Nu Flavor is an R&B quartet from

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

consisting of Jacob Ceniceros (

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

), Anthony DaCosta (

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

), Rigo Luna (

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...

), and Frank Pangelinan, Jr. (tenor/

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

History

Nu Flavor formed in 1994. Under their manager's direction, they created a cover of the

Journey Journey or journeying may refer to: * Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations ** Day's journey, a measurement of distance ** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road Animals * Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...

hit " Open Arms", and eventually the recording found its way to

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...

president Howie Klein. After singing

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

in his office, he signed the group on the spot. Shortly thereafter, Los Angeles KIBB radio night guy, Rick Hummer, was given the group's "Open Arms" demo and began spinning it during his dedication show. The group started calling into KIBB's "Afterhours with Chaka Khan and Rick Hummer" and sang for them, who immediately invited the group into the station for their first on-air performance and interview. This gave them a solid launching pad and fan base in Los Angeles. The group's first album, ''Nu Flavor'', debuted in 1997, launching two gold-certified singles: "Heaven", their biggest

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

, peaked at No. 27 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and "Sweet Sexy Thing", at No. 62. Their second album ''It's On!'' appeared two years later, which yielded the hit singles "Sprung", "3 Little Words" and "Most Beautiful Girl". The single "Baby Be There" from ''Nu Flavor'' was released in 1999 and peaked at No. 83 on the Hot 100. The group has toured and performed numerous shows in places such as

Amarillo Amarillo ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat, seat of Potter County, Texas, Potter County. It is the List of cities in Texas by population, 14th-most populous city in Texas and th ...

and

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, Texas, and also held a free concert at Ypao Beach, Guam. Pangelinan, a former native of Guam, said he had always wanted to go back home; he finally did in October 2001. His father, Frank Pangelinan, Sr., is also a well known recording artist in Guam. In January 2000, Nu Flavor appeared in the 14th episode of Season 10 of the teen drama ''

Beverly Hills, 90210 ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (often referred to by its short title, ''90210'') is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling under his production company Spelling Television. The series ran fo ...

'', "I'm Using You 'Cause I Like You".

Discography

Albums

*1997: ''Nu Flavor'' *1999: ''It's On!''

Compilation

*2019: ''Sweet Sexy Thing - The Greatest Hits''

Singles

*1997: "Heaven" -

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

#27,

Rhythmic Rhythmic may refer to: * Related to rhythm * Rhythmic contemporary, a radio format * Rhythmic adult contemporary, a radio format * Rhythmic gymnastics, a form of gymnastics * Rhythmic (chart) The Rhythmic chart (also called Rhythmic Airplay, and ...

#6, Pop #22,

Radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

#32, R&B #58 *1997: "Sweet Sexy Thing" - U.S. #62, Rhythmic #8, R&B #93 *1997: "Havin' a Party" *1999: "Sprung" *1999: "3 Little Words" - U.S. #89, Rhythmic #14 *1999: "Most Beautiful Girl" *1999: "Baby Be There" - U.S. #83, Rhythmic #38

References

External links

Rigo Luna AllMusic bioRound Trip with Dave O, Nu Flavor article''South China Morning Post'', Nu Flavor article
American contemporary R&B musical groups American boy bands Musical groups from California Musical groups established in 1994 Reprise Records artists {{US-R&B-band-stub