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Teddy Riley | |
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Born | October 8, 1967 |
Origin | Harlem, New York United States |
Genres | New jack swing Contemporary R&B Hip hop |
Occupations | Record producer Singer-songwriter Musician Performer Rapper |
Years active | 1984–present |
Labels | Interscope MCA |
Associated acts | Michael Jackson, Guy, Blackstreet, MC Hammer, Doug E. Fresh, Mike Posner, Girls' Generation, Jay Park, RaNia, EXO |
Edward Theodore Riley (born October 8, 1967), professionally known as Teddy Riley, is a Grammy Award winning, American singer-songwriter, musician, keyboardist, and record producer credited with the creation of the New Jack Swing.[1] Through his production work with Michael Jackson, Bobby Brown, Doug E. Fresh, Today, Keith Sweat, Heavy D., Usher, Jane Child, etc. and membership of the groups Guy and Blackstreet, Riley is credited with having a massive impact and seminal influence on the formation of contemporary R&B, hip-hop, soul, and pop since the 1980s.[2] Riley is reputed to be worth $80 million due to his productions."[3][4]
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Teddy Riley was raised in St. Nicholas Houses, Harlem, New York. Riley, a child prodigy since the age of 5, began playing instruments in the church. His uncle, who owned the famed Harlem club The Rooftop, built a studio in the club in which Riley would spend most of his time while growing up. By 14, upstart New York rappers began making music to his tracks. Under the guidance of local music producer Gene Griffin, Riley formed the short-lived group Kids At Work. At the age of 17, Riley produced Kool Moe Dee's 12" single, "Go See the Doctor".[1] Released on an independent label in 1986, the song became a crossover hit, reaching #89 on The Billboard Hot 100.[5] Riley had previously worked on the production of Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew's "The Show" in 1985.[6] His brother in law is popular R&B crooner Omar Chandler.
In 1987, Riley, Aaron Hall, and Timmy Gatling formed the R&B group Guy. Managed by Gene Griffin, Riley's work with Guy pioneered the New Jack Swing style of R&B, which had been showcased previously in Riley's productions for Keith Sweat (I Want Her), Johnny Kemp ("Just Got Paid"), Bobby Brown ("My Prerogative") and among others. Riley infused his own unique blend of hip-hop beats, R&B progressions and the Gospel vocal stylings of Hall to create the archetypal New jack swing sound on Guy's eponymous debut. In 1989, Riley produced Big Daddy Kane's "I Get The Job Done", as well as other work for The Jacksons, The Winans, James Ingram; he also created the highly successful remix of Jane Child, "Don't Wanna Fall in Love", which became a crossover pop smash.
After the release and tour of Guy's second album The Future, Riley co-produced half of Michael Jackson's album Dangerous, on the recommendation of Jackson's long-time producer Quincy Jones. Featuring the Riley co-produced singles "Remember the Time", "Jam", and "In the Closet", Dangerous remains the most successful New jack swing album of all time with 32 million copies sold.[7][8]
After the disbandment of Guy in 1992, Riley moved to production, performance on and promotion of Wreckx-N-Effect's second album Hard or Smooth. Based in Virginia by this time, Riley discovered The Neptunes who assisted production on Wreckx-N-Effect's smash hit single Rump Shaker.
In late 1992, Riley formed a second group, Blackstreet, with Chauncey Hannibal as lead singer. The group would go on to release several major hits, including "Don't Leave Me" (1997), the number one single "No Diggity" (1996, featuring Dr. Dre and Queen Pen), and "Girlfriend/Boyfriend" (1999, with Janet Jackson, Eve, and Ja Rule). By 2011, the group had disbanded and reformed several times.
In 2000, Riley worked on an album with Outsiderz 4 Life, producing "Wil' Out" and other songs.
