Jon Jon from Troop Last week I had the privilege of interviewing one of the most underappreciated R&B singers of our time. Yep, on the other end of the phone was the raspy-voiced baritone singer Jon Jon from the R&B/New Jack Swing group Troop!
Troop had five #1 singles on the R&B Billboard Charts back in the day, among them a brilliant cover of The Jackson 5's All I Do Is Think of You, Spread My Wings, and a cover of The Deele's song, Sweet November. In this edition of Straight From The Duggerman, I'll explain how I got in touch with Jon Jon and provide commentary on our conversation.
Troop had five #1 singles on the R&B Billboard Charts back in the day, among them a brilliant cover of The Jackson 5's All I Do Is Think of You, Spread My Wings, and a cover of The Deele's song, Sweet November. In this edition of Straight From The Duggerman, I'll explain how I got in touch with Jon Jon and provide commentary on our conversation.
The Beginning
I grew up listening to New Jack Swing. My parents owned a lot of those CDs, including Keith Sweat, Al B. Sure, Guy, Tevin Campbell, SWV, etc. When I got older, I realized that New Jack Swing was my favorite genre of music. That combination of hip hop rhythms and R&B melodies is a beautiful marriage. One of the best (and most underrated) New Jack Swing groups of all time is Troop. I've always liked their music but it wasn't until browsing youtube several years ago that I was reminded of how great these guys really are. In each and every performance, they put on a show. Not only were their moves memorable, but those guys gave every performance 110%. And it shows. I like their sound and their style. How can anyone not like performances like these?
If either of those performances failed to move you, you have no soul. LOL! I became a big fan. I listen to Troop all the time in my truck. How did I get to chat with Jon Jon, you ask? Here's what happened.
Imagine you randomly get a twitter notification like this one.
Imagine you randomly get a twitter notification like this one.
That's right. It was Jon Jon from Troop! I wasn't following him. In fact I didn't realize he was on twitter. It happened so randomly and I immedieatly followed back and told him how jealous I was of his singing voice and how his growling vocals gave Troop a real edge. He responded kindly. In fact, he appeared kind to all of his fans by interacting with them and retweeting. He was easy to talk to. I didn't detect the slightest bit of ego. I asked him if he'd mind doing an interview with me. His answer was a quick yes, and we exchanged contact info.
The Interview
If you listen to the interview above, you can tell easily that we had a good chat. I'm so used to interviewing celebrities that I don't get starstruck anymore. I can be myself 100%. I broke the ice by asking if I could join the group as a bass singer, which got a nice laugh. I also had him rolling with my hilarious impersonations of his singing. Honestly, I think as far as lead singers go, Jon Jon was the secret ingredient. Alan McNeil and Steve Russell are fantastic singers, but both are tenors. Jon Jon gave the band a mature, masculine energy in the same way that Johnny Gill does it for New Edition, or the way David Ruffin did it for The Tempations. Every singing group needs that raw gospel singer to round out their sound, and Jon Jon was that guy in Troop. He didn't get as many leads as he should have, but he always had a presence when he took the mic. Listen to him shine on You Take My Heart With You from the group's Deepa album.
I asked him everything I wanted to...questions about their superhuman dance routines, their future plans, influences, comparisons to New Edition, etc. He was really open and honest.
One thing I admire about Troop are the obvious Michael Jackson influences. One of their biggest hits was a cover of a Jackson 5 song, and their 1992 album, Deepa, has the same rhythmic/melodic flow of the New Jack Swing songs on Jackson's hard-hitting Dangerous album. While listening to the tracks on Deepa, you almost hold back waiting for Jackson's voice to appear at one time or another. Listen to tracks like Keep You Next To Me, She Blows My Mind and Strange Hotel and you can easily feel Jackson's spirit.
Apparently, The King of Pop's brother Tito felt the same way. According to Jon Jon, (who is friends with Tito's son Taj) Tito made his sons (3T) listen to Troop's entire music catalog before they started recording their first album, Brotherhood. That is quite a compliment. Another Jackson connection was the fact that Troop worked with some of MJ's cheorgraphers like Jeffrey Daniel. Listening to Troop's music, especially Attitude, Deepa and Sumthin Sumthin, takes me back to that golden New Jack Swing era when we had Soul For Real, Hi-Five, Jodeci, TLC, Bobby Brown and so many other talented R&B singers on the radio all the time. I like it when music takes you places, and no matter what Troop album you play, they do just that.
The biggest surprise to me during the interview was how open Jon Jon was about the band's current situation with former lead singer Alan McNeil, who goes by the name Al Mac these days. I noticed that Al Mac hadn't been performing with Troop for a number of years, but he sung on on the band's new single Forever, which was recorded and released last year. On the track, Al Mac opens and closes the song with his signature vocal riffs. So I thought he was back in the group. Personally I thought the song was so-so, but hearing all their voices on one song was magic, especially since every member got a chance to shine at one part or another. I actually thought this single was released to promote a long-awaited new Troop album, but no such luck.
