Trilogy was an American

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * ICD Freestyle, a paintball marker * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott La ...

and hip hop group from

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, founded in 1985 by Carlos "CNR" Rivera, Duran Ramos and J.R. Mansanet. The group pioneered

freestyle music Freestyle music, also called Latin freestyle or Latin hip-hop ''(sic)'' is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in the New York metropolitan area and Philadelphia, primarily among Hispanic Americans and Italian Americans in the 1980s. I ...

and scored several hit songs including "Love Me Forever Or Love Me Not", "Good Time", and " Do You Wanna Get Funky".

History

Trilogy was formed by Duran Ramos (born Randy Duran Ramos), J.R. Mansanet (born Hector Mansanet), and Ceanar Rivera (born Carlos Rivera) in

. The group was briefly on the Jackie Jack Records roster and managed by George Vascones. In 1985, they released their debut single "Red Hot", a

radio hit. In 1987, they released another freestyle single "Latin Love". In 1988, they released another single "Gotta Be Free". In 1990, Trilogy were introduced to Robert Clivillés and David Cole. During that time, Clivillés offered the group a chance to record the future greatly successful song "

Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" is a hit song by C+C Music Factory. It was released in late 1990 as the debut and lead single from their first album, '' Gonna Make You Sweat'' (1990). The song is sung by singer Martha Wash and rapper ...

", but they declined.The Depressing Story of America’s Favorite Pump-Up Jam

VICE A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...

(October 4, 2016) Despite declining to record the song, Ramos contributed background vocals on the C+C Music Factory's album ''Gonna Make You Sweat''. In 1991, Trilogy released a single "Love Me Forever Or Love Me Not", produced by Clivillés and Cole. The single peaked at number 82 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

, In early 1992, Rivera left the group and was replaced with Angel DeLeon.80's Freestyle Music Artist Duran form group Trilogy shares his journey with music and faith
Apple. Retrieved on January 15, 2022 Several months later, Mansanet left the group and was replaced by Kenny Diaz. Diaz departed from the group and was replaced by

Darrin Henson Darrin Dewitt Henson (born May 5, 1973) is an American choreographer, dancer, actor, director and producer. Hensen was a brief member of freestyle music group Trilogy and was featured on their single "Good Time".

. In late 1992, Trilogy (Ramos, DeLeon, and Henson) released a single called "Good Time". In 1994, Henson departed from the group after disagreeing with the C+C Music Factory production contract and was replaced with singer Joey Kid.Trilogy

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

In the same year, the new lineup of Trilogy debuted as the main male vocalists on the

C+C Music Factory C, or c, is the third letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''cee'' (pronounced ), plural ''cees''. History "C" ...

album '' Anything Goes!''. The group were featured on the successful singles " Do You Wanna Get Funky" and "Take a Toke". Following the release of the album, Trilogy toured with C+C Music Factory in 1995. After the C+C Music Factory tour, Trilogy disbanded in June 1995. Ramos continued to work and produce music with

Clivillés and Cole Robert Clivillés (born July 30, 1964) and David Cole (1962–1995), known collectively as Clivillés and Cole, were American record producers, songwriters, and remixers active from the late 1980s who achieved success in the 1990s. Career Begin ...

as well as produce music for other singers including

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after NFL and CFL wide receiver ...

Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam were an urban contemporary band and one of the first freestyle music groups to emerge from New York City in the 1980s. Cult Jam consisted of vocalist Lisa Lisa (born Lisa Valez), guitarist/ bassist Alex "Spanador" Moseley, ...

, and

New Kids on the Block New Kids on the Block (also initialized as NKOTB) is an American boy band from Dorchester, Massachusetts. The band consists of brothers Jonathan and Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood. New Kids on the Block enjoy ...

.C+C Music Factory/Full Biography

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

Rivera pursued a solo career and often performed under the stage name CNR of Trilogy. Mansanet left the music industry and pursued a career as a video engineer for several major telecommunication companies in New York and South Florida. Joey Kid continued on as a solo artist. Angel DeLeon pursued a career as a tv host starting in 1998. In 1999, Angel DeLeon became one of the hosts for the

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...

. In 2007, the original members (Ramos, Rivera, and Mansanet) reunited for the first time in 15 years for a one-time performance at

Mohegan Sun Arena The Mohegan Sun Arena is a 10,000 seat multi-purpose arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, located inside the Mohegan Sun casino resort. The arena facility features of configurable exhibition space and a clear span. It was built by the Perini Buil ...

in Uncasville, Connecticut. On November 8, 2014, Ramos and Rivera received an honorary award on behalf of Trilogy at the Freestyle Honor Awards in

Kissimmee, Florida Kissimmee ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Osceola County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 79,226. It is a Principal City of the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida, Metropolitan Statistical Area, wh ...

for their musical contributions to

. They also performed their song "Latin Love". In the same year, Rivera began performing under the "Trilogy" name with two additional vocalists. In March 2017, Ramos and DeLeon reunited as Trilogy and began performing at different venues. In 2018, DeLeon launched an online talk show series called "Angel In The City". In 2019, Rivera (under the "Trilogy" name; with two other vocalists) toured with other freestyle music artists on the "I Love Freestyle Music Tour".I Love Freestyle Music Tour
Mirama Ramp. Retrieved on January 14, 2022 The tour also included Kid, who performed separate from Trilogy. In 2021, Rivera announced that Trilogy had reunited. Trilogy (Rivera, Ramos, Mansanet, and DeLeon) released a single "Sound of Thunder" on Londinium The Label. In 2022, all seven members of Trilogy were interviewed by director Maria Soccor for the upcoming documentary ''Freestyle Music: The Legacy'', which is currently still in production. On July 28th, 2022, Carlos "CNR" Rivera passed away. Many members of Trilogy posted tributes to him on social media, and on August 5th the documentary's social media accounts shared unreleased pictures of Rivera from the set of the upcoming film.Freestyle Music: The Legacy
Instagram. Retrieved on August 15, 2022

Discography

Singles

References

External links

Trilogy Facebook page

Trilogy Myspace page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trilogy American dance music groups American freestyle music groups American musical trios American pop music groups American singers of Dominican Republic descent Electronic music groups from New York (state) Freestyle musicians Latin music songwriters Latin pop singers Musical groups disestablished in 1995 Musical groups established in 1985 Musical groups from New York City Pop-rap groups Spanish dance musicians Teen pop groups Vocal trios C+C Music Factory members