Song:I Wanna Sex You Up
Album:C.M.B.
The R & B group Color Me Badd had three big hits in the early 90s. I Wanna Sex You Up was the first of those hits after it appeared on the soundtrack of the popular film New Jack City. But it didn't last and Color Me Badd disbanded in 1998. Color Me Badd went to high school together in Oklahoma City. The members were Bryan Abrams, Mark Calderon, Kevin Thornton and Sam Watters. They were playing local clubs when they were spotted by Kool and the Gang leader Robert Bell. He got them a manager and they moved to New York City. They signed with Giant Records in 1990. Instead of recording an album, the single I Wanna Sex You Up was recorded for the soundtrack of the 1991 film New Jack City. That soundtrack was very successful and I Wanna Sex You Up was the biggest hit from that album as it reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written and produced by Elliott Straite AKA Dr. Freeze and the chorus was sampled from The Brothers Johnson hit Strawberry Letter 23. Straite also wrote and produced the Bell Biv Devoe hit Poison. So Giant sent Color Me Badd into the studio to record an album. C.M.B. was the album and two singles, All 4 Love and I Adore Mi Amor, topped the Billboard Hot 100. And the album was certified 3XPlatinum. When the album was released, it was the first time fans knew that three of the four members of Color Me Badd were white. I don't think it mattered because they were already successful because of New Jack City. For their 1993 CD Time and Chance, Giant thought that if Color Me Badd worked with big name producers like David Foster and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, they would be even more successful. But it didn't turn out that way. There were no hits and the album was a commercial disappointment. The same thing happened with the 1996 album Now and Forever. They worked with guys like Narada Michael Walden, Babyface and Boyz II Men but the album was a failure. Color Me Badd left Giant for Epic. And after the 1998 album Awakening went nowhere, the group split up. The album C.M.B. is available on CD. Kevin Thornton became a minister in Fort Worth, TX and he has recorded as a Christian artist. Sam Watters has had success as a producer especially for Fantasia Barrino. He has worked with other American Idol contestants and he married AI contestant Tamyra Gray in 2006. Bryan Abrams and Mark Calderon reformed Color Me Badd in 2010 and Thornton joined soon after. Though they haven't recorded any new music, they toured Asia in 2015. So at this point, I guess they are a nostalgia act. Here's the video for I Wanna Sex You Up by Color Me Badd.
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