Jodeci consists of two pairs of brothers from North Carolina who formed in 1990: Cedric (K-Ci) and Joel (Jo-Jo) Hailey and Dalvin and Donald (DeVante Swing) DeGrate. With their R&B sounds, urban image, and sexy overtone, Jodeci has become one of the premiere soul groups of the 90s. Their name is derived from 3 of member's nicknames: Jo-Jo, DeVante Swing, and K-Ci. All 4 members of Jodeci began their musical background in their youth singing gospel music. The DeGrate brothers, both born in Virginia, sang with their father's gospel group, The DeGrate Delegation, who have 18 gospel LPs to their credit. The Hailey brothers performed in their father's gospel group, Little Gedric and The Hailey Singers. The four guys met each other through each others' girlfriends, and began singing together while still in their teens. DeVante had run away in hopes of working with Prince at the age of 16, but didn't get too far in music before he returned home. He told Vibe magazine: " I was up at Paisley Park every day begging for a job, asking people to listen to my tape. The receptionist kept saying she couldn't help me. I wasn't gonna leave until they put me on." Jodeci's big break came when they went to New York, demo in hand. The guys brought their demo to Uptown Entertainment and were almost rejected until rapper Heavy D heard their music. Eventually, Jodeci's music made it to the president of Uptown and Jodeci were offered and signed a recording contract.

Jodeci's debut LP, Forever My Lady was released. The guys hit R&B and pop gold with the single "Come And Talk To Me" and went on to sell over 3 million copies of their LP. Other hits from the LP included "Forever My Lady" and "Stay."

Forever My Lady was certified gold.

Forever My Lady was certified platinum.

The single "Come And Talk To Me" was certified gold.

K-Ci contributed his vocals to a track on Mary J. Blige's LP, What's The 411?.

Forever My Lady was certified 2x platinum.

Jodeci could be heard on the soundtrack for Who's The Man? with "Let's Go Through The Motions."

Jodeci hit the Top 40 with "Lately."

Jodeci hit the Top 10 with "Lately."
The single "Lately" was certified gold.

Jodeci's second LP, Diary Of A Mad Band, was released and was less successful after receiving little promotion from the record company. The band was not thrilled with how Uptown was treating them and considered finding a recording home at Death Row Records. The guys didn't make any videos for the LP after the first track, "Feenin'" was released. K-Ci stated the record company "...wasn't treating us like we'd just sold 3 million albums."
Legal troubles hit Jodeci when K-Ci and DeVante were accused of threatening a woman for which both plead guilty (DeVante for gun charges and K-Ci for sexual contact).
DeVante's home was violently robbed and ransacked while he was home.

Jodeci had a hit with the track "Cry For You" and hit the Top 10 on the pop charts with the Stevie Wonder cover, "Lately" from MTV Uptown Unplugged.

Jodeci: # 54 Singles Artist of the Year

Jodeci topped the Billboard R&B Singles chart for 4 weeks with "Cry For You."
The single "Cry For You" was certified gold.
Diary Of A Mad Band topped the Billboard R&B Albums chart for 2 weeks.

Jodeci topped the Billboard R&B Airplay chart for a week with "Cry For You."

Diary Of A Mad Band was certified platinum.

Jodeci hit the Top 40 with "Feenin'."

K-Ci could be heard on the soundtrack for Jason's Lyric with "Let's Go Through The Motions."

Jodeci topped the Billboard Year-End Charts as the Top R&B Artist - Duo/Group (singles & albums), the Top R&B Album Artist - Duo/Group (singles & albums), and the Top R&B Singles Artist - Duo/Group.

Jodeci: # 61 Singles Artist of the Year ~ K-Ci Hailey: # 113 Singles Artist of the Year

Jodeci were nominated for an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Band/Duo/Group.

K-Ci hit the Top 40 solo with the remake "If You Think You're Lonely Now" from the Jason's Lyric soundtrack.

Jodeci hit the Top 40 with "Freek 'N You."

Jodeci released The Show, The After Party, The Hotel. The LP showcased more of Jodeci's funkier side and "traces a night in the life of Jodeci."

The single "Freek 'N You" was certified gold.
The Show, The After Party, The Hotel topped the Billboard R&B Albums chart for a week.

The Show, The After Party, The Hotel was certified platinum.

Jodeci hit the Top 40 with "Love U 4 Life."

Jodeci: # 138 Singles Artist of the Year

Jodeci were nominated for an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Band/Duo/Group.

More legal troubles hit Jodeci when Dalvin was arrested in Los Angeles for refusing to move his car, as ordered by a police officer.
Jodeci started focusing on individual ventures in music and business. Dalvin was doing production work as well as working on a solo LP. He has also acted in the film Player's Anthem. DeVante also has been hailed for his production work and owns two production companies: Swing Mob and 4HISDAMNSELF.

Jodeci could be heard with the track "After Last Night" from the Eddie soundtrack.

Jodeci hit the Top 40 with "Get On Up."

Diary Of A Mad Band was certified 2x platinum.

