Barbara Jaeger, Record Music Critic
The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
07-05-1991
SINGERS WHO'VE MADE THE GRADE
By Barbara Jaeger, Record Music Critic
Date: 07-05-1991, Friday
Section: LIFESTYLE / PREVIEWS
Edition: All Editions -- Four Star B, Three Star P, Two Star, One Star
What began at a high-school assembly has turned into an education
in stardom for the vocal group Riff.
As students at Paterson's Eastside High School, Steven Capers Jr.,
Anthony Fuller, Dwayne Jones, Michael Best, and Kenny Kelly were asked
to perform for the filmmakers who had come to the school to scout
locations for the movie 'Lean on Me.' The boys' spine-tingling a
cappella rendition of the school's alma mater so impressed the movie's
producers that a bit part was written into the film for them.
A little more than two years after the film's premiere, the quintet
has seen 'My Heart Is Failing Me,' the first single from its debut
album, score on both the R&B and pop charts. A second, recently released
single, 'If You're Serious,' is beginning its climb up the charts.
Riff, whose members range between 19 and 21, has played before
sell-out crowds across America, opening for L.L. Cool J and Vanilla Ice.
After a whirlwind tour of the United Kingdom, where Riff performed 10
shows with Vanilla Ice, the group returned to the United States last
Sunday to sing its reworked arrangement of the national anthem at a
North Carolina homecoming celebration for the Desert Storm troops.
At 8 p.m. Tuesday, Riff will be featured on the CNBC show 'The Real
Story.' They also will fly to California for a July 18 appearance on
'The Arsenio Hall Show.'
It's been heady times for the Paterson natives, who grew up singing
gospel music. But their heads haven't been turned by all the attention.
At the Manhattan offices of SBK Records, the men tell their stories
with youthful enthusiasm. They're casually attired, a couple sporting
baseball caps emblazoned with the college emblems of UNLV and
Georgetown, and seated around an oval table in a conference room. They
punctuate the interview with impromptu harmonizing and a little lead
singing, a display of some good-natured rivalry and much laughter, and a
pause for an apple-juice break.
A certain business savvy also surfaces. At the start of the
interview, for instance, they make sure to identify themselves before
answering:
'This is Steven speaking. We went a little crazy after the movie
came out.'
'Oh, yeah! By the way, this is Anthony. Our heads were big, and we
went wild for a while.'
'This is Michael. We were all going shopping and buying new
clothes. We went to the mall practically every day.'
But Fuller, summing up for the group, acknowledges that their star
trip was short-lived. 'We got [the craziness] out of our system early.
Now, when we get lumps of money, we bank them.
'Eventually, we'd all like to have nice cars and homes and be able
to help our families.'
Over the course of the afternoon conversation, the young men
reiterate the importance of faith and family.
'God has been blessing Riff,' says Best, pausing to remove his
sunglasses. 'We have to give thanks to Him first of all. Without him,
none of this could be possible.'
As Best completes his statement, a resounding 'Amen' comes from the
other group members.
'This business can spoil you,' says Kelly. 'You have to have
confidence in what you do but not get too cocky.
'We're lucky that we were raised right. And it helps that we've
been together for a while.'
The five -- Fuller and Jones are brothers, Best and Capers cousins,
and Kelly a lifelong friend -- have been singing together for more than
eight years. Their first foray was with Kenton Rogers and the Gospel
True-Tones. Later, they would sing with the Spotlight Gospel Singers.
'We really didn't have an interest in pop music at the time,' says
Jones. 'We were praying and keeping the faith that a demo -- a 45 with
two songs -- would get us a deal with a gospel label.'
But as the boys entered Eastside High School, their musical
interests broadened. They began listening to jazz stylists such as Sarah
Vaughan and Mel Torme, blues great Billie Holiday, and Motown masters
Stevie Wonder and The Temptations. Contemporary performers such as New
Edition and Take 6 also piqued their interest.
Best makes known his fondness for Whitney Houston. Pointing to his
T-shirt, featuring Houston's portrait on the front, he declares: 'She's
the best.'
Kelly, Fuller, Jones, Capers, and Best took their vocal cues from
these artists and crafted a soulful, rhythm-and-blues and pop sound that
prominently featured their five strong lead voices, as well as their
potent harmonizing.
It was as members of Eastside's glee club that the five reworked
the school's alma mater into a soul-stirring showcase that made
marvelous use of their complementary voices.
'Mr. Clark [Joe Clark, the school's controversial principal and
subject of the film 'Lean On Me'] wanted to show us off because we were
the only ones who did the alma mater that way,' says Fuller, explaining
how the group, then known as the Playboys, came to perform at the school
assembly. 'He's the one really responsible for helping us get our
break.'
That break, of course, was not instantaneous. One label, they
reveal, passed on the group because they didn't have 'an image.'
