In Essence (occasionally referred to as I.E.) was a five-member

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

R&B group based in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. Their music has been played both in Canada and the United States. The band was active between 1993 and 2006, and their album ''The Master Plan'' was a 2004 Juno Award winner.

History

The group's members, lead singer Dru,"Dru The One"
''Exclaim!'', By Ryan B. Patrick Jan 19, 2009 Pops, Smooth, Que and Touch met in Toronto in 1993. On a trip to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, In Essence met

Funkmaster Flex Aston George Taylor Jr. (born August 5, 1968), professionally known as Funkmaster Flex, is an American DJ, rapper, record producer, and host on New York City's Hot 97 radio station. In 1992, he became host of the first hip hop radio show on Hot ...

and his manager and in 2001 they were signed to Franchise Entertainment."In Essence The Master Plan"
''Faze Magazine'', by Lauren Bailey Shortly thereafter they released the single "You Will Never Find". The song garnered exposure in the US and was included on Funkmaster Flex's ''

The Mix Tape, Vol. IV ''60 Minutes of Funk, Volume IV: The Mixtape'' is a mixtape by American DJ Funkmaster Flex. It was released on December 5, 2000 via Loud Records, serving as a sequel to 1998 '' The Mix Tape Volume III: 60 Minutes of Funk (The Final Chapter)'' a ...

''. In Essence signed a record deal with

ViK. Recordings In 1998, ViK. Recordings was established as a Canadian record label shortly after Lisa Zbitnew became president of the Canadian arm of BMG, which was then the owner of RCA Records. Its notable artists included: McMaster & James, Tom Green, ...

/ BMG Canada and released their first album, ''The Master Plan'', in 2003. The album included an a capella song, "Who We Are". In April 2004 In Essence won a

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall o ...

for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year for ''The Master Plan''. In June 2004 same year they were presented with an

MMVA The iHeartRadio MMVAs were an annual awards show broadcast on Much (TV channel), Much to honour the year's best music videos that was last held in 2018. Originally debuting in 1990 as the Canadian Music Video Awards, the awards were renamed in ...

Award by

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31, ...

for Best R&B Video Of The Year for ''Friend of Mine''. That year the group also won a SOCAN #1 Award for the same video"MMVA 2004 Winners"
. ''Soul Shine'', 2004-06-22. Sherrill Fulghum and two

Canadian Radio Music Award The Canadian Radio Music Awards were an annual series of awards presented by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters that was part of Canadian Music Week Canadian Music Week (or CMW) is an industry conference and music festival held over ten ...

nominations. Dru later embarked on a solo career; he released two solo albums, ''The One'' in 2008 and ''On the Brink'' (2011).

Discography

*''New Invention'' (1995) *''The Master Plan'' (2003)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Black Canadian musical groups Canadian contemporary R&B musical groups Musical groups from Toronto Juno Award for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year winners Musical groups established in 1993 Musical groups disestablished in 2006 1993 establishments in Ontario 2006 disestablishments in Ontario