Cameo (band)

Cameo is an American soul-influenced funk group that formed in the early 1970s. Cameo was initially a 13-member group known as the New York City Players; this name was later changed to Cameo to avoid a lawsuit from Ohio Players,^{[citation needed]} another group from that era. Since then, Cameo has recorded several hit records.

As of 2009, some of the original members continue to perform together, while two others were hired by the hip hop group Outkast.^[2] Their influences include Rick James, Parliament-Funkadelic, contemporary funk bands like the Bar-Kays, Earth, Wind & Fire, Ohio Players, The Isley Brothers, etc. and singers like Marvin Gaye, Billy Paul, Prince, Isaac Hayes, Stevie Wonder, and Bootsy Collins.

History

In 1974, Cameo started out with 10 members created by Larry Blackmon and called the New York City Players. Signed by Casablanca Records to their Chocolate City imprint in 1976, the group soon changed its name to Cameo after concerns that New York City Players might cause confusion between them and the funk band Ohio Players. Prior to this, Blackmon, keyboardist Gregory Johnson, and the late Gwen Guthrie formed the band East Coast, together with James Wheeler (alto saxophone), Melvin Whay (bass), Michael Harris (percussion), and Haras Fyre (also known as Pat Grant) on trombone. They released one self-titled album in 1973 on the independent label Encounter.

Cameo started with a deep, FUNK sound, but it was obvious from the start their sights were set on the dance floor. Their first album was Cardiac Arrest. The first hit single "Rigor Mortis" was the start of Cameo's hit-studded career; it went gold. Ugly Ego, We All Know Who We Are, and Secret Omen contained dance floor songs such as "I Just Want To Be" and "Find My Way", the latter of which was a major disco smash and was included on the soundtrack to Thank God It's Friday. But the sleeper hit in the movie was "It's Serious".

The height of Cameo's career was in the 1980s, particularly Word Up! with its hits, "Word Up!" and "Candy". The writers of "Word Up", Cameo's biggest hit, were Larry Ernest Blackmon (founder and front man) and Thomas Michael Jenkins (member of the group).

Music career

By the time Cameosis came out in 1980, Cameo had gained considerable momentum through singles such as "Shake Your Pants". Albums such as 1981's Knights of the Sound Table and 1982's Alligator Woman saw the band playing up their eclectic style.

1985's album Single Life, featuring the title track and "Attack Me With Your Love" continued the band's momentum, paving the way for what was to come the following year. The song "Word Up!" hit the radio airwaves in mid-1986. Critically acclaimed with large amounts of club and radio airtime, the resulting album Word Up! turned Cameo into superstars. The follow-up tracks, "Candy" and "Back and Forth" were also huge hits for the funk trio.

Two years later, Cameo would release Machismo to lukewarm pop response but favorable critical reviews and R&B success. Kendricks left the band at this point. Next, 1990's Real Men... Wear Black and 1992's Emotional Violence failed to reach the same commercial success of Word Up!. By this time, after their departure from Polygram on to their new label, Reprise, Blackmon represented himself (besides his band activities and side productions) as A&R agent for this label, a division of Warner Bros. Records. It also saw the absence of Nathan Leftenant, but the return of guitarist Charlie Singleton as one of "main" members. Leftenant returned again for the next album, which they released on a new label (Way 2 Funky/Raging Bull), and recorded at their next headed location, Miami, Florida. In 1994 In the Face of Funk was released and got some club play, a single release, and at least one track that received critical acclaim (for "You Are My Love").

Present

Tomi Jenkins, who released his self-produced CD The Way in 2005, is writing and recording his follow-up EP. He is also the music supervisor/producer on the film Icemosis, the story of a 1970s fictional funk band. The film is in music production and they hope to have the film released in 2013. He is also the author of a murder mystery entitled "Crime, Love and Honor" which he is autographing and selling at concerts.

Aaron Mills continues to tour with Cameo as well as other artists. He has worked with Andre 3000 and Big Boi to record a bassline for "Ms. Jackson".

Ex-Cameo vocalist John Kellogg became an entertainment lawyer representing such hit artists as the O'Jays, the late Gerald Levert and LSG. He also pursued a career in music industry higher education, becoming Assistant Chair of the Music Business/Management department at one of the world's leading institutions of contemporary music, Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA.

Larry Blackmon & Tomi Jenkins recorded the next Cameo album with a tentative release scheduled for late fall 2012 or early 2013.

Gregory B. Johnson has released 2 CD's on his own label, Allspice Record Co. "A New Hip" which is a smooth Jazz CD in 2007. "Funk Funk (Just For A Little Time)" in 2012 which is an urban funk CD.

