Vocalgroups

For Real was a Grammy-nominated R&B / Soul quartet that formed in 1993.
The band released their debut album It's a Natural Thang with production from Brian McKnight on A&M Records in 1994, becoming a critical success, including a rare four stars from Rolling Stone Magazine. Almost since its formation in 1993, the four female members of the R&B group For Real were caught up in a whirlwind of activity. Their first single “Easy To Love" peaked at No. 65 on the Billboard Charts; the album did score two more chart hits that did better than the albums first “You Don't Know Nothin'" which peaked at No. 27 and “You Don't Wanna Miss" which hit No. 28; the album sold over 1,000,000 copies world-wide and peaked at No.80 on the Billboard Top 100. Before they scored chart success, for two and a half years, For Real tried to land a record deal but had no luck. When they finally did get signed, it happened by accident.

In 1995, the band appeared in Italian Vogue, in whose pages they modeled men's suits; toured alongside Stevie Wonder; lent their voices to a Martin Scorsese project and they also became actresses for a time, with appearances in the film “Shake, Rattle and Rock!". Towards the end of year, the band recorded a duet with Stevie Wonder called “Stubborn Kind Of Fellow", which appeared on the Marvin Gaye tribute album Inner City Blues: The Music Of Marvin Gaye.

Towards the end of 1996 they released the single “Like I Do" produced by Dallas Austin from their second album titled Free. The band thought it was their answer to what they called “counterfeit R&B" in an interview with Essence Magazine in 1996.

In January 1997 the band won an American Music Award for their work on the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack; in Summer 1997, the group earned a Soul Train Award nomination for Album Of The Year (By A Group, Band Or Duo) for “Free".

In 1999 Wendi Williams of For Real lent her voice to the Oscar nominated film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, with Halle Berry, in which Berry plays a singer but Wendi Williams is behind her singing voice.

In 2002, their song “Love Will Be Waiting At Home", appeared in the movie Two Can Play That Game that starred Vivica A. Fox & Morris Chestnut.
source: www.myspace.com/forreal4

1986

Josina Elder founds the R&B quartet For Real in Los Angeles.

(The names of the other ladies at this point are unknown to me; what I do know is that Latanyia and Necia are not members of the group yet.)

1992

For Real tries to land a record deal, having no success initially.
To their own surprise, things change rapidly after visiting the airport one day:

“We were picking up our manager from the airport," Miss Baldwin says.
“So we decided to greet him with an acappella song." Someone from A&M records just happened to be in the airport and heard them perform. Not long after, they were signed.

1993

The quartet line-up is now stable.
Members are:

Wendi Williams
LaTanyia Baldwin
Josina Elder
Necia Bray

They rehearse in a garage in Los Angeles. The ladies still attend school, or are having various jobs.
Wendi and Josina are nieces; Necia and LaTanyia auditioned for the group.

1994

March 22, A&M Records releases their debut album: It's A Natural Thang

A reviewer says:

Though they entered the market at a time when girl groups were a dime a dozen and poor promotion was a death sentence, For Real is definitely the real deal.
Covering musical styles from Zhané to The Jackson 5 to Miki Howard, Necia, T, Josina and Wendi exhibit exceptional skills and harmonies that easily put them in a class with En Vogue and Brownstone. One listen to the acapella “You Don't Know Nothin'" leaves no doubt that For Real's lack of recognition is through no fault of their own. Though this album doesn't have any real stand-out tracks, it makes for pleasant listening.

Three singles are being released too:

Easy To Love (the accompanying video clip was made by Jason Hess for ENS Productions, A&M Records;
see Youtube, or Youtube, or AllMusic )
You Don't Wanna Miss (movie: AllMusic or Youtube)
You Don't Know Nothin'

The clip accompanying You Don't Know Nothin' was made by the uncle of Necia, Kevin Bray. Remarkably, you can see Mervyn Warren (one of the composers) in the video (around 2:09). See: Youtube or: Youtube or: AllMusic
The song had been written by Hallerin Hill and Mervyn Warren.

The ladies appear in the movie Shake, Rattle and Rock! as the group “The Sirens", Latanyia being “Sireena".

August edition of VIBE contains an interview with them. An part from that interview:

When you first see For Real, it's like having double vision, twice. There they are, four short-hared, light-skinned honeys looking like fabulous quadruplets. And when they open their mouths and sing a cappella – as they recently did in the middle of a T.G.I. Friday's in Manhattan – the harmonizing sound is so thunderously angelic (and on-key) that it too seems manufactured. And that is exactly why the California-living, vegetarian-eating, no-alcohol-drinking, God-fearing sisters chose the name For Real.
As Josina, 27, will tell you, “For Real means real vocals." Necia, 20, adds, “We wrote 75 percent of the lyrics. A lot of the lyrics where from life experiences." Says LaTanyia, 25, “Our personalities are down-to-earth." Wendi, 28, concludes, “It's a natural thing."

