Song:Don't Walk Away
Album:Jade To The Max
The R&B girl group Jade scored a top five hit with Don't Walk Away in 1992. They only recorded two albums before splitting up. The man behind Jade was writer and producer Vassal Benford and his frequent songwriting partner Ron Spearman. Benford produced hits for Tramaine and Klymaxx. Benford sold the song I Wanna Love You to appear on the 1992 Kid 'n' Play film Class Act. The singers were Joi Marshall, Angela Slates and Debra Mitchell. He called them Jade. When that single was a top 20 pop hit, Benford signed a deal with Giant Records. The problem was Jade had already split up. It's possible Benford intended the group as a one shot. That changed when the song became a hit. Joi Marshall stayed and Di Reed and Tonya Kelly joined for the 1992 album Jade To The Max. Benford already had those two under contract. Joi and Tonya are from Chicago. Di is from Houston. The album was released and Don't Walk Away reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. This samples the Stevie Wonder song That Girl. Both hits are on the album. They toured and appeared on The Tonight Show and other TV shows. They appeared on BET's Listening Party which was released on CD. I guess Jade split with Benford because they wrote and produced the 1994 album Mind, Body & Song with various producers. The album did OK but not as well as the first album. Jade left Giant and after a couple of singles for Hollywood Records, they split up. Di is a featured singer with Rod Stewart. She has also toured as a background singer for other acts. Joi released a gospel album in 2007. It doesn't look like Tonya stayed in the music business. Here's the video for Don't Walk Away by Jade.
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