At the start of 2006, he was part of the New Jack Reunion Tour, featuring Blackstreet and Guy, in addition to After 7, SWV, and Tony Toni Toné. In May 2006 Riley announced that he would be working on two key projects: a new Blackstreet album and a new Guy album.
In June 2008, a fire destroyed Riley's Virginia Beach recording studio. Fire investigators said that an electrical problem caused the blaze that burned the abandoned recording studio. The Virginia Beach Fire Department said lightning in the area also could have been a factor, although there was no direct strike. The empty studio was for sale and was insured for $336,000.[9]
In 2009, Riley performed with Guy at the BET Awards.[10] In the same year, Riley worked with Amerie and Robin Thicke on their respective albums. Leading on from his work on Snoop Dogg's album Ego Trippin' Riley became part of the production supergroup QDT, which features DJ Quik as well as Snoop Dogg. Teddy produced and co-wrote an album track "Teeth" with Lady Gaga for her EP The Fame Monster. Speaking in March 2010 to Blues & Soul's Pete Lewis - Riley said that he was no longer affiliated with Guy (Riley last performed with the group in October 2010). Riley also said that the current line-up of Blackstreet comprised himself, Chauncey Hannibal, Dave Hollister and Sherman 'J-Stylz' Tinsdale. He confirmed that he was working on a new Blackstreet album, though intended to release his own album - entitled 'TRX' - first. Artists he could possibly be working with for the project included Stevie Wonder, Elton John, plus his own new, upcoming acts.[3]. However, Hannibal, who is no longer performing with the group and the lineup is now Riley, Dave Hollister, & returning are Mark Middleton & Eric Williams.
As of 2012 Hannibal has returned to Blackstreet again & now Mark Middleton & Eric Williams are no longer involved. The group's lineup now consists of original members Riley, Hannibal, Hollister & newest member Glenn Adams aka Lenny Harold.
In an August 2010, co-executor of the Michael Jackson estate, John Branca, confirmed that a posthumous album of Michael Jackson would be released, containing work done in the previous five years with producers Neff-U, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and Riley himself, as well as work written and produced solely by Jackson himself. The album Michael was released on December 14, 2010 in the United States. Since the album's release, Riley has become a controversial figure in Jackson's fanbase, insisting all the songs were sung by Jackson amidst controversy that several tracks were questioned.
Adding fuel to the fire we're comments made in an interview with Dan Dodds (aka Soul Jones) earlier in the year where Riley suggested that there we're only elements, not fully produced songs from his work with Michael Jackson still left in the can. "They may use some elements from me, put together ideas but I haven’t been working on the new album" Riley is reported to have said. [2] He claimed that vocal processing was done which added artifacts to Jackson's voice. Riley has also expressed his belief that Jackson faked his death and is in hiding.
Recently, Riley has stepped into the Korean music market. Riley worked with singer/rapper Jay Park on an english track titled "Demon", which was originally meant for Michael Jackson.
Riley produced a mini album for the Korean girl group RaNia. Riley is one of the producers for Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, new debut solo album, Still Cool, as a solo producer and as a part of QDT, with DJ Quik and Snoop Dogg.[11][12][13] He produced the tracks "Believe" and "Flow" for the Twenty album of the R&B group Boyz II Men. He had also produced Korean girl group Girls' Generation's maxi single The Boys for the group's first international release. He has recently produced Korean/Chinese boy group EXO's prologue single "What Is Love".
Solo: Black Rock (Unreleased)
Guy: Guy discography
Blackstreet: Blackstreet discography
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Theodore "Teddy" Riley (10 May 1924 – 14 November 1992) was a jazz trumpet player and bandleader. On occasion he also sang and played flugelhorn.
Riley was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he would spend most of his career. His father Amos Riley (c. 1879 - 1925) was also a New Orleans trumpeter and bandleader.
