Guy

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Guy is an American R&B group founded in 1987 by Teddy Riley, Aaron Hall and Timmy Gatling. Riley and Gatling grew up in Harlem in New York, in households where a great deal of music was made, inspired by groups of the late 1970s such as the Gap Band, Earth, Wind & Fire and the Jacksons. They played from an early age in local bands for audiences aged twelve to twenty. After the first album Damion Hall, Aaron's younger brother, took Gatling's place.

Music and breakthrough

The debut album Guy appeared in 1988, sold more than a million copies and went double platinum. It includes Groove Me. The Future followed in 1990 and Guy III in 2000. Guy is regarded as the pioneer of new jack swing, a style that was worked out and popularised by Riley.

Influence

New jack swing combines the singing of soul and R&B with the hard rhythms and samples of hip hop. The drum machine is up front, the singing is full and soulful, and the beat is tight and danceable. Guy showed that in the late 1980s soul could sound like the street and the club, and Teddy Riley would go on, as a producer, to shape that style for others too. The group belongs to the roots of what later became mainstream R&B.

Listening

• 
  Groove Me · Guy, 1988
  Apple Music ↗

Discography

Studio albums

• 1988Guy
• 1990The Future
• 2000Guy III

See also

• Guy