'We had never thought about that,' says Capers. 'We had always just
wanted to sing.'
And live singing in the offices of SBK is what eventually led to
Riff being signed to the new label, which includes among its
best-selling acts Wilson Phillips and Vanilla Ice.
'For two weeks, we kept coming back and forth so everybody [at the
company] could get to hear our sound,' says Best.
Once the contracts were signed, Riff -- the name change came when
the boys learned another group had recorded under the name the Playboys
-- headed to Los Angeles to record its debut.
'The recording was completed in two weeks, which is very fast,'
says Capers. 'But we were prepared.'
All the preparation in the world, however, couldn't have readied
the five for a recent chance encounter with one of their idols.
Completing a taping for 'Friday Night Videos,' the group members
were walking down a studio hallway when they encountered Stevie Wonder.
'Michael asked him for a vocal tip,' says Fuller. 'He showed us
some vocals, and then he asked if we liked Take 6.
'The next thing we know, he starts vocalizing, and we're following
right behind him.'
Frankie Crocker, the host of the show, heard the singing in the
hall and immediately asked if they'd want to go into the studio and get
it on tape. Wonder and Riff agreed and teamed on the gospel song, 'Mary
Don't You Weep.'
'We were just flabbergasted, blown away,' says Fuller. 'We were on
cloud nine for the whole day.'
'I'm on cloud eight now,' adds Best. 'I'm just starting to come
down.'
Returning from the United Kingdom earlier this week, their spirits
were still soaring.
'Going to England was like a dream come true for us,' says Capers,
in a voice filled with awe and excitement. 'We had only seen places like
that on television.'
The group's first British performance coincided with the release of
Riff's first single in the United Kingdom, Caper explains. And the
British received Riff with so much warmth, he says, 'it was almost like
they were expecting us. It was pretty shocking and something we'll never
forget.'
Sidebar, page 003
A sound approach to vocalizing
While many of their contemporaries took the rap route, the members
of Riff chose a different path, one traveled by such veterans as the
Temptations, the Four Tops, the Stylistics, and others.
'Everybody's throwing out these thumping bass, booming hip-hop
sounds now,' says Steven Capers Jr. 'If we came from a different
direction, we knew we would turn some heads.'
To ensure that would happen, Riff's members say much care went into
selecting the songs that appear on the group's self-titled debut.
'We looked for songs where the words would touch the heart and have
some meaning,' says Dwayne Jones.
The young men also spent a fair amount of time 'deciding who sings
lead and drilling and rehearsing,' adds Kenny Kelly.
'Each individual has a different vocal texture,' says Jones, 'so we
usually listen to the song to see what is needed and decide that way.'
'But sometimes we'll try out,' says Michael Best. 'Whoever sings it
the best will get it. But you have to win it the first time; there are
no second chances.'
A bit of kibitzing follows Best's comments, as Fuller breaks into
'If You're Serious' to prove his point that 'if Dwayne ever gets hoarse,
I could do his songs better.'
'You can't afford to get sick in this group,' says Jones with a
laugh, 'because someone else is always waiting to step in.'
-- BARBARA JAEGER
Sidebar, page 007
Perfect together
Riff is following a grand New Jersey musical tradition that goes
back at least as far as Ol' Blue Eyes and the late band leaders Ozzie
Nelson and Glenn Miller.
Among the pop and rhythm-and-blues acts that at one time or another
have called the Garden State their home: Frank Sinatra, Les Paul (and
the late Mary Ford), Pat Boone, Phoebe Snow, Cissy and Whitney Houston,
Dionne Warwick, Tommy Page, Kool & the Gang, The Roches, Wilson Pickett,
Lesley Gore, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Sybil, Stevie Wonder,
the Isley Brothers, Connie Francis, Regina Belle, Tony Bennett, the late
Sammy Davis Jr.
From the rock ranks come Bruce Springsteen, Southside Johnny & the
Jukes, Bon Jovi, Skid Row, The Feelies, Richard Barone, Glen Burtnik,
and John Eddie.
And the list of New Jersey jazz greats includes George Benson, Red
Rodney, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Drummond, Rufus Reid, Bucky and John
Pizzarelli, Houston Person and Etta Jones, the late Sarah Vaughan, the
late Teddy Wilson, and the late Count Basie.
-- BARBARA JAEGER
Illustrations/Photos: 2 PHOTOS - (1)From Eastside to England: Riff is, from
left, Steven Capers Jr., Anthony Fuller, Dwayne Jones, Michael Best, and Kenny
Kelly. (2)Taping 'Friday Night Videos,' Riff joined with Stevie Wonder and hosts
Frankie Crocker, third from left, and Tom Kenny, second from right.
Keywords: PATERSON. MUSIC
Copyright 1991 Bergen Record Corp. All rights reserved.
