P.M. Dawn | |
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Prince BeThe Redline in 2007
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Background information | |
Origin | Jersey City, New Jersey, United States |
Genres | Hip hop, R&B,art pop |
Years active | 1988–2016 |
Labels |
Gee Street V2 Island |
P.M. Dawn was an American hip hop act, formed in 1988 by the brothers Attrell Cordes (known by his stage name Prince Be, sometimes credited as Prince Be the Nocturnal) and Jarrett Cordes (known as DJ Minutemix) in Jersey City, New Jersey. They earned significant crossover success in the early 1990s with music that merged hip hop, older soul, and more pop-oriented urban R&B.
After recording their debut single "Ode to a Forgetful Mind" in 1988, P.M. Dawn released their first album Of the Heart, of the Soul and of the Cross: The Utopian Experience in 1991 to critical acclaim. It achieved immediate commercial success because of its single "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss". Their 1993 follow-up The Bliss Album…? (Vibrations of Love and Anger and the Ponderance of Life and Existence) was also praised by critics and featured the hit singles "I'd Die Without You" and "Looking Through Patient Eyes". P.M. Dawn continued to receive strong reviews, but sold poorly with their subsequent albums Jesus Wept (1995) and Dearest Christian, I'm So Very Sorry for Bringing You Here. Love, Dad (1998).
The Cordes brothers' father died of pneumonia when they were children. Further family tragedy occurred when their baby brother, Duncan, drowned at the age of two. The two elder brothers were raised by their mother and their stepfather George Brown, a founding member of Kool & the Gang.