Jade is an American

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

, originally composed of Joi Marshall, Tonya Kelly, and Di Reed.

History

The group Jade was originally composed of Joi Marshall, Angela Slates and Debra Mitchell and, as such, was first known as JAD. Producer Vassal Benford sold the song " I Wanna Love You" before Marshall, Slates and Mitchell’s voices were recorded on the song. In order to keep the song on the soundtrack for the 1992

Kid 'n Play Kid 'n Play is an American hip-hop duo from New York City that was most popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The duo was composed of Christopher Reid ("Kid") and Christopher Martin ("Play") working alongside their DJ, Mark "DJ Wiz" Eas ...

comedy ''

Class Act ''Class Act'' is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Randall Miller and starring hip-hop duo Kid 'n Play. An urban retelling of Mark Twain's ''The Prince and the Pauper'', the film was written by Cynthia Friedlob and John Semper from a sto ...

'', Benford had to reproduce the song with the actual voices of the group members. When that could not be accomplished he implored the record label to drop Slates and Mitchell from the group and replace them with Di Reed and Tonya Kelly who were the voices on the song and who were signed to his production company. Tonya Kelly and Di Reed were signed on by producer Vassal Benford, and the group's name was extended to Jade. Tonya grew up in Chicago listening to jazz vocalists such as

Sarah Vaughan Sarah Lois Vaughan (March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer. Nicknamed "Sassy" and "Jazz royalty, The Divine One", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and was nominated for a total of nine ...

and Nat King Cole. Joi Marshall was also from Chicago but was raised on

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

, especially

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. Di Reed grew up in Houston singing gospel anywhere she could. Jade's first success was on the ''Class Act''

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

in 1992. Their

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

" I Wanna Love You" was one of the breakout songs on the soundtrack, cracking the Top 10 of the R&B charts and reaching #16 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Their follow-up single " Don't Walk Away", was their biggest hit and climbed to #2 on the R&B chart and was certified

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

in 1993. The single went on to sell 1.5 million copies worldwide. Subsequent singles "Looking for Mr. Do Right" and "One Woman" helped push their debut album '' Jade to the Max'' to platinum status, sparking a lengthy tour and spots on '' The Tonight Show'', ''

The Arsenio Hall Show ''The Arsenio Hall Show'' is an American syndicated late-night talk show created by and starring comedian Arsenio Hall. There have been two different incarnations of ''The Arsenio Hall Show''. The original series premiered on January 3, 1989, ...

'', and the U.K.'s ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

''. Jade also performed on

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

's ''Listening Party Live''. The session was recorded and released as a CD in 1993. Jade was the only group to have a ''BET Listening Party'' album released. In

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

the band appeared in the movie '' The Inkwell'', and released their second studio album ''Mind, Body & Song'', on which they served as co-writers and co-producers. Singles "5-4-3-2 (Yo! Time Is Up)" and " Every Day of the Week" propelled the album to gold status. Jade also appeared on '' Beverly Hills, 90210'' in the episode, "You've Got To Have Heart", which aired on February 8, 1995. During their appearance, they performed "Every Day of the Week". Thereafter, Tonya Kelly left the group, then briefly reunited with Joi Marshall in 1997 to contribute the track "Keep on Risin" to the soundtrack for the film ''

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''. With

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SWV SWV (Sisters with Voices) is an American R&B vocal trio from New York City whose members are Cheryl (Coko) Gamble, Tamara (Taj) Johnson, and Leanne (Lelee) Lyons. Formed in 1988 as a gospel group, SWV became one of the most successful R&B g ...

, Xscape and other female singers, the trio appeared on "

Freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...

", which first appeared on the

to the 1995 film of the same title, ''

Panther Panther may refer to: Large cats *Pantherinae, the cat subfamily that contains the genera ''Panthera'' and ''Neofelis'' **''Panthera'', the cat genus that contains tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards. ***Jaguar (''Panthera onca''), found in Sout ...

''. The song "5-4-3-2 (Yo! Time Is Up)" was used as part of the soundtrack for the '' New York Undercover'' episode "Eyewitness Blues".

Current activities

Di Reed is currently touring the world as a featured vocalist for

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

and continues to back up such artists as

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, Christina Aguilera,

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

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, among others. The original members of Jade (JAD) went on to become successful in their own right. Angela Slates became a successful music producer (producing songs for Trina & Tamara, Tony! Toni! Toné!, Vybe,

Somethin' for the People Somethin' for the People was a contemporary R&B group from Oakland, California, who scored several hits in the US in the late 1990s. History The group was founded in 1990 by Curtis "Sauce" Wilson and Jeff "Fuzzy" Young, both from Oakland, Calif ...

and

Eric Benét Eric Benét Jordan (born October 15, 1967) is an American R&B/neo soul singer-songwriter and actor, who has received a total of four Grammy nominations to date for his musical work. Biography Early life Benét was born on October 15, 1966 ...

), and earned a Ph.D. in education. Debra Mitchell (now known as Debra Mitchell-Adams) became a member of the group Vybe on

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

, and owns Legacy Global Music Group. In February 2018, Joi Marshall debuted her new solo single "Love Language." As of 2022, Jade is currently touring with original members Joi Marshall, Tonya Kelly and "guest" Myracle Holloway.

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Singles

Featured singles

* Jade did not have hits in the UK until March 1993, with Don't Walk Away being the lead single and I Wanna Love You being the 2nd hit in July, followed by One Woman in September '93. Every Day of the Week didn't chart in the UK until February 1995.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Di Reed's Instagram page

Joi Marshall's Instagram page

Tonya Kelly's Instagram page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jade (RandB group) American girl groups African-American girl groups American hip hop groups American contemporary R&B musical groups American soul musical groups Giant Records (Warner) artists New jack swing music groups American pop girl groups