Jade (American band)

Jade
Origin	Chicago, Illinois, United States
Genres	New jack swing, soul, hip hop soul
Years active	1991–1997; 2014-present
Labels	Giant/Reprise/Warner Bros. Records
Members	Joi Marshall Tonya Kelly Myracle Holloway
Past members	Di Reed

Jade is an American hip hop soul group active during the early to mid-1990s. The group consisted of Tonya Kelly, Joi Marshall, and Di Reed. During their brief yet successful career, Jade released two studio albums, one live album, and a string of popular R&B singles.

The group Jade was originally composed of Joi Marshall, Angela Slates and Debra Mitchell and, as such, was first known as JAD. Producer Vassal Benford sold the song "I Wanna Love You" before Joi, Angela and Debra's voices were recorded on the song. In order to keep the song on the soundtrack for the movie Class Act, Benford had to reproduce the song with the actual voices of the group members. When that could not be accomplished he implored the record label to drop Angela and Debra from the group and replace them with Di Reed and Tonya Kelly who were the voices on the song and who where signed to his production company.

Tonya Kelly and Di Reed were signed on by producer Vassal Benford, and the group's name was extended to Jade. Tonya grew up in Chicago listening to jazz vocalists such as Sarah Vaughan and Nat King Cole. Joi was also from the Windy City but was raised on Motown, especially Diana Ross. Di grew up in Houston singing gospel anywhere she could.

Jade's first success was on the Class Act soundtrack in 1992. Their hit single "I Wanna Love You" was one of the breakout songs on the soundtrack, cracking the Top 10 of the R&B charts and reaching #16 on the Billboard Hot 100. Their follow-up single "Don't Walk Away," was their biggest hit and climbed to #2 on the R&B chart and was certified gold by the RIAA in 1993. The single went on to sell 1.5 million copies worldwide. Subsequent singles "Looking for Mr. Do Right" and "One Woman" helped push their debut album Jade to the Max to platinum status, sparking a lengthy tour and spots on The Tonight Show, The Arsenio Hall Show, and the U.K.'s Top of the Pops.

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