Are there any fans of the singing group 3T? (For those who don't know they are a group consisted of Michael Jackson's three nephews Taj, Taryll and TJ, sons of Tito Jackson. They were huge (mainly) in Europe between around 1994-1997, second only in popularity to the Spice Girls.) I just can't get enough of these boys. I was a fan first time around, but due to their record company witholding their second album their publicity train lost momentum and they were kind of confined to the very niche market of Jackson fanatics.. I recently (last year) got back in to them after finding an old poster of them in my closet and after accessing 3t.com (pre MJs death) found a link to download their album 'Identity'. I just can't get enough of it, it's still got the soft, laidback r'n'b feel of the 'Brotherhood' album, but it's more mature and combines a much sleeker more modern sound along with their trademark soft harmomies.. I just can't understand why these boys go so unrecognised, the Jackson name is a curse as well as a blessing. The two singles from it- a jaunty cover of 'stuck on you' and the lead single 'sex appeal' (i believe) in production are far superior to similar music of that time (5 years ago) but were lost in the 'indie' explosion of that time. If you like the boys but you haven't heard 'Identity' check out 'the single 'They say' (itunes/amazon) from the identity album and see how their sound has evolved.. and if you arent sure of who they are then get a copy of 'Anything' and 'Why' (with Michael Jackson) and 'They say' and 'Stuck on you' and see what you think. I just love them. Is there anyone else out here who has heard the youtube audios of their individual work--especially of Taj.. his voice gives me goosebumps. Are there any other 3T fans in here?

[Edited 8/18/10 12:47pm]

I love Why and Tease Me which is one of the sexiest songs ever recorded.

g3121 said:

They were huge (mainly) in Europe between around 1994-1997, second only in popularity to the Spice Girls.)

What?

... uhm, what? I don't remember anyone even talking about them during those days. A few videos got played on TV, but it was mostly about the Michael Jackson connection in most people's eyes.

novabrkr said:

g3121 said:

They were huge (mainly) in Europe between around 1994-1997, second only in popularity to the Spice Girls.)

What?

... uhm, what? I don't remember anyone even talking about them during those days. A few videos got played on TV, but it was mostly about the Michael Jackson connection in most people's eyes.

I also don´t remember them being that huge. Just another act on TV.

I don't find it strange that sometimes bands aimed at teen audiences sell surprisingly many records and the rest of the public doesn't even really notice it. Statistical oddities are always possible. But 1994-1997 was when bands like Oasis were around and the record sales of Oasis were somewhere around 20+ million during that period. To claim that 3T would have been anywhere near that league sounds just silly.

g3121 said:

Are there any fans of the singing group 3T? (For those who don't know they are a group consisted of Michael Jackson's three nephews Taj, Taryll and TJ, sons of Tito Jackson. They were huge (mainly) in Europe between around 1994-1997, second only in popularity to the Spice Girls.) I just can't get enough of these boys. I was a fan first time around, but due to their record company witholding their second album their publicity train lost momentum and they were kind of confined to the very niche market of Jackson fanatics.. I recently (last year) got back in to them after finding an old poster of them in my closet and after accessing 3t.com (pre MJs death) found a link to download their album 'Identity'. I just can't get enough of it, it's still got the soft, laidback r'n'b feel of the 'Brotherhood' album, but it's more mature and combines a much sleeker more modern sound along with their trademark soft harmomies.. I just can't understand why these boys go so unrecognised, the Jackson name is a curse as well as a blessing. The two singles from it- a jaunty cover of 'stuck on you' and the lead single 'sex appeal' (i believe) in production are far superior to similar music of that time (5 years ago) but were lost in the 'indie' explosion of that time. If you like the boys but you haven't heard 'Identity' check out 'the single 'They say' (itunes/amazon) from the identity album and see how their sound has evolved.. and if you arent sure of who they are then get a copy of 'Anything' and 'Why' (with Michael Jackson) and 'They say' and 'Stuck on you' and see what you think. I just love them. Is there anyone else out here who has heard the youtube audios of their individual work--especially of Taj.. his voice gives me goosebumps. Are there any other 3T fans in here?

[Edited 8/18/10 12:47pm]

Y did U think I started the Jackson Family 4? 2 talk about everything Jackson, including 3T.

