For decades, members of New Edition have seized the music scene, whether together or apart. Learn more about the group’s origins, shifting dynamics and discography.
New Edition released its debut album 40 years ago, and as members are celebrating that anniversary, theGrio is taking a look back on their story. A lot has happened in the last four decades!
New Edition’s origins
Before there was New Edition, there were three kids growing up together in Boston and singing together in elementary school: Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins and Bobby Brown. Eventually, Ralph Tresvant and Ronnie DeVoe joined them, and the five made up the original New Edition.
Determined to use their talents to make it out of Boston, the group went to multiple talent shows before eventually catching the attention of musician and producer Maurice Starr. They hitched their wagons to Starr and went on to record “Candy Girl” after signing on to a deal that gave them an initial bonus of $500.
However, things fell apart between New Edition and Starr when the paycheck came in. The biopic “The New Edition Story” describes the shock the rising stars felt when, despite a chart-topping single and a popular tour, they got a check for only $1.87 for the group to split. They left Starr and signed with MCA, releasing the album “New Edition” in 1984.
When Bobby Brown left
The group’s next album, “All for Love,” didn’t see as much success. After that, Bobby Brown left the group to pursue a solo career. At the time, he was attracting controversy of his own. As anyone who has seen his biopic, “The Bobby Brown Story,” knows, his vices in the ‘80s were winning and causing friction within the group.
“The New Edition Story” biopic describes members’ pressure from their manager to vote Brown out, though they told a different story during a 2012 reunion performance, with Ralph Tresvant claiming Brown told him that he wanted to leave and Brown claiming that he was told he was kicked out, essentially for bad dancing.
Whatever the case, Brown went on to have his own career, and New Edition brought in a new face: Johnny Gill. The singers had recorded one more album without Brown, “Under a Blue Moon,” and with Gill recorded “Heart Break” before they dissolved as the members pursued their own projects.
On again, off again
After “Heart Break,” New Edition splintered into different groups and solo projects, though the members occasionally got back together to record new music.
The first attempt at a reunion ended up sparking headlines. With Brown rejoining the group, New Edition recorded “Home Again” and went on tour together, but that tour was beset by problems. Just weeks before the tour, Brown had a heart attack. Each of the members of the group had his own separate bus. And then, in New Mexico, Brown and DeVoe got into a fight onstage in which security for the two stars reportedly pulled guns on each other.
They tried another reunion in 2004, releasing “One Love” and going on tour. And then, in 2013, all six members reunited for a 30th-anniversary tour. They continued to tour every couple of years after that, ultimately culminating in their 40th-anniversary tour this year, which Brown has promised will be even better than ever because the infighting has come to an end.
Splinter groups
In addition to pursuing solo careers, the members of New Edition often performed together under different banners.
The first splinter group was formed by Bell, Bivens and DeVoe, appropriately named Bell Biv DeVoe. The three of them debuted in 1990 after feeling unappreciated by the group and sold three million copies of their album “Poison.” They released two more albums in the ’90s and then came back together in 2016 for “Three Stripes.”
In 2008, the other three members — Brown, Tresvant and Gill — formed their own group, Heads of State. They toured for years, playing each other’s music and essentially extending a reunion tour.
After the group enjoyed the spotlight of a biopic about them, Johnny Gill suggested that they might do a new album together. Ultimately, that reunion was limited to four members: Ronnie DeVoe, Bobby Brown, Ricky Bell and Michael Bivins. They named themselves RBRM, after the first letters of their first names.
The group’s biopic
“The New Edition Story” hit BET at the start of 2017 as a miniseries, telling the story of New Edition as told by the group members themselves. All of the members were involved, allowing them to speak to stories that had long been rumors.
The biopic was so successful that it not only inspired RBRM to go on tour together but spawned a biopic for Bobby Brown as well, essentially picking up his story where the New Edition biopic left off.
Now you can catch New Edition reunited on the Legacy Tour, where members are celebrating 40 years since their first album release and showing the world that age is just a number when it comes to legendary talent.
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