Blaque ( ) is an American girl group; they had songs chart from 1999 to 2004. Outside of the United States and Canada, they are known as Blaque Ivory. Their self-titled debut album Blaque sold more than 1 million copies and was certified Platinum. The group's debut included the platinum-selling lead single "808"; a second single, "I Do"; and the international pop hit "Bring It All to Me". In 1999, Billboard named Blaque the 4th Best New Artist of the year, with "Bring It All to Me" landing at number 30 on the 2000 Year End Chart. In 2002 and 2003, the group released three less successful singles, "Can't Get It Back", "Ugly", and "I'm Good", the latter appearing in the film Honey.
Blaque worked on two unreleased albums in the mid-to-late 2000s before they disbanded in 2008. The group attempted a comeback in 2012, but it was cut short by Natina Reed's accidental death. In 2019, Blaque's intended third album Torch was released under the label Blaque/The Move Entertainment.
History
1994–1996: Early beginnings
In 1994, Shamari Fears formed her first girl group with a rotation of members, including Atlanta high school classmate Natina Reed. They soon met a producer, who was looking for an urban country singing act and took them under his wings, In the meantime, he was looking for "an outlet" for Reed, who suggested that he make her part of a new girl group and asked Fears to join the group. Blaque also performed as one of the opening acts for TLC's FanMail Tour later that year. In 2000, the group starred as cheerleaders in the film Bring It On and went to the studio and recorded the Shelly Peiken and Guy Roche song "As If" for the soundtrack that same year. A remixed version of the Blaque song "Bring It All To Me" appeared in the film, with added rapping by 50 Cent.
2001–2002: Blaque Out
While their self-titled debut album went platinum, the second album called Blaque Out, which was set for release in 2001, was shelved as the group was dropped from Columbia Records for unknown reasons. The video for the first single "Can't Get It Back" was never released. The album was soon leaked on the Internet. After Lopes' death in a car crash in Honduras on April 25, 2002, the group signed with Elektra Records. They began work on their third album after Reed gave birth to a son. An alternate version of the shelved album was released to iTunes on May 22, 2007, but was later taken down. In December 2011, Blaque Out was released back onto iTunes.
2005–2012: Reunion and Reed's death
Fears was signed to Darkchild Records in 2005. Williams also signed a new record deal and started working on a solo album. She also provided vocals on the hook of Nelly's single "Grillz". In 2005, Blaque came back together to record their studio album Private Show (originally titled Beauty). They worked on the album sporadically from 2005 to 2009. Blaque agreed to film a show Blaque In the House set to air in the summer of 2008; however, the show was never picked up, and the album went unreleased. Blaque released four songs on YouTube: "Cut You Off", "All Nighter", "Blue Jeans" and "High Definition" before they decided to disband.
On July 28, 2012, Blaque reunited for the Left Eye Music Festival in Decatur near northeast Atlanta. At the event, Blaque performed their single "808". Shortly after, the group contracted with artist manager Inga "Nandi" Willis, and started working on an album and a reality television show. Reed died on October 26, 2012, after being hit by a car near Atlanta. The group broke up shortly after her death. Months later, "Cut You Off", a song intended for their album, leaked via the internet.
2013–2019: Torch, change in lineup
Blaque's intended third album, Torch, featured Missy Elliott, songwriter Linda Perry, and producer Rodney Jerkins. The intended single "Blackout" was derided as being a "rip-off" of 50 Cent's song "In da Club".<!-- Ganksta vs Wanksta -->
Torch was scheduled to be released exclusively to iTunes in 2008, nearly five years after its completion by Music World Entertainment, but that was canceled. It has been confirmed that Mathew Knowles owns the rights to the albums Torch and Blaque Out. On May 31, 2019, Blaque released Torch under the label Blaque/The Move Entertainment.
Other media
In addition to being in music, Reed, Fears, and Williams appeared in the 2000 film Bring It On as members of the East Compton Clovers cheerleading squad, fronted by Gabrielle Union.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Date
!City
!Country
!Venue
|-
|May 3
|Chicago
| rowspan="6" |United States
|River Oaks Center
|-
|May 5
|Boston
|Square One Mall
|-
|May 6
|New York City
|Willowbrook Mall
|-
|May 7
|Washington, D.C.
|Landmark Mall
|-
|May 13
|San Francisco
|Bayfair Mall
|-
|May 15
|Los Angeles
|Westminster Mall
|}
Opening Act
- NSYNC in Concert (1999)
- TLC: FanMail Tour (1999)
Awards and nominations
MTV Video Music Awards
{| class="wikitable"
!align="left"|Year
! style="text-align:center;"|Result
! style="text-align:center;"|Category
|-
|align="left"|2000
| style="text-align:center;"|Nominated
|align="left"|Best Editing In A Video <br /> For: "I Do"
|}
BET Awards
{| class="wikitable"
!align="left"|Year
! style="text-align:center;"|Result
! style="text-align:center;"|Category
|-
|align="left"|2001
| style="text-align:center;"|Nominated
|align="left"|Best Female Group <br /> For: "Blaque"
|}
Soul Train Lady Of Soul Awards
{| class="wikitable"
!align="left"|Year
! style="text-align:center;"|Result
! style="text-align:center;"|Category
|-
|align="left"|1999
| style="text-align:center;"|Nominated
|align="left"|Best R&B/Soul Or Rap New Artist <br /> For: "808"
|-
|align="left"|2000
| style="text-align:center;"|Nominated
|align="left"|R&B/Soul Album Of The Year, Group, Band Or Duo <br /> For: "Blaque"
|}
Billboard Video Awards
{| class="wikitable"
!align="left"|Year
! style="text-align:center;"|Result
! style="text-align:center;"|Category
|-
|align="left"|2000
| style="text-align:center;"|Won
|align="left"|Best New Artist-R&B <br /> For: "Bring It All To Me"
|}
Filmography
Films
- 1999: Soul Train (cameo)
- 1999: Motown Live (cameo)
- 2000: Bring It On
- 2000: All That (cameo)
- 2000: Disney's 2 Hour Tour (cameo)
- 2002: V.I.P. (cameo)
- 2003: Honey (cameo)
- 2020: Say Yes To The Dress: Atlanta (cameo)
Notes
References
External links
- Blaque on Facebook
- Blaque on Twitter