What artists do you think should've been HUGE, but aren't?
The first person that comes to mind for me is RES.

Adriana Evans
Brigette McWilliams

Jermaine Jackson,Junior,Bob Marley(He wasn't even a Quarter as Big Alive as Over Half since He Passed)New Edition(all them Acts they Spun off&it never was in the Cards as a Group IMHO)Stacy Lattisaw,Mandrill,Shuggie Ottis,Junie Morrison,Michael Mcdonald,Bobby Womack(Ask Him&He will tell you?)DJ Quik,Bunny Sigler,Randy Crawford,Diane Reeves,O'Bryan,Frankie Beverly&Maze,Stone City Band,Steve Arrington,Charlie Wilson,&a ton of others

My first thought was Cece Penniston (did I spell that right?). She had a few hits, my personal favorite being, "Finally"...and then she faded from view. She had a great voice and I always thought she should have been a superstar.

On the Prince tip, I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for Rosie Gaines to bust down the doors and show folks how she can outdo Aretha! Alas, it hasn't happened. She has the voice, but her material has been really lacking.

On the men side, I thought Genuwine (did I spell that right?) should have been the ultimate artist. He can sing like Michael Jackson when he wants; he can dance like Michael; and he's good looking. However, he doesn't have his own sound. I'm always like "That was Genuwine?!?" when I hear his songs on the radio. He's not distinctive enough. However, as a performer he's stellar. I saw him on some awards show and he was dancing with a mop or a broom doing all these acrobatic moves and I was astonished...completely floored. Yet, he has not managed to generate much buzz and he's been surpassed by Usher, Sisqo and others that I consider to be lightweights in comparison.

p3r1i9nce said:

CeCe was hot around the Early 90's House,Disco/Club Circa&never escaped that Scene&the Material on Her Follow-Up stuff just didn't have a enough Muscle to last.Rosie Gaines:part of that Association tag that has Killed alot of Careers with Purple Association.never had Top Notch Material overall&there were alot of Female Singers in Her Musicl Range as well.more Studio Side Act that ever gonna Blow Up.Genuwine: light Weight Vocally&He never sounded like any Michael Jackson that I know except on a Sick Day? He was a 90's Carry over on the MJ/Prince/Bobby Brown tip which got Burried behind Timberland's production.the Best thing I can say about Him is that He is almost 4 Albums deep&still around unlike Sisqo who has faded.Genuwine can Dance no doubt but a Marginal Talent at Best IMHO.

CeCe Peniston for sure!!! I wish she would do an album that explored Jazz, Soul, House or Rock. That woman really has a bitchin voice.

p3r1i9nce said:

Put 'em up: WE ARE ABOUT 2 FIGHT!!!
I mean, yes, Im a Ginuwine fan but I got tired of hearing his whiny songs on the radio...HE WHINES TOO MUCH IN HIS SONGS!!! Usher? pleeze, don care bout him..SISQO??? Now that boy can sang!!! Make no mistake bout that fact
BTW, Sisqo had mentioned something when his first album was out about him, Ginuwine, Tyrese and Usher forming a supergroup and touring... they didnt obviously because of Usher being so frikkin conceited
And the artist I think that should have blown up musically is: Taral Hicks..she had a bangin song that came out & it was selling 4 a good minute!

mistermaxxx said:

There's a name I haven't heard in a long time.

Dancing feet, dancing in the key of life...

Let me add, Tevin Campbell, The Family, Shaunice, Randy Jackson, Rebbie Jackson, Tierra, Robbie Neville, Scritti Politti, Georgio, Andre Cymone and Martika.

