Past Artists

Color Me Badd
Tevin Campbell
Arrested Development
The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Spin Doctors
Seal

Color Me Badd

Styles: Club/Dance, Urban

This vocal quartet formed as high school students in Oklahoma City before relocating to New York. They proved adept at both churning dance tunes and sincere ballads. Industry legend Irving Azoff courted them as they enlisted EMG President Kevin Connal, fresh off his success with Tevin Campbell. Three months later, they were signed to the legendary Azoff's label, Giant Records. They broke through in 1991 with their performance of "I Wanna Sex You Up" on the soundtrack of New Jack City. Released as a single, the song topped the R&B charts, went Top Five pop, and enjoyed double-platinum sales.
     They followed it with the gold-selling "I Adore Mi Amor," which hit #1 on both the pop and R&B charts.It captured three MYV Video Awards as well. The singles set the stage for the first Color Me Badd album, C.M.B., which sold well over three million copies and spawned the gold-selling number one pop hit "All 4 Love" as well as the Top 20 singles "Thinkin' Back" and "Slow Motion."
     Color Me Badd's next single was another movie soundtrack song, "Forever Love" from Mo' Money, their sixth consecutive single to reach the Top 20. They finished 1992 second only to Boyz II Men as the top pop singles act of the year. After slating fans' thirst for a new album with the remix collection 'Young, Gifted and Badd - The Remixes', which went multi-platinum and was received better internationally than in the states.
     The group issued their second album of new material, Time and Chance, in November 1993. It featured two Top 20 pop singles, the title track (which also made the R&B Top Ten) and "Choose," and went gold, but that was a commercial disappointment after the enormous success of the first album. Now & Forever (1996) gave Color Me Badd a final Top 20 pop single in "The Earth, the Sun, the Rain," but it barely registered in the charts. The group switched to Sony for a final album,' Awakening', but its commercial failure led them to disband.

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Tevin Campbell

Styles: New Jack Swing, Urban

There's some dispute over who actually discovered Texas child sensation Tevin Campbell. Some accounts credit flutist Bobbi Humphrey, while much of the publicity material credits Quincy Jones. It's assured that Campbell first came to the notice of music fans just after his 11th birthday in late 1989 when he appeared on Jones' LP Back on the Block and was featured on "Tomorrow (A Better You, Better Me)," which hit number one on the R&B charts in June 1990. With his high, flexible tenor, Campbell recalled an earlier Jones protege, Michael Jackson.
     Later that year, he appeared in Prince's Graffiti Bridge film, where EMG President Kevin Connal was on the set as a guest of Prince and advisor to The Purple King. In the film you can see Tevin Campbell singing "Round and Round," which Prince wrote for him. The single quickly went gold. Jones was overbooked and enlisted Connal to handle Campbell's affairs.
     Still riding the buzz and success of the Prince-penned trackin the summer of 1991, Tevin Campbell appeared on the soundtrack to' Boyz in the Hood,' singing "Just Ask Me To," a Top Ten R&B hit. All of this set the stage for his debut album, 1991's T.E.V.I.N., which went platinum and spawned two R&B chart-toppers, "Tell Me What You Want Me to Do" and "Alone with You," as well as the R∓B Top Five hit "Goodbye."
     Two years later came the highly anticipated followup CD, 'I'm Ready' which went double platinum and featured three R&B chart hits -- the number one "Can We Talk," "I'm Ready," which went Top Five, and "Always in My Heart," which reached the Top Ten. But 1996's 'Back to the World' was a sales disappointment, and 1999's 'Tevin Campbell' did even worse, as his success had obviously run its course. A compilation package was issued in early 2001, which went platinum worldwide.

