K-Ci (b. Cedric Hailey, 2 September 1969, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA) and JoJo (b. Joel Hailey, 10 June 1971, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA). The Hailey brothers were founder members of Jodeci, the sexually provocative swingbeat outfit who enjoyed several US chart hits during the mid-90s, including ‘Come & Talk To Me’, ‘Lately’ and ‘Cry For You’. The duo featured prominently on 2Pac’s number 1 single ‘How Do U Want It’ in summer 1996, before breaking away from Jodeci with the release of their debut single, ‘How Could You’. Love Always, released in June 1997, was a strong collection of modern R&B songs, which showcased the brothers’ superb voices and lyrical nous. The album, which reached the US Top 10 and went multi-platinum, included April 1998’s chart-topping single ‘All My Life’. The duo repeated the debut album’s winning formula on 1999’s It’s Real, mixing sultry ballads that dealt with highly emotional subject matter such as infidelity (‘Fee Fie Foe Fum’) and betrayal (‘Makin’ Me Say Goodbye’), with sexually charged dance numbers such as ‘I Wanna Make Love To You’. The album went platinum within two weeks of release, and the single ‘Tell Me It’s Real’ reached US number 2 in August. X and Emotional were less successful, with the latter in particular veering too far into smooth R&B territory.
