Jesus Follower. Husband. Father.
Minister. Rapper. Author.
Co-owner of Sow and Tell
"His Songbook for the Journey" Out Now.

As the son of O’Jays frontman Eddie Levert, Gerald Levert was born into American soul royalty. He formed the R&B trio LeVert in 1984 while he was still attending high school in Shaker Heights, Ohio. The group – which also comprised his younger brother Sean and friend Marc Gordon – was among Atlantic Records’ top urban acts of the ‘80s and ‘90s, unleashing a succession of hits, among them the pop smash “Casanova.” Levert made his solo debut with 1991’s EastWest release, Private Line, featuring two R&B #1 hits in the title track and “Baby Hold On To Me,” a duet with his famous father. In 1994, he joined the Elektra family when Sylvia Rhone, who had been running Atlantic’s Atco/EastWest division, moved over to become head of the Elektra Entertainment Group – the first African-American woman to become chairman of a major label. Rhone brought with her many of the artists she had been nurturing at EastWest, including Levert.
In 1997, Levert co-founded LSG, an urban R&B supergroup also comprising Johnny Gill and Elektra labelmate Keith Sweat. Fueled by the #1 R&B/Hip-Hop hit, “My Body,” the trio’s Elektra/EastWest debut album, Levert. Sweat. Gill, made a top 5 Billboard 200 debut on its way to RIAA platinum certification.

Levert’s first Elektra release came with 1999’s G, an ambitious collection that included the R&B hit, “Mr. Too Damn Good.” Levert’s next three albums, including 2001’s Gerald’s World, 2002’s The G Spot, and 2003’s Stroke of Genius, made top 10 debuts on the Billboard 200 upon their respective releases, with the third set also hitting #1 on the R&B album chart.

With Elektra entering dormancy, Gerald returned to Atlantic in 2004 with Do I Speak For The World. On November 10, 2006, he passed away from acute intoxication caused by the accidental combination of prescription narcotics and over-the-counter drugs; he was 40 years old.

In 2007, Levert’s final solo album, In My Songs, debuted atop Billboard’s “Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums” chart while also entering the overall Billboard 200 at #2. The acclaimed album’s title track later earned Levert his first-ever Grammy for “Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance,” an award memorably accepted on his behalf by younger brother, Sean. Sadly, Sean Levert died shortly thereafter from complications related to sarcoidosis; he was 39.

Keith Sweat is the undisputed King of New Jack Swing, the hugely popular and influential merging of melodic R&B with hip-hop’s rhythms and production techniques. Signed to Elektra in 1987, the Harlem-born singer/songwriter/producer released his debut album, Make It Last Forever, to instant acclaim and RIAA three-times platinum certification. Highlighted by the #1 R&B/Hip-Hop hit, “I Want Her,” the album reached #1 on Billboard’s “Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums” chart – the first of five consecutive albums to do so.

A remarkably prolific artist, Sweat was unstoppable as the ‘90s got underway, dominating the “Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles” chart with such #1 singles as “Make You Sweat,” “I’ll Give All My Love To You,” and “Keep It Comin’.” As if all that weren’t enough, Sweat discovered the Atlanta-based vocal quintet Silk, for whom he co-wrote and co-produced “Freak Me,” which hit #1 on Billboard’s “Hot 100” in May 1993.

1996 proved a banner year, with the release of Sweat’s self-titled, four-times platinum-certified fifth album. Keith Sweat saw the vocalist joined by a number of guests, including soul legend Ron Isley and his great friend Gerald Levert, with whom he’d later form the supergroup LSG alongside Johnny Gill. What’s more, the album featured Sweat’s biggest crossover hits to date in the platinum-certified, R&B/Hip-Hop #1s, “Nobody (Feat. Athena Cage)” and “Twisted (Feat. Pretty Russ & Kut Klose).”

With a seemingly inexhaustible flow of fresh songs, Sweat remains among the most popular and productive superstars in modern R&B, his unique style and smooth sound still setting the gold standard for urban contemporary soul.

Last Of A Dead Breed

Features/Bookings: gregatl5@gmail.com

Jagged Edge is an American R&B group; featuring lead singers, identical twins Brandon and Brian Casey “The Casey Boys”, born in Hartford, Connecticut on October 13, Kyle Norman of Decatur, Georgia born on February 26 and Richard Wingo of College Park, Georgia born on September 3. Wingo was a late addition to the group, added after Kandi Burruss of Xscape recommended he be added. Kandi was also the one who brought the group to the attention of Dupri.

Signed through Jermaine Dupri’s So So Def Records to Columbia Records, the group has had a number of hit singles, many of which are produced by Dupri. Lead singers Brandon and Brian have written the bulk of the groups material. They have also written for Usher, Nivea and Toni Braxton. In addition to their projects, the group has collaborated with a number of artists. Jagged Edge began their mainstream recording career with the single “The Way That You Talk”. They followed this in 1998 with the album, A Jagged Era which managed to go gold featuring the singles “I Gotta Be” and “The Way That You Talk”. “I Gotta Be” which was written by the twins, reached #11 on the R&B charts and #23 on the Hot 100. Following up their debut album, Jagged Edge released J.E. Heartbreak in 2000. The album was the group’s breakthrough album with several popular singles. The album went double platinum and had the hit single “Let’s Get Married” which topped the R&B charts and reached #11 on the Hot 100. The album’s second single, “He Can’t Love You” (released January 18, 2000) had similar success, reaching #3 on the R&B charts and #15 on the Hot 100. It also featured the track “Promise” which, albeit a late single coming out in 2000, reached #1 on the R&B charts and #9 on the Hot 100.

The group’s third release, Jagged Little Thrill, was released in 2001 and went platinum. Its success was in large part, due to the up- tempo “Where The Party At,” which reached #1 on the R&B charts and #3 on the Hot 100, the group’s highest charting single. Jagged Edge’s fourth album, Hard, was released in 2003 and went gold. The album’s single “Walked Outta Heaven” performed well on the charts, reaching #6 on the Hot 100 and #2 on the R&B charts. Jagged Edge’s fifth album, Jagged Edge, was released on May 9, 2006 and it went gold. It featured the hit urban single “Good Luck Charm”. Also released on November 21, 2006 was The Hits collection featuring Jagged Edge’s biggest hits plus a few album tracks. The album shared the single “Stunnas” that’s also on the Jagged Edge album as a bonus track. Jagged Edge’s sixth album was “Baby Makin Project.” The only single released off Baby Makin’ Project was “Put a Little Umph in it” featuring Ashanti. It reached #49 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart. The group recorded so much material for the project that they saved eight of the tracks for another album, the album titled “The Remedy” was released June 21, 2011. The project had one collaboration with Rick Ross. The first warm- up single from “The Remedy” is “Tip of My Tongue” featuring Slip ‘N Slide Records’ recording artists Trina and Gucci Mane. A second warm-up single, “Lay You Down”, was released before the “official” single titled “Baby”. Now Jagged Edge is back with So So Def for 2014. The hit machine is once again in full effect with songs written and produced by Brian & Brandon Casey (JE), Bryan Michael Cox and Jermaine Dupri.

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