THISDAYonline

Dru Hill, one of the hottest R&B acts in the world took the Nigerian entertainment scene by storm last week as they brought some of their magic to add colour to the Miss Commonwealth beauty pageant held in Lagos.

The group, made up of Sisqo, whose debut solo effort, Unleash the Dragon, has turned him into a household name in Nigeria, Jazz, Woody, Nokio and Scola thrilled lovers of good music at the Expo Centre of the Le Meridien Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos with some of their best songs that had equally thrilled the world earlier. The group had earlier promised to turn Lagos into a huge dancing ground and they succeeded in fulfilling their promise with hit upon hit from their established albums and the guests had value for their money.

The Dru Hill show was put together by Le Serendipity the organisers of the Miss Common Wealth show, that took place at the same venue earlier. It was meant to add a bit of flavour to the beauty show that is fast gaining prominence in the English speaking world.

Patricia Obozuwa, one of the organisers of the show described it as one of the best shows Lagosians ever saw and she was quite satisfied that they were able to satisfy the thirst of the hard to please Lagos fans.

'We have raised the profile of musical concerts in Nigeria with this definitely high quality show. We were ready to do it. Everything was set and Nigerians who had looked forward to the best night of music and dance ever, were not disappointed in any way. Don't forget to put on your dancing shoes, which was the original slogan of the show did achieve much after all' Patricia says.

Dru Hill gave their very best performance at this mother of all shows. Dru Hill were at their best and had actually looked forward to the Lagos show with enthusiasm, realising that Nigeria, as the biggest black nation provides them with the best opportunity to make it big in the African market.

This is the first time the group will be visiting Nigeria. The group's spokesperson disclosed that they are thrilled at this first opportunity to visit Africa's biggest nation. He added that members of the group have heard a lot about the enthusiasm of Nigerians and the popularity of their various songs and so had looked forward to bringing the songs to life for fun loving Nigerians. To him they have not been disappointed in anyway by the response they got from the crowd.

Dru Hill, the urban R&B outfit, took their name from the historic Druid Hill Park complex in Baltimore, USA, where all four members were raised. They began their rise to fame in the mid-90s, largely through the intervention of Island Records' Hiriam Hicks - formerly manager of Boyz II Men. He was looking for a group to record a song, "Tell Me", for the soundtrack to the movie Eddie, to which Island held the rights. A tape of the quartet was passed to him by University Music president Haqq Islam. So impressed was Hicks after meeting the four men that, not only did he ask them to perform a version of "Tell Me" on the spot, but he also signed them to a worldwide contract with Island. At that time the members - Jazz, Nokio (born January 21, 1979), Woody and Sisqo (born Mark Andrews on November 9, 1978 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA), were all still in their teens.

Nevertheless, their self-titled debut album sounded impressively mature. The smoky jazz and R&B tracks benefited enormously from the input of producers Keith Sweat, Stanley Brown and Darryl Simmons, though Nokio also co-wrote and produced much of the contents.

While their syncopated vocals were one highlight, Sisqo and Jazz also contributed heavily as musicians, playing keyboards, bass and trumpet between them. By the late 90s the quartet had truly established themselves, with six consecutive American R&B Number 1 singles followed by the equally commercial follow-up Enter The Dru, which debuted at US number 2 on the Billboard 200 album chart in November 1998. The album ranged from the hard-edged urban R&B of "How Deep Is Your Love" (US number 3/UK number 9) to the schmaltzy Babyface single "These Are The Times" (US number 21/UK number 4).

Writing about the group, Scott Wilson opined that there's just too much negativity out there, and it's nice that bands like Dru Hill realize it and concentrate on things like life and love. For him, "Dru Hill is part of the smooth jazz/R&B phenomenon of the mid-'90's. The American pop charts are teeming with acts like this, getting away from the harshness of true hip-hop and rap."

Dru Hill is so named for Druid Hill Park in Baltimore in a further attempt to "put Baltimore on the map," apparently a different map than those Rand McNally ones. Meeting in high school, the four members of Dru Hill became something of a local attraction singing at Baltimore Harbor's Fudgery as they, well, made fudge. They've got tricky pseudonyms like any self-respecting street-savvy light hip-hop group would. Jazz, nee Larry Anthony Jr., is the second tenor, and you guessed it, the jazz fan. Woody, nee James Green, is the man behind the melodies. Nokio, nee Tamir Ruffin, handles the production, and as an added bonus, his name is an acronym for "Nasty On Key In Octave." Sisqo, nee Mark Andrews, is also part of the clan. They've mastered the melodic four-part harmony and have a rabid following. They are all in their late teens, so their potential is vast.

Dru Hill performs soul-driven R&B that hearkens back to those vaunted '70s, a time when R&B was king. They've already had a day named after them in their native Baltimore, so who knows what they might achieve in their lives? More records, undoubtedly, will follow, but one wonders why they didn't like their given names.

In 1999, the quartet appeared on Will Smith's US chart-topping soundtrack hit, "Wild Wild West", and set up their own Dru World Order production company. They also began work on separate solo projects, with Sisqo first out of the block on his Def Jam Records debut, Unleash The Dragon.

The various members reunited in 2002 to record Dru World Order, which introduced new vocalist Scola.

The presence of the group's most successful member, Sisqo at the show also confirmed to Nigerians that the group was back as a unit after their initial split.

Though the organisers nearly marred the event with poor organisation and unnecessary bottlenecks for accredited journalists, the beautiful performance of the musicians made up for the lapses and made the show one that will be talked about in Lagos for some time to come.