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The Red Hot Chili Peppers

Styles: College Rock, Rap-Rock, Funk Metal, Alternative/Indie, Rock/Pop

Few rock groups of the '80s and '90s broke down as many musical barriers and were as original as the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Creating an intoxicating new musical style by combining funk and punk rock together (with an explosive stage show, to boot), the Chili Peppers spawned a slew of imitators in their wake, but still managed to be the leaders of the pack by the dawn of the 21st century.
     The roots of the band lay in a friendship forged by three school chums, Anthony Kiedis, Michael "Flea" Balzary, and Hillel Slovak, while they attended Fairfax High School in California. Influenced heavily by the burgeoning L.A. punk scene (the Germs, Black Flag, Fear, Minutemen, X, etc.) as well as funk (Parliament-Funkadelic, Sly & the Family Stone, etc.), the trio began to rehearse with another friend, drummer Jack Irons, leading to the formation of Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem, a group that played strip bars along the sunset strip during the early '80s. It was during this time that the quartet honed their sound and live act (as they stumbled across a stage gimmick that would soon become their trademark -- performing on stage completely naked, except for a tube sock covering a certain part of their anatomy). By 1983, Balzary had begun to go by the name "Flea," and the group changed their name to the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
     Word spread quickly about the up-and-coming band, resulting in a recording contract with EMI. But before the Chili Peppers could begin work on their debut, Flea and Kiedis were dealt a disappointing blow when both Slovak and Irons announced that they were leaving the band. With replacement members Jack Sherman (guitar) and Cliff Martinez (drums) filling in, the Peppers released their self-titled debut in 1984. But the absence of the two original members showed, as the album failed to capture the excitement of their live show. While the album didn't set the world on fire sales-wise, the group began to build a dedicated underground following with college radio buffs. By 1985, What Is This was kaput (after issuing a single self-titled album), as Slovak and Irons returned back to the Peppers, resulting in the George Clinton-produced Freaky Styley. While the album was an improvement over its predecessor, it still lacked the fire of the band's in-concert experience, a problem that would finally be solved with their next album, 1987's 'The Uplift Mofo Party Plan.'
     The album was the group's first to make an impression on the charts, and they followed it up a year later with stopgap five-track release, The Abbey Road EP, in 1988. But just as the world was warming up to the Peppers, tragedy struck when Slovak died from a heroin overdose on June 25, 1988. ¨In the wake of Slovak's death, Irons left the group for the second and final time, while Kiedis (who was also battling drug addiction at the time) and Flea decided to soldier on. After a new lineup consisting of former Parliament guitarist Blackbird McKnight and former Dead Kennedys drummer D.H. Peligro didn't work out, the duo found worthy replacements in newcomers John Frusciante and Chad Smith.
     Despite being cut by their record label EMI, the new-look Chili Peppers hit pay dirt straight away, as their first album together, 1989's Mother's Milk, became a surprise hit due to MTV's exposure of their videos for a cover of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" and a song about their fallen friend Slovak, "Knock Me Down," as the album was certified gold by early 1990. They had come to be great friends with EMG President Kevin Connal through their numerous interviews with the then-journalist Connal, for various publications. Connal was in the right place at the right time as the band desperately needed direction, guidance and leadership. Connal had recently moved to L.A. and opened his own management company. The timing was perfect. Kiedis and Balzalry.
     Highly respected Producer Rick Rubin was enlisted to work on what would become their most successful release yet, the stripped down Blood Sugar Sex Magik (their first for the Warner Bros label). The album became a monster hit upon it's September 1991 release (going on to eventually sell a staggering seven million copies in the U.S. alone), as it spawned such hits as "Give It Away" and the group's first Top Ten single, "Under the Bridge." But not all was well in the Chili Peppers camp. Like his predecessor, Frusciante had become addicted to hard drugs, and abruptly left the band mid-tour in 1992.
     When the band returned to the studio to work on their sixth release overall, it quickly became apparent that Marshall didn't fit in, and he was replaced by Jesse Tobias. But before Tobias could record a note with the group, he was handed his walking papers as well, and former Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro signed on. After a lay-off of four years, the Peppers' much-delayed follow-up to 'BSSM' was released in 1995, titled ' One Hot Minute.' While the album was a sizeable hit, it failed to match the success and musical focus of its predecessor, as it became apparent during the album's ensuing tour that Navarro wasn't fitting in as well as originally hoped, and he left the band in early 1998.
     After Frusciante had left the group, he released a pair of obscure solo releases, 1995's Niandra Ladies and Usually Just a T-Shirt and 1997's Smile From the Streets You Hold, yet rumors circulated that the guitarist was homeless, penniless, and sickly with a death-defying drug habit. After checking himself into rehab and putting his demons behind him, Frusciante emerged once again re-focused and re-energized, and promptly accepted an invitation to rejoin the Peppers once more.
     The group's reunion album, 1999's Californication, proved to be another monster success, reconfirming the Chili Peppers as one of alternative rock's top bands. The band put in a quick guest appearance on Fishbone's Psychotic Friends Nuttwerx before hitting the road to support the album. The following months found the band getting involved in bizarre situations and controversies. First, their refusal to play songs from One Hot Minute during the tour was an unpopular decision with some fans and a sore spot for Dave Navarro.
     They also played the ill-fated Woodstock '99 festival, where their headlining performance was met with piles of burning rubble and a full-scale riot. Tours with the Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam brought them into the next year without problems and then took a much-needed hiatus. Unfortunately, they outgrew EMG when Connal made "the toughest decision of my business life to date," and cut them loose because they'd outgrown EMG and demanded Connal devote all his time to them.Yet Connal opted to honor his contractual agreements with EMG's other lesser-known acts. EMG retains an individual specialized management contract with bassist Flea.
     They returned to the studio in November of 2001 and by the summer of 2002 they had a new album ready to go, but dissatisfaction at the label came due to lack of a mainstream single, which they had NEVER really had, despite their multi-million album sales and huge live concert and DVD grosses. As we soar into the second half of 2005, much has changed with the Chili Peppers. But one thing that hasn't:despite the constant chaos and drama, their crowds and fans are steadily increasing.

