Formed in 1988, this trio revolutionized R&B music. Featuring members Aaron Hall, his brother Damion, and Teddy Riley, Guy won the hearts of urban audiences with their self-titled debut, and enjoyed a mild crossover success with 1990’s The Future. Originally, Guy was composed of Teddy Riley, Aaron Hall and Timmy Gatling, but Timmy left to become a solo artist and producer.
Notable Guy from the first album include “Groove Me,” “Spend The Night,” “Piece Of My Love,” “I Like,” “You Can Call Me Crazy,” and “Goodbye.” From the second album, songs like “I Wanna Get With U,” “Let’s Chill,” “Do Me Right” and “D-O-G- Me Out,” were all notable. In the summer of 1989, Guy scored with “My Fantasy” from the Do The Right Thing soundtrack.
In the fall of 1991 when the New Jack Era was coming to an end, Teddy Riley announced the break-up of Guy. Then Aaron Hall struck out first as a solo artist with “Don’t Be Afraid,” a single featured on the early 1992 Juice soundtrack, along with Teddy’s “Is It Good To You” featuring Tammy Lucas. By early 1993, Teddy emerged with BLACKstreet with a song entitled “Baby Be Mine” from the CB4 soundtrack.
In 1994, Teddy, Aaron and Damion emerged with separate projects. Damion Hall released an album entitled ‘Straight To The Point’, which proved that Damion could sing by himself. Teddy’s BLACKStreet emerged with their debut album this year, with the hits “Before I Let You Go”, “Joy”, and “Booti Call”. Aaron Hall’s ‘The Truth’ impacted most profoundly with “I Miss You”, a surprise hit of the summer, with a depressing video to boot. Things seemed to be good for Guy in 1995, as reunion rumors began to heat up around this point. The group even started to record together, eventually ending up with a track on the ‘New York Undercover Soundtrack’.
But things didn’t work out. Aaron Hall ran into legal trouble, and reportedly scoffed at Teddy’s new track, “No Diggity”. So, it was back with BLACKstreet, and “No Diggity” went on to become the group’s biggest hit, just in time for the New Jack Reunion of New Edition, Keith Sweat and Teddy Riley (with BLACKstreet) on the New Edition “Home Again” Tour of 1997.
In early 2000, Guy finally reunited to release an album that was not very well received. Although the DJ Eddie F-produced “Dancin” was a certifiable smash, the rest of the album did not fit in well with the musical soundscape (Dru Hill, *Nsync, Jay-Z) surrounding it. However then and now, Guy has absolutely nothing more to prove…they are perhaps the most important act from the New Jack Era – period. Any new material from the group at this point is clearly icing on the cake that is New Jack Swing.
Guy: Groove Me (The Very Best of Guy)
