Tha' Rayne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Tha' Rayne | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Country | United States |
| Years active | 2000-2005 |
| Genres | R&B |
| Labels | Divine Mill / Arista Records |
| Members | First spot : Quana (2000-05) Second spot : Yummy (2000-04) Deeyah (2004-05) Third spot : Tina J (2001) DJ Myche Luv (2002-03) DJ Qi (2003-04) DJ Myche Luv (2004-05)< |
Tha' Rayne was an American R&B singing girl group that was formed in 2000 and disbanded in summer 2005. Originally formed as a duet, comprising members Yummy Bingham and Shaquana "Quana"/"QT" Elam, Tha' Rayne then turned to a trio with the addition of a DJ.
It was founded in 2000 by super producer Kay Gee from Naughty By Nature who recruited the two up and coming solo singers who, at first, thought he would give them a solo deal and then discovered it would be for a girl group. The fact that Tha' Rayne was made of two solo vocalists determined the fact that there was never any lead singer in Tha' Rayne.
Tha' Rayne was signed in April 2001 by Arista Records's CEO Antonio "L.A." Reid. They put down their first cub anthem Rock Wit Me in April 2002, followed in July by other club smash No Love (that would be later covered by Jhene). While preparing their debut album, originally expected for an October 2002 release, Tha' Rayne collaborated this same year, with artists such as Boyz II Men, Jaheim, Queen Latifah, Midwikid and Next.
In August 2002, Kay Gee had the vision to create an R&B version of Salt-N-Pepa: the two original members of Tha' Rayne accepted to welcome a third member (a DJ), Michelle "DJ Myche Luv" Colon.
In Fall 2002, Tha' Rayne made a highlight appearance on Jaheim's hit single Fabulous that definitely put Tha' Rayne on the table.
In 2003, the group went through a change of the line-up with the departure of Michelle "DJ Myche Luv" Colon, who was replaced by Qiana "DJ Qi" Drew. Soon after, Tha' Rayne released it's official first single Didn't You Know (featuring Joe Budden and Lupe Fiasco), the first single making its way to the airwaves, impacting the Billboard R&B Top-75. It was produced by Rich Harrison but didn't get the buzz expected by the label, so their debut album Reign Supreme was delayed.
Tha' Rayne didn't have the opportunity to put down a new single: when Arista folded in early 2004 and Antonio "L.A." Reid got fired, a lot of his artists were dropped, including Tha' Rayne. The group then decided to split and each member to go solo.
Few months later, Kay Gee convinced original member Quana to reform the group around her with former member DJ Myche Luv and a new member named Hadiya aka Deeyah. The group definitely disbanded a year later in August 2005.