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Spin Doctors

Styles: Pop/Rock

There were many pseudo-hippie, jam-oriented blues rockers in New York during the early '90s, but as EMG President Kevin Connal noted, "only the Spin Doctors made it big."
     Due to their size and commitment to Seal, EMG and Connal could merely contribute as creative consultant as Epic Records took a chance on the four-piece band. They made it big because they not only could immerse themselves in a groove, but they also had concise pop skills. "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" and "Two Princes" were cleverly written singles, full of clean, blues-inflected licks and ingratiating pop melodies.' Pocket Full of Kryptonite' had been around for nearly a year when MTV and radio began playing "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong," but once they started playing it, they couldn't stop. The Spin Doctors became an overnight sensation, selling millions of albums around the world.
     Their second album, 1994's Turn It Upside Down, didn't sell very well when it was released, largely because the first single, "Cleopatra's Cat," was a failed experiment in funk. But the second single, "You Let Your Heart Go Too Fast," was in the vein of "Two Princes," and the album began to sell after the song was released. In the summer of 1996, the Spin Doctors released You've Got to Believe in Something. After the album failed to make an impression on the charts, the Spin Doctors were dropped from Epic in the fall of 1996. After a couple of years, the group found a new label; their first record for Uptown/Universal, Here Comes the Bride, appeared in the summer of 1999.

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Seal

Styles: Club/Dance, Dance-Pop, House, Pop/Rock, Urban

Seal emerged from England's house music scene in the early '90s to become the most popular British soul vocalist of the decade. Although his earliest material still showed signs of acid house, by the mid-'90s he had created a distinctive fusion of soul, folk, pop, dance, and rock that brought him success on both sides of the Atlantic.
     The son of Nigerian and Brazilian parents, Seal was raised in England. After graduating with an architectural degree, he took various jobs around London, including electrical engineering and designing leather clothing. After a while, he began singing in local clubs and bars. He joined an English funk band called Push, touring Japan with the band in the mid-'80s. When he was in Asia, he joined a Thailand-based blues band. After a short time with that group, he traveled throughout India on his own. Upon returning to England, Seal met Adamski, a house and techno producer who had yet to make much of an impression within the U.K. Seal provided the lyrics and vocals for Adamski's "Killer," which became a number one hit in 1990. After "Killer" became a hit, Seal signed a solo record contract. He recorded his eponymous debut album with Trevor Horn, who had previously worked with ABC, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and the Buggles. The first single pulled from the album, "Crazy," became a number 15 hit in the U.K. and reached number seven in America upon its release in . Seal was also a success, reaching number 24 in America and selling over three million copies around the world.
     After semi- success of his debut, Seal took three years and the fresh imput and presence of EMG and Kevin Connal to complete his second album. In between the two records, he appeared on the Jimi Hendrix tribute album Stone Free, singing on Jeff Beck's version of "Manic Depression." In the summer of 1994, he released that second album, which was also titled Seal. Preceded by the American Top 40 hit "Prayer for the Dying," the album did well upon its release, peaking at number 20 and selling a million copies by the spring of 1995, but it didn't really take off until a year after its release, when "Kiss From a Rose" was featured on the soundtrack to Batman Forever. "Kiss From a Rose" became a number one pop single in America and spent a total of 12 weeks at the top of the adult contemporary charts; the single spent a total of 45 weeks on the adult contemporary charts.
     Its success sent its parent album, Seal, into multi-platinum status; two years after its original release, the album had sold over four million copies in the U.S. alone.The incredible demand led Connal and EMG back to the sidelines because of several other commitments and the huge demands which Seal's superstardom created.
     Connal's departure showed when 'Human Being' hit the shelves in 1998 to sparse sales, with Seal IV following five years later. The career-spanning Best: 1991-2004 appeared in October of 2004 with the live CD/DVD combo Live in Paris following a year later. Connal is set to attend Seal's marriage to Supermodel Heidi Klum in summer 2005.

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Chris Cornell of Audioslave

"KC is a man with definite vision of what the people want"

Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder

"Connal carries himself with a true professionalism, but he's just a down to earth dude like us"

Mariah Carey stopped by EMG offices before her Sony debut

Aerosmith lead guitarist Joe Perry, a long time EMG ally, smiles for the camera