But this goes to show how fans can never quite tell what drama is going on within a group at any given time. Apparently Al Mac had to be convinced to sing on Forever. "We had to fight tooth and nail to get him to record that song," Jon Jon said. Al Mac emailed his vocals to Steve Russell and was never in the studio with his former bandmates when they recorded Forever.
With hurt in his voice, Jon Jon also revealed that Al Mac made some bad choices and has been blackballed to a degree by the music industry. That sucks to hear. Wow. All groups go through rough patches like this one. I believe in time that Al Mac will be singing with Troop again someday. Heck, if The Temptations could do a reunion after all they went through, surely Troop can! It may not be soon that it happens, but I don't believe this is the end of Al Mac's association with the group.
Al Mac's voice is certainly missed during the live shows but as Jon Jon told me, the fans now get to hear more Jon Jon, which is a plus. I think it's a great idea for Jon Jon to sing Al Mac's old parts. A familiar voice is much easier to digest than that of a new member. A new member may be added to the group, so I hope Jon Jon took my inquiry about joining as a bass singer seriously. (Hint hint). LOL!!
I enjoyed my chat with Jon Jon and I'm glad he was open and fun to talk to. He retweeted our interview a few times and is really appreciative and interactive with his fans. I hope to meet Troop in person when they perform in Nashville. I'll make sure I'm there to cover the show for The Tennessee Tribune. Until then, I'll "spread my wings" and see you in "Sweet November."
I asked him everything I wanted to...questions about their superhuman dance routines, their future plans, influences, comparisons to New Edition, etc. He was really open and honest.
One thing I admire about Troop are the obvious Michael Jackson influences. One of their biggest hits was a cover of a Jackson 5 song, and their 1992 album, Deepa, has the same rhythmic/melodic flow of the New Jack Swing songs on Jackson's hard-hitting Dangerous album. While listening to the tracks on Deepa, you almost hold back waiting for Jackson's voice to appear at one time or another. Listen to tracks like Keep You Next To Me, She Blows My Mind and Strange Hotel and you can easily feel Jackson's spirit.
Apparently, The King of Pop's brother Tito felt the same way. According to Jon Jon, (who is friends with Tito's son Taj) Tito made his sons (3T) listen to Troop's entire music catalog before they started recording their first album, Brotherhood. That is quite a compliment. Another Jackson connection was the fact that Troop worked with some of MJ's cheorgraphers like Jeffrey Daniel. Listening to Troop's music, especially Attitude, Deepa and Sumthin Sumthin, takes me back to that golden New Jack Swing era when we had Soul For Real, Hi-Five, Jodeci, TLC, Bobby Brown and so many other talented R&B singers on the radio all the time. I like it when music takes you places, and no matter what Troop album you play, they do just that.
The biggest surprise to me during the interview was how open Jon Jon was about the band's current situation with former lead singer Alan McNeil, who goes by the name Al Mac these days. I noticed that Al Mac hadn't been performing with Troop for a number of years, but he sung on on the band's new single Forever, which was recorded and released last year. On the track, Al Mac opens and closes the song with his signature vocal riffs. So I thought he was back in the group. Personally I thought the song was so-so, but hearing all their voices on one song was magic, especially since every member got a chance to shine at one part or another. I actually thought this single was released to promote a long-awaited new Troop album, but no such luck.
But this goes to show how fans can never quite tell what drama is going on within a group at any given time. Apparently Al Mac had to be convinced to sing on Forever. "We had to fight tooth and nail to get him to record that song," Jon Jon said. Al Mac emailed his vocals to Steve Russell and was never in the studio with his former bandmates when they recorded Forever.
With hurt in his voice, Jon Jon also revealed that Al Mac made some bad choices and has been blackballed to a degree by the music industry. That sucks to hear. Wow. All groups go through rough patches like this one. I believe in time that Al Mac will be singing with Troop again someday. Heck, if The Temptations could do a reunion after all they went through, surely Troop can! It may not be soon that it happens, but I don't believe this is the end of Al Mac's association with the group.
Al Mac's voice is certainly missed during the live shows but as Jon Jon told me, the fans now get to hear more Jon Jon, which is a plus. I think it's a great idea for Jon Jon to sing Al Mac's old parts. A familiar voice is much easier to digest than that of a new member. A new member may be added to the group, so I hope Jon Jon took my inquiry about joining as a bass singer seriously. (Hint hint). LOL!!
I enjoyed my chat with Jon Jon and I'm glad he was open and fun to talk to. He retweeted our interview a few times and is really appreciative and interactive with his fans. I hope to meet Troop in person when they perform in Nashville. I'll make sure I'm there to cover the show for The Tennessee Tribune. Until then, I'll "spread my wings" and see you in "Sweet November."
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