|  from www.vh1.com/ Edward Theodore Riley, 8 October 1967, Harlem, New York, USA. Widely regarded as not only the originator, but the motivating force behind "new jack swing", Riley remains arguably the most successful and revered producer in modern soul music. Riley's origins were in the R&B group Kids At Work, and his stepfather was Gene Griffin, who released one of the earliest rap tracks with Trickeration's "Rap, Bounce, Rollerskate". "New jack swing", or swingbeat as it is also called, represented a fusion of hip-hop beats and soul vocals which together created a more upfront-style of R&B. Riley revolutionised the R&B charts in the late 80s through his work with pioneering swingbeat artists such as Keith Sweat, Bobby Brown and his own trio, Guy, although the genre soon attracted ridicule as more and more major-label clones clogged up the charts. Riley's remixing and production credits have also included work with Jodeci, Mary J. Blige, DJ Jazzy Jeff And The Fresh Prince, Wreckx-N-Effect, James Ingram and Michael Jackson, and he has completed soundtrack work on prominent movies such as New Jack City and Do The Right Thing. He returned to the band format in 1994 with the highly successful BLACKstreet, which also boasted Chauncey "Black" Hannibal, Levi Little (bass/guitar/keyboards) and Dave Hollister. The band hit a commercial and creative high point in 1996 with the Grammy-award winning single, "No Diggity". |
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