JabarR74 said:

g3121 said:

Are there any fans of the singing group 3T? (For those who don't know they are a group consisted of Michael Jackson's three nephews Taj, Taryll and TJ, sons of Tito Jackson. They were huge (mainly) in Europe between around 1994-1997, second only in popularity to the Spice Girls.) I just can't get enough of these boys. I was a fan first time around, but due to their record company witholding their second album their publicity train lost momentum and they were kind of confined to the very niche market of Jackson fanatics.. I recently (last year) got back in to them after finding an old poster of them in my closet and after accessing 3t.com (pre MJs death) found a link to download their album 'Identity'. I just can't get enough of it, it's still got the soft, laidback r'n'b feel of the 'Brotherhood' album, but it's more mature and combines a much sleeker more modern sound along with their trademark soft harmomies.. I just can't understand why these boys go so unrecognised, the Jackson name is a curse as well as a blessing. The two singles from it- a jaunty cover of 'stuck on you' and the lead single 'sex appeal' (i believe) in production are far superior to similar music of that time (5 years ago) but were lost in the 'indie' explosion of that time. If you like the boys but you haven't heard 'Identity' check out 'the single 'They say' (itunes/amazon) from the identity album and see how their sound has evolved.. and if you arent sure of who they are then get a copy of 'Anything' and 'Why' (with Michael Jackson) and 'They say' and 'Stuck on you' and see what you think. I just love them. Is there anyone else out here who has heard the youtube audios of their individual work--especially of Taj.. his voice gives me goosebumps. Are there any other 3T fans in here?

[Edited 8/18/10 12:47pm]

Y did U think I started the Jackson Family 4? 2 talk about everything Jackson, including 3T.

which is exactly why i started this thread, thats the problem, they might be related to MJ but they now stand on their own two feet and are a band on their own.

g3121 said:

JabarR74 said:

Y did U think I started the Jackson Family 4? 2 talk about everything Jackson, including 3T.

which is exactly why i started this thread, thats the problem, they might be related to MJ but they now stand on their own two feet and are a band on their own.

But, they're still part of the family.

I can't speak for anywhere else in the world, but 3T were HUGE here in the UK in the mid 90's.

I bought the album, and all the singles, as they came out. They all did very well as I recall - "Anything", "24/7", "Why", "I Need You" and "Gotta Be You" all had music videos that got a lot of rotation on TV. I remember them being on all the big shows here in the UK, and I even have a VHS somewhere where they were the guests for an entire 2-hour Saturday morning entertainment show.

I saw them perform live at the NEC here in Birmingham too, and it was a great show. I could be wrong but I think Tito was there playing guitar with them too.

That was in March of '97. That was an incredible year for me, as just 4 months after the 3T show I saw Michael live at Wembley, too, on the HIStory tour.

They sold 6 million albums. Given that the album apparently never even broke the Top 100 Billboard charts in the US, I would imagine that the vast majority of those sales were in Europe, and most of those European sales were here in the UK.

I notice that the OP, g3121 is also from the UK whereas dag and novabrkr are elsewhere in Europe, which kinda confirms my suspicions. They may have struggled to break any other markets, but yes, they were definitely BIG here in the UK.

[Edited 8/18/10 14:35pm]

People in Canada loved 3T too, at least those who were diehard r&b/hip hop fans living in urban areas and suburban areas that I was around during my junior high days. I remember a couple of girls listening to them at school. Some people I know still remember Anything, and I remember the other singles airing on Hit List on YTV, but not really going further than that at all. I had a couple of posters too but didn't put them up cause I wasn't allowed to until the room was painted despite having a big collection of everyone I loved that time (but I eventually rebelled and decorated it anyways)

I heard Gotta Be You at a club this year and didn't recognize it until the chorus cause it's been too long, I used to love that song. I knew some huge mj fans way before coming online to chat with them and they also were 3T supporters.

You got me pulling out my collection! LOL I haven't even touched this stuff since the 90's.

Militant said:

You got me pulling out my collection! LOL I haven't even touched this stuff since the 90's.

militant this post made my day!!! i have all this stuff and the brotherhood tour pass etc etc, im so glad you remember how huge they were here, i was beginning to think my memories of school were wrong! you saw them at the nec too? i got taken up there for a treat to see them, if its the night i went it was tito playing guitar, and they did their j-5 routine..i wish they were big again! you absolutely must check out the identity album!! x

/\ Yeah, I have the Identity record, pretty sure I downloaded it back in 2004 or so. It's pretty good, I like "Sex Appeal" a lot, and the cover of "Stuck On You".

Yeah, I remember the J5 routine for sure. There was only one NEC date wasn't there? So we were at the same show then

g3121 said:

Militant said:

You got me pulling out my collection! LOL I haven't even touched this stuff since the 90's.

militant this post made my day!!! i have all this stuff and the brotherhood tour pass etc etc, im so glad you remember how huge they were here, i was beginning to think my memories of school were wrong! you saw them at the nec too? i got taken up there for a treat to see them, if its the night i went it was tito playing guitar, and they did their j-5 routine..i wish they were big again! you absolutely must check out the identity album!! x

That is awesome! Random 3T question, did they re-record "Didn't Mean To Hurt You" - because

on the back of the "Why" single it says, "Didn't Mean To Hurt You 96" - and Free Willy came out

long before then? Was it re-record or just re-released? or was some of the production changed?

