What Happened ? Guy

Guy

Guy was formed in Harlem, New York in 1987 by R&B singer-songwriters Teddy Riley, Aaron Hall, and Timmy Gatling. Riley and Gatling were childhood friends growing up in Harlem, and previously collaborated together in the band Kids At Work.  Hall was recruited to join what would become Guy.  

Teddy Riley was raised in St. Nicholas Houses, Harlem, New York. Riley, a child prodigy since the age of 5, began playing instruments in the church. His uncle, who owned the famed Harlem club The Rooftop, built a studio in the club in which Riley would spend most of his time while growing up. By 14, upstart New York rappers began making music to his tracks. Under the guidance of local music producer Gene Griffin, Riley formed the short-lived group Kids At Work. At the age of 17, Riley produced Kool Moe Dee's 12" single, "Go See the Doctor". Released on an independent label in 1986, the song became a crossover hit, reaching #89 on The Billboard Hot 100. Riley had previously worked on the production of Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew's "The Show" in 1985.

Aaron Hall (born August 10, 1964, The Bronx, New York, grew up in Roosevelt, New York) is an American R&B singer and songwriter. He is a current member of the group Guy. 

In 1987, Riley, Aaron Hall, and Timmy Gatling formed the R&B group Guy. Managed by Gene Griffin, Riley's work with Guy pioneered the New Jack Swing style of R&B, which had been showcased previously in Riley's productions for Keith Sweat (I Want Her), Johnny Kemp ("Just Got Paid"), Bobby Brown ("My Prerogative") and among others. Riley infused his own unique blend of hip-hop beats, R&B progressions and the Gospel vocal stylings of Hall to create the archetypal New jack swing sound on Guy's eponymous debut. In 1989, Riley produced Big Daddy Kane's "I Get The Job Done", as well as other work for The Jacksons, The Winans, James Ingram; he also created the highly successful remix of Jane Child, "Don't Wanna Fall in Love", which became a crossover pop smash.

Gene Griffin, signed the group to Andre Harrell's Uptown Records, and released their self-titled debut album Guy in June 1988. Gatling, however, had left after recording of the album was completed and he was replaced by Hall's younger brother Damion Hall for the tour (with New Edition). Five singles were released from the album, none of which fared well on the main US Hot 100 chart, -in fact only one charted. However, four of the singles became significant R&B hits. The singles, "'Round And 'Round (Merry-Go-Round of Love), (US R&B #24); "Groove Me", (US R&B #4); "Teddy's Jam", (US R&B #5); "I Like", (US R&B #2); and "Spend the Night", (US R&B #15), propelled the album to double platinum status off the strength of those R&B hits. Another song from the album, "Piece of My Love", also received some airplay on R&B stations. The album impressively climbed to #27 on the US Top 200 Album Chart without a pop hit, and peaked at #1 on the R&B Album Chart.

Following on the album's success, the band contributed the song "My Fantasy" to the soundtrack to Spike Lee's film Do The Right Thing in 1989. Griffin and Riley also worked with Boy George, producing his R&B hit "Don't Take My Mind On A Trip". However, that same year Guy split acrimoniously from Gene Griffin. Riley continued to produce and remix for other artists and firmly established himself as the figurehead and driving force behind New Jack Swing.

In November 1990, Guy released its second album, entitled The Future. Although still not scoring top 40 pop hits, the album's five singles became R&B hits. The songs "Wanna Get Wit U", (US R&B #4); Let's Chill", (US R&B #3); "Do Me Right" (Featuring Heavy D), (US R&B #2); "D-O-G Me Out", (US R&B #8); and "Let's Stay Together", (US R&B #16) took the album to platinum status. The band also featured in Mario Van Peebles's film New Jack City, performing the song "New Jack City".

After the release and tour of Guy's second album The Future, Riley co-produced half of Michael Jackson's album Dangerous, on the recommendation of Jackson's long-time producer Quincy Jones. Featuring the Riley co-produced singles "Remember the Time", "Jam", and "In the Closet", Dangerous remains the most successful New jack swing album of all time with 32 million copies sold.

Aaron Hall Went Solo after the disbandment of Guy. His selt entitled album includes the #1 R&B single, "Don't Be Afraid" (from the Juice soundtrack in 1991 and also on the popular videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on New Jack Swing radio station CSR 103.9), the original and the remix of Don't Be Afraid was produced Hank Shocklee from The Bomb Squad, who also produced Public Enemy's music. His Top 3 single, "I Miss You" (from his solo debut in 1993), reached #2 on the R&B chart and later peaking at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming his biggest pop hit.

