New Jack Swing, Okie Suits, And Six-Figure Deals: The Truth About What Happened To Color Me Badd

As a member of Generation X, of course I remember a lot about the early nineties. And you probably do too, but you were probably out there, you know, living a life or something.
I was paying attention to music, because, well, I was a nerd.

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At the time, there were a lot of things happening that we need to remember. There were controversies at the time about lip synching. The Milli Vanilli thing had happened, and because of that, other artists were also under scrutiny. I remember people like Paula Abdul and Madonna getting sued by backup singers, who were saying they were uncredited main vocalists. It kind of went away once it was broken down. Basically, a lot of singers used a method called “double tracking”, where they sing their part twice and layer them together. And to the untrained ear, it can sound like two different people singing. That wasn’t the entirety of the lawsuit (the singer claimed her demo vocals were blended with Abdul’s), but it made it super easy for the public to believe it. After all, just a year beforehand, C+C Music Factory were sued by Martha Wash for something very similar. Remember the video for “Gonna Make you Sweat”?

Yeah. Martha sang the vocals for that track, and they had Zelma Davis lip sync it in the video, pretending those were HER vocals. Now this wasn’t Zelma’s fault, per se, but everybody called her a hack because of it.

So with the lawsuits and all this nonsense, the industry was looking for people who could Really Sing. At this same time, Teddy Riley was inventing what would be called New Jack Swing. Think Boys II Men, Shai, All-4-One, Bell Biv Devoe, En Vogue, Janet Jackson’s entire Rhythm Nation album, New Edition, Whitney’s  album, you get it.

At this time, the group Color Me Badd was trying to get their big break. They would go where ever they could to sing in front of just about anybody for a job. The group was started by a guy named Bryan Adams (not the other one), who was just a baby at the time*. They started out in Oklahoma as four guys: Adams, Marc Calderon, Sam Watters and Kevin Thornton.

Watters is the one in blue, Adams has the glasses, Thorton is the guy in the hat, and Calderon in the one in the yellow.

They eventually DID get that break by recording a song for the New Jack City soundtrack, that was turned down by Bell Biv Devoe and a couple of others. It quickly became a huge hit, and was inescapable for about the first half of the year. You remember it.

Then, they finally got to record an album! Huge deal, right? Right. CMB get it recorded and have a few more hits that year, “I Adore Mi Amor”, “All 4 One” and “Thinking Back”.

They even performed at the Super Bowl** and were nominated for a couple of Grammys. They ended up selling six million copies.

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And then, it was over. In about two years, CMB was gone. They kept recording til the late nineties, but the group didn’t have success again after their first album. So…….what happened?

Long story short, Nirvana happened. So the grunge movement took a lot of attention away from groups like CMB. But just because a group doesn’t record together anymore, does that mean they’re done? Not usually. Usually, groups can reunite every now and then for a tour. But not CMB. Why?

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Well, first of all, two members of the group are gone. Watters went behind the scenes, to produce music. He’s done well, actually - he’s in the production team with Ryan Teeder (The One Republic Guy) and a few others called The Runaways. They’ve written songs for Kelly Clarkson, Natasha Beddingfield, Celene Dion, Jessica Simpson, etc. Maybe not the most glamorous career but hey, he doesn’t seem to be in any financial trouble, he’s married, and seems to be doing well health wise, so… win. Thorton, meanwhile, left to pursue a Christian Ministry back home in Texas. He’s a youth pastor and occasionally releases music, but again, not often. If you’re not looking for the fast paced life of a singer, it must be a pretty good gig.

So that leaves the founder of the group, Adams, and Calderon. Those two toured and did appearances as CMB with a rotating cast of singers for years, until about 2018. It wasn’t easy, because Adams was well into a destructive bout of alcoholism, but it was paying the bills. Then, this happened.

Yes, that’s Adams, apparently very very drunk, stepping onto the stage to shove Calderon. Adams had already walked off the stage earlier in the night and was watching from the sides. I guess he didn’t enjoy Calderon thanking the audience as CMB, because he later screamed, “I am motherf*****g Color Me Badd!” A restraining order was issued, and they haven’t spoken since. They have performed together a few times, but they still haven’t spoken.

Seems kind of a waste, but, hey. It is what it is. Now, Calderon has the rights to the CMB name, and occasionally does a reunion tour, but… overall, nobody wants to Sex You Up any more, Mi Amor.

Baddly Yours,

Behka

*Nobody was over the age of 20. They were babies. High School Babies.
**Kind of. They sang their song during the Fox special for In Living Color that was airing oppotite the Super Bowl. But they sang at the same time!