''Forever My Lady'' is the debut studio album by American R&B

quartet In music, a quartet (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations of four instruments in chamber music is the string quartet. String quar ...

Jodeci Jodeci ( ) is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B quartet consisting of members DeVanté Swing, Dalvin DeGrate, Mr. Dalvin, K-Ci, and K-Ci & JoJo, JoJo. Formed in 1988 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Jodeci began as a duo of DeVanté Swing and JoJo ...

, released May 28, 1991, by

Uptown Records Uptown Records is an American record label, based in New York City, founded in 1986 by old school rapper ‘Dr Jekyll’ - Andre Harrell. From the late 1980s into the early 1990s, it was a leader in R&B and hip-hop. Beginnings and success In ...

and

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

Background

The album's production and composition was largely attributed to

DeVante Swing Donald Earle DeGrate Jr. (born September 29, 1969), better known by his stage name DeVanté Swing, is an American record producer, singer, songwriter and rapper. He is best known as the main songwriter and producer of the R&B group Jodeci, whic ...

, who worked alongside

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-nominated producer Al B. Sure! to craft the album's sound. The recording sessions took place at various recording studios during 1990 to 1991, and were relentlessly worked upon in order to shift the consensus with R&B music. The duo worked to add more of a hip-hop sound to the album, incorporating

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

-heavy rhythm tracks to complement the alternating themes discussed throughout the album, ranging from passionate and elegant songs about love, to energetic and swaggering songs centered around sex and partying. The group's emotionally transparent lyrics are delivered in both rapped and sung verses, help to explore the feelings of love and seduction.

Release and reception

The album received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, who complimented the group's innovative nature when approaching the album, as well as its thematic choices and the production from Swing. Following an anticipated release, it debuted at number one on the ''Billboard''

Top R&B Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip-hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...

chart in its first week, and peaked at eighteen on the ''Billboard'' 200. Three of the album's singles charted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, including the top-15 hit "

Come and Talk to Me "Come and Talk to Me" is a song by United States, American Contemporary R&B, R&B group Jodeci from their debut album ''Forever My Lady'' (1991). The song was released on March 10, 1992 and was the fourth Single (music), single released from the al ...

". ''Forever My Lady'' was certified

multi-platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

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and, as of August 1995, has sold over three million copies in the US and over eight million copies worldwide. Arion Berger of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' gave the effort a good review, calling the work "sophisticated beyond the band members' years" and noting that "if they can keep up the momentum of this commercially successful debut (which has already gone Top 40 on the Billboard pop album chart), Jodeci will be a force to be reckoned with." ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' critic Dennis Hunt was less impressed, writing that "the singing is so-so but the production is outstanding."

Track listing

All tracks are somewhat produced by

, except where noted.

Personnel

*Art Direction – Reiner Design Consultants *Assistant Engineering – Ellen Fitton, Michael Gilbert, Marnie Riley, Jay A. Ryan *Engineering – Paul Logus, Dennis Mitchell, Mark Partis *Mastering – Herb Powers *Writer - Al B. Sure! *Mixing – Al B. Sure!, Mick Guzauski *Multi-Instruments – DeVante Swing *Production Coordination – Eloise Bryan *Programming – Al B. Sure!, Dalvin DeGrate, DeVante Swing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

*
Forever My Lady
' at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{Authority control 1991 debut albums Jodeci albums MCA Records albums Uptown Records albums