A regular day for these women consist of working out, rehearsing, and having their own private time, which isn't easy. They live together in a five-bedroom, six-bathroom house in the San Fernando Valley.
As Necia explains it, “We take turns getting on each other's nerves. We know how to compromise, so that makes it a lot easier."
Josina adds, “We work, live, and play together, so we're like family."
Actually, Josina and Wendi are cousins. Josina was a member of the original For Real (with different members), Wendi joined after college, and Necia and LaTanyia auditioned four years ago. “We got compared with all the girl groups," says Necia. But like Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell once sang, “Ain't nothing like the real thing, baby."

Stevie Wonder asks the group to collaborate with him on his new album Conversation Peace.
Afterwards he asks them to join him at his “Natural Wonder" tour. They open for him and do occasional BGV's.

1995

In January they are still singing at the “Natural Wonder" tour. A newspaper article tells us that they're backup singers, and are singing one song a cappella.

This year, the song Freedom is released as a single. About the background of this single (source: wikipedia ):

The all-star recording of both the song and solemn black-and-white video for “Freedom" took place directly after the American Music Awards in 1995. According to its promotional single's liner notes, the song was a tribute to women of the past like Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Shirley Chisholm, and Angela Davis who played major roles in black resistance, as well as the empowerment of women of the present.
“Freedom" is a cover of a song originally performed by underground R&B singer Joi on her acclaimed 1994 album Pendulum Vibe. The song was re-recorded as the official theme for the award winning film Panther. The song was produced by Dallas Austin and Diamond D. The song featured female R&B singers, who at the time were popular acts in R&B and/or Pop music.

In October, album Inner City Blues – The Music of Marvin Gaye is released. Teaming up with Stevie Wonder, they perform the song Stubborn Kind Of Fellow (track 7).

In November, album Waiting To Exhale: Original Soundtrack is released. Track 14 is by For Real: Love Will Be Waiting At Home. (Youtube (audio only))

They appear in Italian Vogue, modeling men's suits.

1996

On 15 October, Rowdy Records (owned by R&B producer Dallas Austin) releases the second album: Free (distributed by Arista Records).
At the same time, single Like I Do is released (clip: AllMusic or Youtube)
Dallas Austin (the producer of the group) is the designer of this clip, in which he made the ladies appear in a 1960s black-and-white television program, wearing miniskirts and Afros.

This year the soundtrack of the movie Grace Of My Heart is put on the market too. For Real contributes to no less than three tracks:
4. I Do
8. Born To Love That Boy
10. Unwanted Number
They lend their voices to the movie itself too, and sing a lot more than the soundtrack gives us (namely: “Blues Ain't Nothin' But A Woman Crying For Her Man", “Nobody Knows the Way I Feel This Mornin'", “I Know", “God Give Me Strength" and “The Nitty Gritty").
This movie bears “Martin Scorsese" as executive producer, but writer and director is Allison Anders.

Together with Ron Spearman they manufacture the song Right Way, meant for the soundtrack of the movie Fled.

On the album In Ya Ear (Holiday 1996/1997) appear the For Real songs Remember (track 2) and Like I Do (No One's Gonna Love You) - Dallas Austin Remix (track 5).

On the album Christmas with The Boyz Choir of Harlem they contribute to track 4: Silent Night.

1997

In January, they win an American Music Award for their contribution to the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack.

In summer they are nominated for a Soul Train Award: Album Of The Year by A Group, Band Or Duo.

Clip “Like I Do" receives a Billboard nomination: Best R&B/Soul Clip.

January 11, they appear in Lou Rawls's 17th annual “Parade of Stars" show. This show raises money for the 40 private black colleges and universities, who are connected to The College Fund/UNCF.
Other celebrities in this show are (among others) The Isley Brothers, The Mighty Clouds of Joy and Take 6.

Two singles are being released this year: The Saddest Song I Ever Heard (Youtube), and Hold Me (Youtube).

1998

The album Free wins a Lady Of Soul Award: Album Of The Year (By A Group, Band Or Duo).

In 2006, they are keeping a MySpace page but we hear very little from them.

Amazon writes:
“For Real was just another female quartet that got lost in the New Jack Swing, Club/Dance, Urban mix, and suffered from lack of promotion like most groups did in the early to mid-90s."

Details: Written by Ton Schreuders; Published: 18 December 2010; Last Updated: 05 September 2020; Hits: 8402