Teddy Riley

Teddy Riley (born 1967) was one of the most important producers of the late 80s and early 90s, and is considered the father of the fusion of hip-hop and R&B that was called "New Jack Swing" and which spawned dozens of hits for such acts as New Edition and Riley's own groups, Guy and BLACKstreet.

Riley began his producing and recording career in the 1980s. His first group was called Kids At Work, which included future Guy member Timmy Gatling. The group was signed to CBS Records and released its self -titled album which included the single "Singin' Hey Yeah".

At the age of 15, he produced his first hit record "The Show/La Di Da Di" for rappers Doug E. Fresh and The Get Fresh Crew. Even bigger was his composition "Just Got Paid" for Johnny Kemp, which hit #1 on the Billboard R&B charts in the spring of 1988. His influence spread quickly, as he penned late 80s hits for Keith Sweat and Heavy D & the Boyz

Riley's fame in the musical world spiked with the release by former New Edition member Bobby Brown of the album Don't Be Cruel which included Riley's first major across-the-board smash, "My Prerogative."

In 1987, Riley teamed with Aaron Hall and Timmy Gatling to form the singing group Guy. Their self-titled album went platinum and spawned the hits "Groove Me," "Teddy's Jam" and "I Like." But his fame was more for his work with others and he helped create hits for such artists as Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Billy Ocean, Blondie, Stephanie Mills and the Winans. Guy returned in 1990 with The Future and the hits "Wanna Get With U" and "Let's Chill."

Riley formed his second band, Blackstreet, in 1992, and began another string of hits, the biggest of which were "Baby Be Mine, " "Booti Call" and the group's most memorable smash, "No Diggity".

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikepedia article Teddy Riley (Producer)