The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
07-05-1991
SINGERS WHO'VE MADE THE GRADE
By Barbara Jaeger, Record Music Critic
Date: 07-05-1991, Friday
Section: LIFESTYLE / PREVIEWS
Edition: All Editions -- Four Star B, Three Star P, Two Star, One Star
What began at a high-school assembly has turned into an education
in stardom for the vocal group Riff.
As students at Paterson's Eastside High School, Steven Capers Jr.,
Anthony Fuller, Dwayne Jones, Michael Best, and Kenny Kelly were asked
to perform for the filmmakers who had come to the school to scout
locations for the movie 'Lean on Me.' The boys' spine-tingling a
cappella rendition of the school's alma mater so impressed the movie's
producers that a bit part was written into the film for them.
A little more than two years after the film's premiere, the quintet
has seen 'My Heart Is Failing Me,' the first single from its debut
album, score on both the R&B and pop charts. A second, recently released
single, 'If You're Serious,' is beginning its climb up the charts.
Riff, whose members range between 19 and 21, has played before
sell-out crowds across America, opening for L.L. Cool J and Vanilla Ice.
After a whirlwind tour of the United Kingdom, where Riff performed 10
shows with Vanilla Ice, the group returned to the United States last
Sunday to sing its reworked arrangement of the national anthem at a
North Carolina homecoming celebration for the Desert Storm troops.
At 8 p.m. Tuesday, Riff will be featured on the CNBC show 'The Real
Story.' They also will fly to California for a July 18 appearance on
'The Arsenio Hall Show.'
It's been heady times for the Paterson natives, who grew up singing
gospel music. But their heads haven't been turned by all the attention.
At the Manhattan offices of SBK Records, the men tell their stories
with youthful enthusiasm. They're casually attired, a couple sporting
baseball caps emblazoned with the college emblems of UNLV and
Georgetown, and seated around an oval table in a conference room. They
punctuate the interview with impromptu harmonizing and a little lead
singing, a display of some good-natured rivalry and much laughter, and a
pause for an apple-juice break.
A certain business savvy also surfaces. At the start of the
interview, for instance, they make sure to identify themselves before
answering:
'This is Steven speaking. We went a little crazy after the movie
came out.'
'Oh, yeah! By the way, this is Anthony. Our heads were big, and we
went wild for a while.'
'This is Michael. We were all going shopping and buying new
clothes. We went to the mall practically every day.'
But Fuller, summing up for the group, acknowledges that their star
trip was short-lived. 'We got [the craziness] out of our system early.
Now, when we get lumps of money, we bank them.
'Eventually, we'd all like to have nice cars and homes and be able
to help our families.'
Over the course of the afternoon conversation, the young men
reiterate the importance of faith and family.
'God has been blessing Riff,' says Best, pausing to remove his
sunglasses. 'We have to give thanks to Him first of all. Without him,
none of this could be possible.'
As Best completes his statement, a resounding 'Amen' comes from the
other group members.
'This business can spoil you,' says Kelly. 'You have to have
confidence in what you do but not get too cocky.
'We're lucky that we were raised right. And it helps that we've
been together for a while.'
The five -- Fuller and Jones are brothers, Best and Capers cousins,
and Kelly a lifelong friend -- have been singing together for more than
eight years. Their first foray was with Kenton Rogers and the Gospel
True-Tones. Later, they would sing with the Spotlight Gospel Singers.
'We really didn't have an interest in pop music at the time,' says
Jones. 'We were praying and keeping the faith that a demo -- a 45 with
two songs -- would get us a deal with a gospel label.'
But as the boys entered Eastside High School, their musical
interests broadened. They began listening to jazz stylists such as Sarah
Vaughan and Mel Torme, blues great Billie Holiday, and Motown masters
Stevie Wonder and The Temptations. Contemporary performers such as New
Edition and Take 6 also piqued their interest.
Best makes known his fondness for Whitney Houston. Pointing to his
T-shirt, featuring Houston's portrait on the front, he declares: 'She's
the best.'
Kelly, Fuller, Jones, Capers, and Best took their vocal cues from
these artists and crafted a soulful, rhythm-and-blues and pop sound that
prominently featured their five strong lead voices, as well as their
potent harmonizing.
It was as members of Eastside's glee club that the five reworked
the school's alma mater into a soul-stirring showcase that made
marvelous use of their complementary voices.
'Mr. Clark [Joe Clark, the school's controversial principal and
subject of the film 'Lean On Me'] wanted to show us off because we were
the only ones who did the alma mater that way,' says Fuller, explaining
how the group, then known as the Playboys, came to perform at the school
assembly. 'He's the one really responsible for helping us get our
break.'
That break, of course, was not instantaneous. One label, they
reveal, passed on the group because they didn't have 'an image.'