June7 said:

oh His Style got Jacked like Crazy.Very Talented One-Man Band I Might add as well&Could Sing His Ass off as well."Nobody can be you but you"

June7 said:

1)Tevin I'll Give you.had all the Ingrediants at being a Big Star except a Great Album&His Image hurt Him,2)The Family: too much Prince to truly know what they had.St Paul though is a Badd Ass Talent but never got His Light.3)Shanice Wilson: Loved Her First Album with Bryon Loren but after that She aside from "Your Smile"&a Couple other Songs She got turned into a Janet CLone&Never Recovered.She had a Nice range&looked Good as well.4)Randy Jackson I Agree Very Underrated Cat&very Talented.5)Rebbie:Good Voice but not enough drive at wanting to make it IMHO.6)Tierra were to close to Taveras Territory in Sound&Style to Seperate themselves IMHO.7)Robbie Neville:as a Songwriter yeah but as a Artist?Naw.8)Scritti Politti:Yeah I enjoyed there vibe but I don't know how they would have done with the changing 90's vibe&styles??9)Georgio:HA!HA! catchy for His Time of 15 minutes IMHO.10)Andre Cymone Yeah if He went after the Funk because Peeps were feeling His stuff with Jody&other R&B Acts He worked with.11)Martika Hit&Miss Act which never got a chance to develop because the Record Company wanted a Debbie Gibson or a Tiffany&since She was neither&Worked with Prince She Vanished.

I wish Justin Timberlake would blow up...

End.

Mayte.

In the hands of another producer, Mayte could have been a huge star.

Mayte had the Latin vibe and belly dancing thing going on long before Shakira or J Lo came on the scene.

GoldNigga said:

She most likely still got a chance...

I think she would be nice in acting also because she has a charming persona, but she would have to work on it so she wouldn't be type cast if she wants to be seen as really good. If she can sing, she should start moving real soon!
[This message was edited Fri Feb 14 22:24:46 PST 2003 by Starmist7]

The Pharcyde...classic two albums... but after that they kinda went downhill

Bilal. This is the most talented musician/singer/song writer out there. Just listen to any of his songs. I'm not even telling anyone to go buy it. Ask someone to borrow it. I think his song "When will you call" is the ultimate remake of "How come you don't call me anymore". Even if it's not a remake.

I feel that Jesse Powell and Chante Moore are

underrated in the R&B scene. They have some incredible

voices, but in a way that's kind of good so people like me

can appreciate their talent and not their celebrity.

Biscuit said:

Jesse Powell kind of reminds me of Tevin Campbell but just didn't get pushed from his Record Cmpany enough&His Material was Hit&Miss for the most part IMHO.Chante Moore I truly dug Her First two Albums on Silas Records but after that She became a Formula Product Artist&hasn't been Handled Properly as a Artist IMHO.

Urge Overkill - One of the mysteries of 90's rock music was how this band didn't make it big. Saturation was the best alt.rock album of the decade. They had a Top 10 hit with Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon which was in Pulp Fiction and then when you thought stardom was gonna come, it never did. Unbelievable.

Redd Kross - If one band ever managed to take the influence of The Beatles and twist it into something totally unique it was these guys. Pop songs even Macca would've died for. In many ways they were like the Ramones. Every cited their influence and commented on how great they were but no one bought their records! A real pity as we now have The Vines doing a 10th rate impression of them.

Kelis - I hope this isn't premature but this woman should be huge. Shes got a wicked imagination and really strong material to back it up. She also looks fantastic. I really hope her third album does the biz and breaks her as she deserves it.

Johnny Gill. Never understood why he had to join forces with New Addition. With a voice like that, shouldn't he be as big as Luther Vandross?

Brownstone, was hot for a minute, then *POOF!* I thought they were going to be large.
[This message was edited Sat Feb 15 5:30:50 PST 2003 by UptownDeb]

Nikka Costa, not nearly as huge as she should be.

look below
[This message was edited Sat Feb 15 10:40:40 PST 2003 by JANFAN4L]

I Listen to so many artists that nobody has ever heard of I think that these artists are "Artists Who Should Have Blown Up..But Haven't YET"