Mostly known for playing jazz, he also worked and recorded with various Rhythm & Blues bands. Artists and groups he worked with included Louis Cottrell, Jr., Fats Domino, Champion Jack Dupree, The Dookie Chase Orchestra, Roy Brown's Band, The Onward Brass Band, The Olympia Brass Band, The Williams Brass Band, and The Royal Brass Band.
In 1971 Riley played on the cornet used by Louis Armstrong in his youth for the New Orleans ceremonies marking Armstrong's death.
He made a guest appearance on Wynton Marsalis' 1989 release "The Majesty of the Blues."
He performed both leading his own small band at hotels and clubs as well as in various brass bands until a couple of weeks before his death.
"Uptown Anthem" is a 1992 song by hip-hop group Naughty by Nature. It was made for the soundtrack for the movie Juice. NBN rapper Treach also had a cameo acting role in the movie. Rapper 2Pac is featured in the video. As well as NBN the soundtrack included songs from numerous other well-known hip-hop artists such as Eric B. & Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Too Short, Teddy Riley, EPMD, Salt-N-Pepa, and Cypress Hill. The song peaked at #27 on the Hot Rap Singles and #58 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart. It was also included as the final track on later releases of the group's 1991 self-titled album Naughty by Nature. The song is especially notable for its chorus, which goes "We gonna break/We gonna bash/We gonna roll/We gonna smash"
Jermaine Dupri sampled Uptown Anthem for the Jagged Edge track "Shady Girl" featured on the album Hard.
Late Rapper Tupac Shakur sampled the song for his "Intro/Bomb First (My Second Reply)".
Hey, you could smoke a spliff with a cliff
But there's still no mountain high enough, or wide enough to touch
The naughty nappy nasty nigga the nasty trashy hoe happy pappy
That's Happi to be Nappi
Me and Vin rock when spots hit flocks
And groups and troops with timbo boots and jail suits
That's how I'm rollin' my hair-do don't
Win I will I got wantin' competition ain't dope
Beat ya break ya broke ya smoke ya take ya
Send you to your little group on mute, sooner or later
You wanna flip, tell 'em full semi half with a dip
And all that other ringling brothers shit
Sporty naughty hi bye greater than nature while I
Shin slam the flim flim and then jam
You can run but you can't hide, you can't go far
No matter where you go, there you are
We gonna break, we gonna bash
We gonna roll, we gonna smash
We gonna break, we gonna bash
We gonna roll, we gonna smash
Here we go yo
Hit a nigga, kill a nigga will come back
See a sucker, stretch a sucker guard your naps
Cussin wasn't nothin' til a black man rapped
See a forty suck a forty, guess who's back
You're chillin' with a Teddy fillin' villian
Steppin' to the puny puddy punks catchin' fillings
I hit so many guts, call me gutter, I'm the bread and butter
Punk motherfucker I'll cut up, workin' from the gut up
Brand new steady, heavy as a Chevy
Ready for the piddy peddy, I'm Friddie Freddie
Place your bet on a vet, the three man threat
What you see is what you get
We gonna break, we gonna bash
We gonna roll, we gonna smash
We gonna break, we gonna bash
We gonna roll, we gonna smash
Comin' round your corner with my uptown bunch
I bet your bottom dollar that you're bottom buck chumps
Give it up, it's a juice thing, I'm steppin' for the rep and
Wreckin' all the rest and, weapon testin' on who's steppin'
Ain't no bluff for the niggy nuff, for the rugged ruff stuff
Nigga if you're tough knuckle up
I'll cut your ass like class, then blast you by the trash
After I laugh then I'll dash
You can't handle the scandal of an uptown vandal
Shootin' up your toes makin' sandals
Somebody told me that you owe me, but can't nobody hold me
I do my dirt all by my lonely
We gonna break, we gonna bash
We gonna roll, we gonna smash
We gonna break, we gonna bash
We gonna roll, we gonna smash
We gonna
We gonna
We gonna
We gonna
We gonna
We gonna
We gonna
We gonna
We gonna
We gonna