Anyone know?

Great thread BTW. I have lots of memories of listening to "Brotherhood" as a kid.

Love this song, the bass in it is so thick

Militant said:

You got me pulling out my collection! LOL I haven't even touched this stuff since the 90's.

This is cool

Identity was a pretty good album, but I wonder what the unreleased "Deja Vu" album sounded like

The problem when they came back with the Identity album was that they were going for the teen market but they were in their late 20s-early 30s, along with the album suffering from slightly poor production (some of the tracks sounded too....muffed)

Taryll's solo tracks from his site are good

novabrkr said:

g3121 said:

They were huge (mainly) in Europe between around 1994-1997, second only in popularity to the Spice Girls.)

What?

... uhm, what? I don't remember anyone even talking about them during those days. A few videos got played on TV, but it was mostly about the Michael Jackson connection in most people's eyes.

Yeah same here - I don't remember them AT ALL ... and I was 14 to 17 yrs old (in 94 to 97), so I knew all the popular bands at the time.

[Edited 8/18/10 23:24pm]

Heidi said:

novabrkr said:

What?

... uhm, what? I don't remember anyone even talking about them during those days. A few videos got played on TV, but it was mostly about the Michael Jackson connection in most people's eyes.

Yeah same here - I don't remember them AT ALL ... and I was 14 to 17 yrs old (in 94 to 97), so I knew all the popular bands at the time.

[Edited 8/18/10 23:24pm]

Again.... you are elsewhere in Europe.

Like I was saying... it seems like their biggest market was here in the UK.

As the OP was saying, they were one of the biggest acts here at the time alongside the likes of the Spice Girls.

I always loved Michael's adlibs at the end of "I Need You". They always made me laugh because 3T's vocal tones were quite light and smooth throughout the song and then MJ comes in right at the end all aggressive, "I NEED YA! OOOOH I WANT YA! COULDN'T LIVE A DAYYYYY WITHOUT YA! YEAH YEAH! AND YOU KNOW AND YOU KNOWWWWW I NEED YA! I WANT YA!"

LOL, check it out, Mike comes in at around 3 mins.

Well, you can tell they're family. That's all I've got so far

Only songs I know from them is "Anything", "Why" and "I Need You". Plus the lead singer, I think it's Taj, sounded too much like MJ/Jermaine.

Timmy84 said:

Only songs I know from them is "Anything", "Why" and "I Need You". Plus the lead singer, I think it's Taj, sounded too much like MJ/Jermaine.

You should check "24/7", that is a dope track.

There wasn't really a lead singer as I recall. The lead vocal duties were split pretty evenly between the songs.

[Edited 8/19/10 12:24pm]

Militant said:

Timmy84 said:

Only songs I know from them is "Anything", "Why" and "I Need You". Plus the lead singer, I think it's Taj, sounded too much like MJ/Jermaine.

You should check "24/7", that is a dope track.

There wasn't really a lead singer as I call. The vocal duties were split pretty evenly between the songs.

Cool I'll check it out later.

Militant said:

Heidi said:

Yeah same here - I don't remember them AT ALL ... and I was 14 to 17 yrs old (in 94 to 97), so I knew all the popular bands at the time.

[Edited 8/18/10 23:24pm]

Again.... you are elsewhere in Europe.

Like I was saying... it seems like their biggest market was here in the UK.

As the OP was saying, they were one of the biggest acts here at the time alongside the likes of the Spice Girls.

I always loved Michael's adlibs at the end of "I Need You". They always made me laugh because 3T's vocal tones were quite light and smooth throughout the song and then MJ comes in right at the end all aggressive, "I NEED YA! OOOOH I WANT YA! COULDN'T LIVE A DAYYYYY WITHOUT YA! YEAH YEAH! AND YOU KNOW AND YOU KNOWWWWW I NEED YA! I WANT YA!"

LOL, check it out, Mike comes in at around 3 mins.

It was like Michael ran in and pushed TJ and Taryll out of the way to get his part in

Timmy84 said:

Only songs I know from them is "Anything", "Why" and "I Need You". Plus the lead singer, I think it's Taj, sounded too much like MJ/Jermaine.

Well they are related.

babybugz said:

Timmy84 said:

Only songs I know from them is "Anything", "Why" and "I Need You". Plus the lead singer, I think it's Taj, sounded too much like MJ/Jermaine.

Well they are related.

No shit.

[Snip - luv4u]

Got their debut but its been many years since I played it. I do remember most of it though. And yes in the UK, "Anything" was a big hit at the time. I remember school dances playing that song LOL when I was around 11 or 12 years old.

"Anything" "Gotta be you" (one of Max Martins's earlier productions) Eric Carmens "I need you" (a cover?) and the title track were my favs. Gotta find it again, Thanks guys!