Samples

• "Candy" was sampled by Tupac Shakur on his song "All Bout U", Will Smith on his song "Candy", by Mariah Carey on her song "Loverboy", by Eightball and MJG on "Jus like Candy", and by The Black Eyed Peas on their songs "Like That" and "Ba Bump" from their album "Monkey Business", By Master P Album "Mamas Bad Boy" for song "Eyes Of A Killer" and again for His Group Tru album "Tru to the Game" song "Candy".
• "Single Life" was sampled by rappers Snoop Dogg and Bad Azz on their song "Wrong Idea". The song was also sampled by Nadanuf on their song of the same name from the 1997 soundtrack to the critically acclaimed FOX television comedy Living Single.
• "Two of Us" was sampled by Tupac Shakur on his song "I Wonder If Heavens Got a Ghetto". The sampled beat was used by Beyoncé Knowles on "What's It Gonna Be".
• "Rigor Mortis" was sampled by DJ Quik on his song "Get At Me", Brand Nubian on their song "Brand Nubian", and by Heavy D and the Boyz on their song "Big Tyme".
• "She's Strange" was sampled by Tupac Shakur on his song "Young Niggaz", Dru Down on his song "Dru Rules", Nate Dogg on his song "She's Strange", AMG on his song "She's Paid", and Suga Free on his song "So Fly" featuring Snoop Dogg and also the song "U Know My Name" with a sample of "Back and Forth". The production has also been interpolated on the Jermaine Dupri track titled 'Party Continues' featuring Usher and Da Brat on his album 'Life in 1472'.
• The melody and chorus of "Back and Forth" was adapted by R. Kelly for Aaliyah's song "Back and Forth".
• The ballad "Hangin' Downtown" was sampled by Oran Juice Jones on his song "Make Love to Your Mind", by Shareefah on her song "Fevah (He don't know" and more famously by DJ Premier for Group Home's "Supa Star".
• Speech sampled "I've Got Your Image" in one of his recent productions.
• "Why Have I Lost You [Version 2]" was sampled by Juvenile on his song "Bounce Back". The song was also sampled by Warren G on the track "Super Soul Sis" off the debut album Regulate...G Funk Era.
• "Attack Me With Your Love" was sampled by satirical Norwegian rapper Oral Bee on his song "Den Breiale Stilen".
• "Attack Me With Your Love" was sampled by Finnish rappers Jare & VilleGalle feat. Ruudolf & Karri Koira on their song "Mitä sä siit tiiät (Heeeyyy)".
• "Sparkle" was sampled by Tupac Shakur in his original version of "Loyal to the Game" recorded in 1993 in collaboration with Treach and The Riddler (rapper) which was released on the cassette version of the Above The Rim soundtrack, & the CD single of Warren G's "Regulate". It was also sampled for Lil' Wayne's "Grown Man" featuring Curren$y from his Tha Carter II album.
• "Shake Your Pants" was sampled by the rap group the Beastie Boys in their hit song "Hey Ladies" off their critically acclaimed album, Paul's Boutique.^[3]
• "Back and Forth" was sampled by hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan on their song "Gravel Pit", and sometimes in the song's hook Method Man says "Back, back and forth and forth" referring to the original music from Cameo.
• "Keep It Hot" was sampled by E-40 on his song "I Like What You Do To Me" off his 1996 Tha Hall of Game release.

Use in multimedia

"Word Up!" was used in the 2006 film Severance starring Danny Dyer11

In October 2004 Candy appeared in popular video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on funk radio station Bounce FM, also on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, was Brand Nubian's "Brand Nubian", which samples "Rigor Mortis".

In the movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Andy (Steve Carell) is shown performing "Word Up!" on a karaoke machine in his apartment. Jackpot, a film which follows a karaoke singer hoping to get his big break, features an androgynous man giving a scene-stealing performance of "Candy". Larry Blackmon and T-Man were also supposed to be featured as celebrity cameos (not as the band, Cameo) in the 2007 release of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters. Although they did not appear in the film itself, they are featured in the extras on the DVD. This footage shows them doing motion capture/CGI in order to be animated, as well as studio recording of the song written for the film.

The song "Candy" is also played during the bachelor party and wedding reception scenes in the 1999 motion picture The Best Man.

The song "Word Up" is played in The Simpsons, season 20 episode 6 (titled "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words") when Lisa Simpson is performing in a crossword competition and also in Everybody Hates Chris when Chris says that his mom always wanted to be in a band and it goes to a cut scene of Rochelle dancing and singing to the song.

The tune of "Word Up" was also used by Russian rapper Noize MC in his ironic song "Heroin Fest".^[4]

"Attack Me With Your Love" was featured on Everybody Hates Chris. It can be heard in the beginning of the "Everybody Hates the First Kiss" season 3 episode. "She's Strange" is heard at the beginning of Episode 10, Season 1 when Tonya is trying to light the stove.

In 2010s the song "Word Up" can be obtained as downloadable content for Dance Central, a Kinect videogame on the Xbox 360.

In 2011 the song "Word Up" was used in the film Johnny English Reborn.

Discography

See also

• List of Number 1 Dance Hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

References

External links

• Cameo at AllMusic
• Cameo @ Discogs