Brutha was an American R&B and soul group consisted of five brothers: Anthony Harrell, Cheyenne Harrell, Grady Harrell III, Jacob Harrell and Jared Overton. The group was formed in 2002 and Brian McKnight first introduced them on the 2003 ''

Soul Train ''Soul Train'' is an American musical variety television show. It aired in syndication from October 2, 1971, to March 25, 2006. Across its 35-year history the show primarily featured performances by R&B, soul, and hip hop artists. The series w ...

'' Holiday Special. The brothers were subsequently signed to Def Jam Records. The group's first album ''

Brutha Brutha was an American R&B and soul group consisted of five brothers: Anthony Harrell, Cheyenne Harrell, Grady Harrell III, Jacob Harrell and Jared Overton. The group was formed in 2002 and Brian McKnight first introduced them on the 2003 '' So ...

'' was released in December 2008. Their reality show, ''

Brothers to Brutha ''Brothers to Brutha'' is an American reality show on BET that was premiered on November 18, 2008. It follows five brothers who have a record deal on Island Def Jam Music Group as the R&B group Brutha. It was shown on Tuesday nights at 10:30pm. The ...

'', documented their rise to fame. In 2011, the three eldest brothers Grady, Anthony and Jared left the group to pursue solo careers, leaving the remaining two brothers Jacob and Cheyenne to form the duo Jake & Papa.

History

Early life

The five brothers in the band are (eldest to youngest) Grady Harrell III, Anthony Harrell, Jared Overton, Cheyenne "Papa" Harrell and Jacob Harrell. Four of the brothers' father is Grady Harrell Jr., a singer from Los Angeles who made his mark in music and encouraged his sons to follow in his footsteps, while Jared has a different father and the same mother as two of his brothers making him unrelated to Cheyenne and Jacob. Their father was a disciplinarian. He taught them how to sing, while the boys' uncle Donny (Drano) Harrell furthered their music careers. However, the boys had different mothers. Papa and Jacob's mother is named Valerie. The mother of Jared, Anthony, and Grady Jr. is Nancy Lynn. Papa and Jacob were not raised by their father, as he had been convicted of fraud and was sentenced to 2.5 years in jail. The boys were raised on the music of their inspirations, which ranged from

Sam Cooke Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer and songwriter. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred ...

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

. Before hitting the "Big Time" they played graduation parties and bar mitzvahs.

Early career

The Harrell brothers came to the entertainment world at a young age out of a four-generations musical family. At 5 or 6 years old, Anthony Harrell and Grady Harrell III met up with their first cousin Canela Cox and formed the group Papa's Results, being trained and taught by Grady Harrell II, who was then signed to MCA Records prior to a prison term. The children appeared in his R&B hit single "Sticks and Stone" and Anthony provided the singing voice of young Michael Jackson played by Alex Burell in the 1992 TV mini series '' The Jacksons: An American Dream''. Papa's results lasted until Canela moved to Holland to follow her mother's musical career.http://www.defjam.com/site/artist_home.php?artist_id=696 The brothers filled her spot with family friend Jeff Lee and changed their name to Serenade. They appeared on episodes of '' Saved by the Bell: The New Class'' in 1997 where Anthony played the regular role of Eric Little. As a duet consisting of Grady and Anthony, they recorded two independent albums.

Brutha

In 2002, Grady and Anthony were joined by their brothers JR, Jake, and Papa and formed the group Brutha. The group was discovered by Brian McKnight, who introduced them on the 2003 Soul Train Holiday Special. In 2008, their uncle Donny "Drano" Harrell, CEO of Goodfellas Entertainment, and

Shakir Stewart Shakir Stewart (April 12, 1974 – November 1, 2008), a native of Oakland, California, was a US record executive in a number of companies, the latest being Def Jam. At the time of his death he was the Senior Vice President of Island Def Jam Mu ...

, senior vice president of A&R at Island Def Jam, invited the group to Atlanta to do a filmed audition in front of Jermaine Dupri and a range of producers. The audition resulted in a one-hour special entitled ''Jermaine Dupri Presents: Brutha'' broadcast on March 24, 2008, on

Peachtree TV WPCH-TV (channel 17), branded on-air as Peachtree TV, is an independent television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is owned by locally based Gray Television alongside CBS affiliate and company flagship WANF (channel 46), and l ...

. Dupri was impressed and signed the brothers to the Island Def Jam Music Group. In 2007, Brutha made a special guest appearance on the Discovery Kids television show ''

Hip Hop Harry ''Hip Hop Harry'' is an American children's television series that aired on Discovery Kids and TLC as part of the Ready Set Learn block from 2006 to 2008. Similar to PBS Kids series such as ''Barney & Friends'' (the setting of the show bears rese ...

''.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

References

External links

Official site
*

on Allmusic
BET Shows - Brothers to Brutha

Def Jam label website

Press release

Bruthaskeepers.com
* {{Authority control American rhythm and blues musicians Musical groups from Los Angeles Island Records artists Sibling musical groups Musical quintets Musical groups established in 2002 Musical groups disestablished in 2011 American soul musical groups