Ronnie DeVoe, Bobby Brown, Ricky Bell and Michael Bivins kick off their inaugural tour as RBRM this week, 24 years and several breakups and reunions after one of their biggest hits predicted this future.
Like the lyric “Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky and Mike …” from 1984 New Edition hit “Cool It Now,” those four former members of the vocal group have reunited and are kicking off their run at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario on Thursday, Sept. 6.
New Edition formed in the late ’70s but skyrocketed to fame in the MTV era of the ’80s with hits such as “Candy Girl,” “Mr. Telephone Man” and “Cool It Now.”
After Brown departed the group, which also included Ralph Tresvant, in 1985, he went on to a successful solo career as Johnny Gill replaced him in New Edition. Brown’s 1988 breakthrough album “Don’t Be Cruel” spawned the hits “My Prerogative,” and “Every Little Step,” among others, and made him a constant voice and face on pop radio and MTV.
And by the time New Edition went on hiatus, Bell, Bivins and DeVoe recorded as trio Bell Biv DeVoe and hit big in 1990 with their debut album “Poison” that made the title track, “Do Me!” and “B.B.D. (I Thought It Was Me)” equally inescapable.
Both Brown and Bell Biv Devoe helped define the New Jack Swing genre that straddled the line between R&B and hip-hop.
New Edition’s staying power was proven in 2017 when BET aired biopic miniseries “New Edition Story” as 30 million people tuned in. A follow-up, “The Bobby Brown Story,” which picks up the journey when Brown left the group, debuted on Tuesday, Sept. 4.
The RBRM shows will feature the group together onstage performing from the catalog of music between them.
“Come early, you don’t want to miss the intro,” Michael Bivins said. “We might even touch on a few New Edition songs as well.”
We caught up with the group after they wrapped up rehearsals in Ontario on Tuesday, Sept. 4. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Have you seen a surge in popularity since the miniseries aired?
Bell: There are always those New Edition die-hards in the age bracket of about 40-60 years old, but now when we are performing as Bobby and Bell Biv DeVoe — unfortunately we haven’t done shows as New Edition — since the release of “New Edition Story” we are seeing five and ten year-olds and the 16 and 17-year olds come out to the concerts so that “New Edition Story” opened us up to two, almost three, other generations of die-hard loyal fans.
Q: Were you surprised by the success of the miniseries?
Bivins: Yeah, I was. We knew we had a good story and we were more focused on how the story was going to be told and hoping they captured the essence of our personalities and our whole journey through the music industry, the balance of all of that. We didn’t really think about the numbers and how people were going to receive it or how well it was going to do.
Brown: We put in so much work in our lives we have been here for 35-some-odd years and we worked hard to be the gentlemen that we are and to perform the best every time we get onstage. Anytime we get onstage and see our friends and our crowd it’s an incentive for us to give more.
Q: How did the RBRM idea come together?
Bell: We did a show together and the show went well. We didn’t perform onstage together, we were just on the same bill. That was interesting and we always tossed around the idea of doing something and this was the option that was laid before us.
Brown: It was supposed to happen, because in the beginning when we did “Cool It Now,” Ralph said “Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky and Mike,” so this was set at that point and we are basically taking advantage of that one line. And we love being onstage together.
I go to their concerts when BBD comes around and I immediately want to jump onstage with them. And then when I am in any of their towns we all get together. So it was like, “Why not?”
Q: What’s it like performing now versus when you were younger?
Brown: I still feel like I am 14 when I get onstage and it’s all about fun and giving the crowd the best that we are. And we are entertainers and that’s why we got into this is because we like to entertain people. Of course there was the girls and the money, but it was more because we love to entertain. We love to see the smiles on people’s faces; we love that energy and all the energy from the crowd is everything we are going to push back at you.
Q: Do you think the Bruno Mars, Cardi B song “Finesse” will prime listeners for a wave of New Jack Swing music?
Brown: I feel with me being part of the New Jack Swing era, I feel that it’s the most positive thing that could happen to music right now. Because music has been going in a direction that hasn’t uplifted the children. It’s made children want to be bad boys or gangsters. What we did when we first started was we talked about love and love is the key to everything in life, so we want to bring back love. Bruno Mars did the right thing, he brought music back to the world that deserves it.
RBRM
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 6
Where: Citizens Business Bank Arena, 4000 East Ontario Center Parkway, Ontario
Tickets: $60-$200, plus fees
Information: 909-244-5500, cbbankarena.com.