Jo-Jo and K-Ci started work on an LP of their own and lent their vocals to some of 2Pac's work including the hit "How Do U Want It." The duo also had a hit with a song from the Bulletproof soundtrack, "How Could You."

K-Ci & JoJo: # 137 Singles Artist of the Year

K-Ci told Black Beat that another Jodeci LP is unlikely for at least a couple years. Fans can mostly likely expect solo releases in the meantime.

K-Ci & JoJo were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group ("How U Want It" (with 2Pac)).

K-Ci & JoJo released Love Always.
K-Ci & JoJo hit the Top 40 with "You Bring Me Up."

K-Ci and JoJo's Love Always was certified gold.

K-Ci & JoJo: # 25 Singles Artist of the Year

K-Ci & JoJo hit the Top 40 with "All My Life."

Love Always eventually hit the Top 10. JoJo told MTV that the tune "All My Life" was written about his daughter: "I wrote it for her, and I wrote it about her." The duo also stated that they almost didn't get to record it: "The song was originally supposed to be used for... another artist... but we listened to it after we got out of the studio and it was like, 'I'm keeping this, this is too hot'..."

K-Ci and JoJo's Love Always was certified platinum.
K-Ci and JoJo hit the Top 10 with "All My Life."

K-Ci and JoJo topped the Billboard R&B Singles Airplay chart with "All My Life" for 9 weeks.

K-Ci and JoJo's Love Always was certified 2x platinum.
K-Ci & JoJo hit #1 with "All My Life" for a week.
"All My Life" topped the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart for 3 weeks, the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart for 2 weeks, the R&B Singles chart for 2 weeks, and the R&B Singles Sales chart for a week.

K-Ci told The Washington Post that Jodeci might be back as a group in the year 2000 with a gospel LP.
K-Ci & JoJo teamed with Planned Parenthood with their single "Don't Rush" by distributing free copies of their video for the song.
K-Ci and JoJo's Love Always was certified 3x platinum.

K-Ci & JoJo were nominated for a MTV Video Music Award for Best R&B Video ("All My Life").

MTV reported that K-Ci and JoJo were back in the studio to work on their next LP - and on the prospect of the whole group recording again, K-Ci said: "The group hasn't busted up or anything like that but we're just putting Jodeci on hold for now on working on our side projects."

K-Ci & JoJo: # 50 Singles Artist of the Year

K-Ci & JoJo won an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Band/Duo/Group and were nominated for Favorite Soul/R&B Album (Love Always).

K-Ci & JoJo were nominated for 2 Grammy Awards for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal ("All My Life") and Best R&B Song ("All My Life" with Rory Bennett).

K-Ci & JoJo were nominated for a NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Duo or Group, and a Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Single, Group, Band or Duo ("All My Life").

K-Ci and JoJo took home a Blockbuster Award for Best Group - R&B.

K-Ci and JoJo released their second LP together, It's Real.
The duo hit the Top 40 with "Tell Me It's Real."

K-Ci and JoJo hit the Top 10 with "Tell Me It's Real."
It's Real was certified platinum.

K-Ci & JoJo: # 173 Singles Artist of the Year

K-Ci & JoJo were nominated for an American Music Award for Favorite R&B Band/Duo/Group.

Dalvin DeGrate released his first solo LP, Met.A.Mor.Phic with the single "Why Can't We."

K-Ci and JoJo told MTV their next LP should hit stores in the fall: "When we're coming with the album, we're coming with more than just the album... It's going to be an adventure-type thing..."
The duo joined the SoulFest tour in the summer.

K-Ci & JoJo released X and hit the Top 40 with "Crazy." K-Ci told MTV that title of their new LP refers to "...the Roman numeral X, the number 10, and we're just celebrating. We're just so happy and blessed that we've been around for 10 years. We came a long way, and we still have a long way to go, but we just thank God that he let us be able to see 10 years being in the music business successfully."
Controversy hit the duo at a performance in Los Angeles with mostly teenage girls when K-Ci allegedly dropped his boxers while performing (as part of the 'KIIS-FM Jingle Ball 2000'). K-Ci later said of the allegations: "If y'all know K-Ci, y'all know K-Ci didn't do it."

K-Ci & JoJo:# 32 Singles Artist of the Year

X was certified platinum.

K-Ci & JoJo hit the Top 10 with "Crazy."

K-Ci was charged with 23 counts of indecent exposure and 1 count of lewd conduct for an incident last December.

K-Ci pleaded 'no contest' to lewd conduct charges (from a December incident), and his lawyer stated: "It was in his best interest to put this matter behind him. He's regretful of what happened. He just got caught up in the moment."
K-Ci & JoJo hit the Top 40 with "All The Things I Should Have Known."

K-Ci & JoJo were nominated for a MTV Video Music Award for Best Video from a Film ("Crazy").

K-Ci & JoJo: # 152 Singles Artist of the Year

K-Ci & JoJo released Emotional.

K-Ci & JoJo hit the Top 40 with "This Very Moment" which also could be heard on the soundtrack for Deliver Us From Eva.

K-Ci and JoJo were arrested and jailed overnight on tax evasion charges in North Carolina. The brothers denied having any knowledge of the tax charges.