After the run of the album, the group split with Riley later citing "the tragedy of our ex-manager" Griffin as the reason for the group's disbandment. One of the group's final recordings was their cover of Wilson Pickett's Land of a Thousand Dances, that was featured on the 1992 animated film FernGully: The Last Rainforest.

After the disbandment of Guy in 1992, Riley moved to production, performance on and promotion of Wreckx-N-Effect's second album Hard or Smooth. Based in Virginia by this time, Riley discovered The Neptunes who assisted production on Wreckx-N-Effect's smash hit single Rump Shaker.

In late 1992, Riley formed a second group, Blackstreet, with Chauncey Hannibal as lead singer.

In the spring of 1994,  Aaron Hall recorded the song, "Gonna Give it to Ya" with Jewell from the Above the Rim movie soundtrack starring Tupac Shakur and Duane Martin.

Damion Hall has released one solo album, Straight to the Point in 1994, which spawned one single, "Satisfy You", featuring Chanté Moore. That song managed to reach #48 on the Billboard R&B charts.

Guy have reformed periodically since their initial break-up, the first of which occurred in 1995, with the release of the song "Tell Me What You Like", but an album did not follow at that time.

Aaron Hall also holds the distinction of having the very first electronic press kit created for an artist of any genre or medium. The EPK, invented by Andre Gray, who would go on to invent online music sales certifications, featured a bio, audio clips, videos, photos, press, set list, basic technical requirements, and a calendar. Hall's EPK made its debut on January 8, 1995, and Gray's invention would serve as the template for all future EPKs, regardless of genre or medium

Hall also recorded the song "Heaven's Girl" with R.Kelly, Ronald Isley & Charlie Wilson on Quincy Jones 1996 album Q's Jook Joint.

Big Pun & Fat Joe appeared on Aaron Hall song "Been Around The World" (None Like You) in 1998.

In 1999, Riley and the Hall brothers reunited to release their first album in nine years titled Guy III. The album featured the modest hit "Dancin'", which peaked at #22, becoming surprisingly their biggest hit on the pop charts. However, the album was poorly promoted and as quickly as it was released it dropped from the public consciousness. The group disbanded again soon after.

In 2000, Riley worked with Spice Girl Melanie B on three tracks -- "ABC 123," "I Believe" and "Pack Your S**t" -- for her solo debut album, Hot. He also worked on an album with Outsiderz 4 Life, producing "Wil' Out" and other songs.

In July 2005, Aaron Hall released his most recent album entitled Adults Only: The Final Album.

At the start of 2006, Guy (Aaron & Damion Hall and Teddy Riley) was part of the New Jack Reunion Tour, featuring Blackstreet and Guy, in addition to After 7, SWV, and Tony Toni Toné.

In June 2008, a fire destroyed Riley's Virginia Beach recording studio. Fire investigators said that an electrical problem caused the blaze that burned the abandoned recording studio. The Virginia Beach Fire Department said lightning in the area also could have been a factor, although there was no direct strike. The empty studio was for sale and was insured for $336,000.

Riley and the Hall brothers reunited at the 2009 BET Awards, performing "I Like" as part of a new jack swing medley.

As of 2009, Aaron Hall has a show titled "Aaron Hall's Dog Rehab".

In 2009, Riley worked with Amerie and Robin Thicke on their respective albums. Leading on from his work on Snoop Dogg's album Ego Trippin' Riley became part of the production supergroup QDT, which features DJ Quik as well as Snoop Dogg. Teddy produced and co-wrote an album track "Teeth" with Lady Gaga for her EP The Fame Monster.

In an August 2010, co-executor of the Michael Jackson estate, John Branca, confirmed that a posthumous album of Michael Jackson would be released, containing work done in the previous five years with producers Neff-U, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and Riley himself, as well as work written and produced solely by Jackson himself. The album Michael was released on December 14, 2010 in the United States. Since the album's release, Riley has become a controversial figure in Jackson's fanbase, insisting all the songs were sung by Jackson amidst controversy that several tracks were questioned.

On January 16, 2011, Aaron and Damion performed without Teddy at BET Honors in Washington DC. "Guy brought the audience to its feet with new-jack-swing-era hits Let's Chill and Groove Me." - The Washington Post. The performance at BET Honors became a trending topic on Twitter when it aired on February 21, 2011. The duo appeared again on February 17, 2011 on the TV One Black History Month special "Way Black When."

Teddy Riley produced the tracks "Believe" and "Flow" for the Twenty album of the R&B group Boyz II Men.