'We had never thought about that,' says Capers. 'We had always just
wanted to sing.'
And live singing in the offices of SBK is what eventually led to
Riff being signed to the new label, which includes among its
best-selling acts Wilson Phillips and Vanilla Ice.
'For two weeks, we kept coming back and forth so everybody [at the
company] could get to hear our sound,' says Best.
Once the contracts were signed, Riff -- the name change came when
the boys learned another group had recorded under the name the Playboys
-- headed to Los Angeles to record its debut.
'The recording was completed in two weeks, which is very fast,'
says Capers. 'But we were prepared.'
All the preparation in the world, however, couldn't have readied
the five for a recent chance encounter with one of their idols.
Completing a taping for 'Friday Night Videos,' the group members
were walking down a studio hallway when they encountered Stevie Wonder.
'Michael asked him for a vocal tip,' says Fuller. 'He showed us
some vocals, and then he asked if we liked Take 6.
'The next thing we know, he starts vocalizing, and we're following
right behind him.'
Frankie Crocker, the host of the show, heard the singing in the
hall and immediately asked if they'd want to go into the studio and get
it on tape. Wonder and Riff agreed and teamed on the gospel song, 'Mary
Don't You Weep.'
'We were just flabbergasted, blown away,' says Fuller. 'We were on
cloud nine for the whole day.'
'I'm on cloud eight now,' adds Best. 'I'm just starting to come
down.'
Returning from the United Kingdom earlier this week, their spirits
were still soaring.
'Going to England was like a dream come true for us,' says Capers,
in a voice filled with awe and excitement. 'We had only seen places like
that on television.'
The group's first British performance coincided with the release of
Riff's first single in the United Kingdom, Caper explains. And the
British received Riff with so much warmth, he says, 'it was almost like
they were expecting us. It was pretty shocking and something we'll never
forget.'
Sidebar, page 003
A sound approach to vocalizing
While many of their contemporaries took the rap route, the members
of Riff chose a different path, one traveled by such veterans as the
Temptations, the Four Tops, the Stylistics, and others.
'Everybody's throwing out these thumping bass, booming hip-hop
sounds now,' says Steven Capers Jr. 'If we came from a different
direction, we knew we would turn some heads.'
To ensure that would happen, Riff's members say much care went into
selecting the songs that appear on the group's self-titled debut.
'We looked for songs where the words would touch the heart and have
some meaning,' says Dwayne Jones.
The young men also spent a fair amount of time 'deciding who sings
lead and drilling and rehearsing,' adds Kenny Kelly.
'Each individual has a different vocal texture,' says Jones, 'so we
usually listen to the song to see what is needed and decide that way.'
'But sometimes we'll try out,' says Michael Best. 'Whoever sings it
the best will get it. But you have to win it the first time; there are
no second chances.'
A bit of kibitzing follows Best's comments, as Fuller breaks into
'If You're Serious' to prove his point that 'if Dwayne ever gets hoarse,
I could do his songs better.'
'You can't afford to get sick in this group,' says Jones with a
laugh, 'because someone else is always waiting to step in.'
-- BARBARA JAEGER
Sidebar, page 007
Perfect together
Riff is following a grand New Jersey musical tradition that goes
back at least as far as Ol' Blue Eyes and the late band leaders Ozzie
Nelson and Glenn Miller.
Among the pop and rhythm-and-blues acts that at one time or another
have called the Garden State their home: Frank Sinatra, Les Paul (and
the late Mary Ford), Pat Boone, Phoebe Snow, Cissy and Whitney Houston,
Dionne Warwick, Tommy Page, Kool & the Gang, The Roches, Wilson Pickett,
Lesley Gore, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Sybil, Stevie Wonder,
the Isley Brothers, Connie Francis, Regina Belle, Tony Bennett, the late
Sammy Davis Jr.
From the rock ranks come Bruce Springsteen, Southside Johnny & the
Jukes, Bon Jovi, Skid Row, The Feelies, Richard Barone, Glen Burtnik,
and John Eddie.
And the list of New Jersey jazz greats includes George Benson, Red
Rodney, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Drummond, Rufus Reid, Bucky and John
Pizzarelli, Houston Person and Etta Jones, the late Sarah Vaughan, the
late Teddy Wilson, and the late Count Basie.
-- BARBARA JAEGER
Illustrations/Photos: 2 PHOTOS - (1)From Eastside to England: Riff is, from
left, Steven Capers Jr., Anthony Fuller, Dwayne Jones, Michael Best, and Kenny
Kelly. (2)Taping 'Friday Night Videos,' Riff joined with Stevie Wonder and hosts
Frankie Crocker, third from left, and Tom Kenny, second from right.
Keywords: PATERSON. MUSIC
Copyright 1991 Bergen Record Corp. All rights reserved.
