hott who is a part of group member's Nokio production crew. If You Fall is a R&B, Hip-Hop, Dance and Rock laced track with all four members on lead and Nokio on the talking ad-libs. The producers on the album include Dru Hill member Nokio, Bryan Michael Cox, Darryl Pearson, J-Hott, Wyrlie Morris, and Keith Sweat who is also producing a reality show for the group. The group has also toured with Keith Sweat and Sweat's protege's Silk, Jodeci, H-Town, Tank, Ginuwine, SWV, Changing Faces, and members of the legendary New Edition. They toured with the whole group as well as their solo acts Bell Biv DeVoe, Bobby Brown, Ralph Tresvant, and Johnny Gill who formed their own New Edition spinoff group called Heads Of State consisting of Bobby, Ralph, and Johnny.
In January 2010, Sisqó entered the UK reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother as a participant in the competition, becoming the fifth to be evicted in a double eviction with 29% of the public vote against Stephen Baldwin and Ivana Trump.
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales threshold) |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [12] |
US R&B [12] |
CAN [12] |
UK [13] |
AUS [14] |
NZ [14] |
NOR [14] |
SWE [14] |
FRA [14] |
SWI [14] |
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| 1999 | Unleash the Dragon
|
2 | 2 | 8 | 15 | 28 | 23 | 19 | 45 | 27 | 36 | |
| 2001 | Return of Dragon
|
7 | 3 | — | 22 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2012 | Last Dragon
|
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B | CAN | UK[18] | AUS | NZ | NOR | SWE | FRA | SWI | ||||||||||
| 1999 | "Got to Get It" (featuring Make It Hot) | 39 | 12 | — | 14 | 28 | 50 | — | — | — | — | Unleash the Dragon | |||||||
| 2000 | "Thong Song" | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 15 | 8 | ||||||||
| "Unleash the Dragon" (featuring Beanie Sigel) | — | — | — | 6 | 18 | — | — | — | 41 | 47 | |||||||||
| "Incomplete" | 1 | 1 | — | 13 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 2001 | "Can I Live" (featuring The Dragon Family) | — | 72 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Return of Dragon | |||||||
| "Dance for Me" | — | — | — | 6 | 40 | — | — | 31 | 91 | 10 | |||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||||||||||||
| Year | Song | Chart positions[19] | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. | DE | |||
| 1998 | "It's All About Me" (Mýa featuring Sisqó) | 6 | — | Mýa |
| 2000 | "What These Bitches Want" 2 (DMX featuring Sisqó) | 49 | — | ...And Then There Was X |
| 2000 | "How Many Licks?" (Lil' Kim featuring Sisqó) | 75 | 58 | The Notorious K.I.M. |
Mixtape songs
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