Billy Lawrence
Kelis (I remember back in '99 I was like, yall gotta check for Kelis and the Neptunes they are going to be the next big thing -- nobody believed me. Now the Neptunes are ALL you hear on the radio. I was true about Neptunes, now I hope Kelis will come through in '03)
Kenna
Caron Wheeler ("Beach of the War Goddess," an untouched gem)
Tori Fixx
Grand Puba ("2000" was the shh!)
Sadat X
Latrelle
Tonya Blount
Chantay Savage
Y?NVee
Krush
Amel Larrieux
Dionne Farris ("Passion" is one of the best songs I've ever heard in my young life, she needs to blow up)
Joan Armatrading (love her to death)
Angela Bofill
Queen Latifah (I know she's big in the movies and on TV, but people need to shine more spotlight on her musical talent..."Black Reign" is one of my favorite albums of all time.)
Ari Gold
Olu
Inoj
Res
Brownstone
Jazzhole
Anti-Pop Consortium
Rah Digga
Des'ree
Shanice
Alana Davis
All Natural
Dwayne Wiggins
Karyn White
Rachelle Ferrell
Les Nubians
Simply Red
Unspoken Heard
Grenique
N'Dea Davenport
Adriana Evans
Backroom Matches
Dutchboy
K'Alyn
Cree Summer
Ephraim Lewis (too bad he died before he could blow up)
Darius Rucker (solo)
[This message was edited Sat Feb 15 10:50:25 PST 2003 by JANFAN4L]

Jade said:

NIKKA COSTA!!!

Starmist7 said:

Mayte is almost 30 years old and still looking for someone to give her yet another "chance."

She has been given more chances than most people ever get in their lifetime. Mayte had her own dance company, has released CDs, danced on stages all over the world, appeared in videos seen all over the world, has had posters and merchandise with her image, appeared on the cover of magazines, and was once part of the Paisley camp, then the N'Sync/Britney camp, and now the Tommy Lee rock camp.

If somebody has been given all those opportunities, and they still don't have a show biz career, it may be time to just admit that the person just doesn't have what it takes to make it.

Batdance said:

Very true

JanFan4L:

Interesting list. Some of those people I've never heard of. I agree about:

Billy Lawrence: What DID ever happen to her?? She just disappeared!

Amel Larrieux: She's awesome! You should check out her website. She actually posts there. I think I remember her saying something about having problems on the business end of things, so maybe that's why we haven't heard anything else from her.

Les Nubians: Just checked out their website. They have a new one coming out soon. Look for it.

Mel'isa Morgan & Miki Howard-These 2 bad ass soul sistas could've bone big along with Mariah and Whitney. Mel'isa's "Love Changes" with Kashif and Miki Howard's "Come Share My Love" can put them RnB fools 2day on shame if they sang that 2day with new arrangments.

Billie Holiday-She wasn't big and didn't get any dues till she passed out. Love that mad lady.

Teddy Wilson-One of my fave pianist,,he used 2 lead Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday's bands and he could play the paino sooo beautifuly.

Patrice Rushen-Maaann,,that chic is bad bad bad on them keys.

Angela Winbush-I saw her last year pre4ming "My 1st Love" woth Avant in BET and youngsters were like "Who the hell is that woman who's trying 2 sing like Keke?". A very good keyboardist and a producer and a DAMN GOOD vocalist too. Wish she could comeback with a killer CD.

Nicole Renee-The FEMALE PRINCE,,,she was a host in BET TEEN SUMMIT and when Vibe wrote about her LP back in 98 I thought she's another Miss Jones trying to put an LP but when I bought it I was blown away. A cool musician, a cool vocalist(very princely like) and a damn good lyricsit.

Carla Thomas-What a voice, what a beauty, what a personality. One of the very underrated 60's soul singer with a very unique talent. Mary J is kinda the modern day Carla Thomas.

Alot 2 be mentioned,,,

Harlepolis said:

do you Ever read Mojo Magazine? they have Artists pick what they are currently digging or have dug in the Past&Carla Thomas was one of the musical Artists Selected to give Her Picks.She said that currently She digs Joe&Babyface.ral cool read.Great Picks you picked.like Lady Day I feel it took Bob Marley to Die to finally be acknowledged fully.Love your Posts&think you are Cool Always.dig you over at the Forum as well.Peace

JANFAN4L said:

Joan Armatrading - I'm with you.

Simply Red - Huge in the UK, five no. 1's, two no.2's and one no.6. Albums that is.
[This message was edited Sat Feb 15 12:16:21 PST 2003 by Cloudbuster]