702 (group)

702
Album cover of the 1999 album 702
Background information
Origin	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Genres	R&B, pop, hip hop soul, urban
Years active	1995–2006
Labels	Biv Ten, Motown
Associated acts	Missy Elliott, Mia X, Mercedes (singer), Timbaland, Allusion, Silkk the Shocker, Michael Bivins, James ShoNuff Samuel
Past members	LeMisha Grinstead Irish Grinstead Kameelah Williams Orish Grinstead (deceased) Amelia Childs Cree Le'More

702 (pronounced "Seven-Oh-Two"), named after the area code of their hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada, was an American platinum-selling trio, with the final and most known line up consisting of: Kameelah Williams, Irish and LeMisha Grinstead. The group was originally a quartet with three sisters, twins Irish and Orish Grinstead (born June 2, 1980), LeMisha 'Misha' Grinstead (born June 10, 1978) and their cousin Amelia Childs whom featured on Subway's hit single "This Lil' Game We Play". After the exit of Amelia, friend Kameelah Williams joint the group signing with Motown records recording songs such as Steelo and Get It Together (702 song). Orish Grinstead (twin sister of Irish) then left the group even though vocals on the first released album No Doubt in 1996 which sold 500,000 copies in the United States. In 1999 the trio released the most associated 702 song called "Where My Girls At?" on the album 702 which gained a high level of success for the group selling 1,000,000 copies in the United States. Lead singer Kameelah then left the group in 2001 and was then replaced by Cree La'More. Even though the new line-up released a single called Pootie Tang for the Pootie Tang, Kameelah returned and replaced La'More, and released the album Star which is mostly remembered for the single "I Still Love You. The group then disbanded in 2006.

In Las Vegas, sisters LeMisha and Irish Grinstead were students at the Las Vegas Academy of Performing Arts. Irish, her twin sister Orish, and LeMisha occasionally sang in the lobby of Caesars Palace where they were discovered by actor/comedian Sinbad. He visited their home in order to convince their parents to send the trio to Atlanta for a convention and music competition. Though the girls missed the deadline for entry, Sinbad used his name to get them in. "Sweeta than Suga," as they were then called (Sinbad suggested the name), came in second in the competition. As the convention was nearing a close, they met Michael Bivins (of New Edition and Bell Biv DeVoe) who agreed to work with the sisters. They were briefly joined by their cousin Amelia Childs. The reconfigured group was christened "702," which is Las Vegas' area code, a name which Bivens suggested. After they made their recorded debut on Subway's hit single "This Lil' Game We Play", Amelia dropped out of the group and was replaced by Kameelah Williams who was a friend at the academy. After recording a few demos as a quartet including "Steelo", and "Get It Together", Orish decided to leave the group (even though her vocals appear on the first album). Bivins continued to work with different producers and songwriters to get the right feel for their first album.