The chickens have come home to roost. The administrator and executor of
Rick James estate Ron Kramer is no more. A Los Angeles Supreme Court
judge has removed him from this postion. This is the person that temporarily
licensed the name Mary Jane Girls to VAL YOUNG.This was done after Rick
died and against his wishes.The numerous bad reviews speak for themselves.
I have heard that this excercise in futility is where it always belonged
"GONE". I expect to hear from those that are still in denial about how this
group (snicker) was formed, who sang for "Real" in the studio and on stage.
But, as some promotors and radio stations found out a name doesn't give
you talent.The Truth is the Truth

I don't know the whole situation but I think it's a shame that JoJo (the original lead singer) is touring with two new members,billing herself as "JoJo from the Mary Jane Girls",while the original members are touring with Val Young,who was never a member of the original group.This is silly and confusing.

Interestingly,the song "In My House" was originally written for Val but a Motown executive heard it and demanded that Rick give it to the Mary Jane Girls instead.

SoulAlive said:

Thr truth is that JoJo and famous session vocalist the Water Sisters
sang what you heard on the radio and bought. This was a BlackBox/Milli Vanilli
situation. The band sang for the other girls on stage and they couldn't
do The TonightShow and Saturday Night Live because of this.
In regards to the song "In My House" the truth is that Rick wrote and
recorded the song for himself first. He then gave it to Eddie Murphy and others.
Two years later Val was sent by Rick to JoJo's house and told to give her the demo. JoJo was already familar with the song as she was on stage during soundcheck when it was first created. No Motown Executive was involved.Please
consider the source which was Val Young.By the way why hasn't Val every toured
using her own music or had Rick feature on any of his tours. Food for thought!

Interesting stuff Truth, I'm a big Rick James fan so I pay attention to any info outta that camp.

All i know is that JOJO looks freaking HOT! I saw some recent performance clips of her at her shows doing some MJG stuff and she is looking super, curvy, Sexy, perfect.

But im not surprised with things like this, there is a similar issue going on with EXPOSE. They have been touring but are only allowed to do EXPOSE songs at the shows, they are not allowed to do any of their solo songs, which mainly affected Gioia who has 2 solo records and Jeannette Jurado who hads some solo stuff unreleased.

Yeah this story is becoming more interesting all the time. They seem to have
about as much drama going on now as klymaxx. All i know is JoJO was the only
voice behind the mary jane girls that really mattered anyway. So as far as
i'm concerned you could put michelle williams and the other 2 scabs that filled out the SWV lineup alongside coco behind JoJO and you would still have the mary jane girls. JoJO is the mary jane girls.

truth007 said:

I had heard that the Waters Sisters were the real voiced of the MJG back in the day on the radio. I think they are actually credited as bg's on teh ballads (as tehy are on Teena Marie's).

My question is this:

1. Did Jojo actually sing leads? Or was it one of the Waters women?

2. What did they do live? (I didn't 'understand the comment about the 'band singing for them'). Did they ever perform live?

lastdecember said:

I know what you mean I saw her in concert last year.She has a great body She wore a tight,body-hugging little dress that exposed more than it should,lol.She kept re-adjusting the dress,saying "I'm having a wardrobe malfunction".I love JoJo,she's got a good sense of humor.She performed with two other girls who were never part of the original group,but it was still a nice performance.



Well,in this case,it makes sense that they do their Expose stuff only.Does anyone even know their solo material?

Here's a clip from the show I mentioned.This is last year at one of our "Super Oldies" R&B concerts.It's JoJo performing "All Night Long"...look at that tiny dress she's wearing If you look closely,you'll see how she has to keep re-adjusting it.

phunkdaddy said:

I agree,JoJo was definitely the Mary Jane Girls.I do like "Jealousy" from the first album,though.Cheri sang lead on that one.

phunkdaddy said:

On the Only Four You album each of the other girls sang lead on at least one song. Now, I doubt anyone would want to hear Maxi's "Leather Queen" today, but without the other girls, those songs couldn't be done. I liked Candi's song "I Betcha".

GaryMF said:

JoJo sang the leads and backgrounds with the Water Sisters.This was done
for all the Mary Jane Girl projects.
The band sang for the other girls during live performance when they could
otherwise, the group had to declne the show ie "Tonight Show","Saturday Night".

truth007 said:

This is the part I don't quite get. You mean the guys playing the insruments (was it Stone City Band?) sang background in concerts and the other 3 girls just "faked it"?

I guess that made it obvious (i.e. male voices?) and that's why they couldn't do live TV shows? (rememer the days when SNL REQUIRED live performances? Hello JLO!)

WHen did MJG perform live anyway? I Never heard of them touring back in the day.

SoulAlive said:

Cool. Too bad they are singing to a track.

I wish the originals woudl just get it together and tour for real with a real band.


THey should tour with Klymaxx and Klymaxx could back them up and do their own set too.

SoulAlive said:

I like that one too.

GaryMF said:

Now that would be tha shit!

sextonseven said:

I like i betcha too especially the bass licks rick lay down. I know the other
girls sang an occasional song the albums but let's be real JoJo was the star
of this girl. She can saaang. I wanted to lick JoJo everytime i heard her sing ballads like all night long, on the inside, and my favorite shadow lover.

"Shadow Lover"

That song is GREAT! I wonder why it never became a single.

GaryMF said:

The Mary Jane Girls opened for Rick James on the 'Cold Blooded' Tour in the summer of 1983.Interestingly,during one of the L.A. shows on this tour,Prince caused a commotion when he appeared at the show! He was literally carried in by his bodyguard "Big Chick".The audience saw him and went crazy.This was during the Mary Jane Girls' opening set.He was obviously trying to distract the audience,and it worked.Later,Rick told a reporter that he didn't care about Prince's stunt."I don't mind",he said."Princess obviously came to learn from a pro".

Also,in 1996,I saw the Mary Jane Girls in concert at a nightclub in my city (Con Funk Shun also performed).It was three of the original girls,but Corvette wasn't there (as you know,Corvette is the one who replaced Cheri).As far as I can tell,the ladies were really singing.

.
[Edited 4/30/08 5:39am]

GaryMF said:

That would be a cool show!

lastdecember said:

Now you're talkin' about a full grown booty-tootin' woman.
A few years ago, I got to see her perform from backstage and with her wearing that short little skirt...man what a view.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431