Song:She's Playing Hard To get
Album:I Like The Way (The Kissing Game)
The R&B vocal group Hi-Five had success in the early 90s. They had three top ten pop hits and several R&B hits. What killed them was a car accident that left one of the members paralyzed from the waist down. The leader of Hi-Five was Tony Thompson. He grew up singing in church in Oklahoma City. He moved back to his birthplace of Waco, TX and formed Hi-Five with Roderick "Pooh" Clark, Marcus Sanders, Russell Neal and Toriano Easley. William Walton was not a member of Hi-Five but he did help with writing and producing. So they signed with Jive Records and Teddy Riley produced two tracks on their debut album including the single I Like The Way (The Kissing Game). This topped the Billboard Hot 100 and the R&B Singles chart. The album was certified Platinum. Soon after the album release, Easley was replaced by Treston Irby. On Hi-Five's second album Keep It Goin' On, they worked quite a bit with R. Kelly who was a Jive artist and house producer. She's Playing Hard To Get was written by Timmy Allen and Walton and produced by Allen. Allen was a member of the 80s group Change. He was also a Jive Records house producer. She's Playing Hard To Get reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. Shortly after the album release, Hi-Five was in a car accident that left Clark paralyzed from the waist down. Hi-Five released a third album Faithful in 1993. But it wasn't as successful as the first two albums. Hi-Five split up in 1994. This budget comp is a good intro to their music. Thompson released a solo album Sexsational on Giant Records in 1995. He reunited Hi-Five in 2005 and a CD was released. Thompson died on June 1, 2007 after inhaling freon from an air conditioning unit. Sanders and Irby reformed Hi-Five in 2012 and an EP was released in 2014. They also appeared on the TVOne series Unsung. It looks like Hi-Five is still active but not as a touring group. Here's the video for She's Playing Hard To Get by Hi-Five.
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