"We quit appreciating the success as much." "We should have been working on perfecting our craft, but Kevin and I were playing catch-up on the lives we thought we had missed," Abrams said. Sam hated the crowds Mark really missed his family Kevin and I loved the crowd and we'd go out every night after the show. "That's when the strain started showing in the group. I had spent so much time on the road I had no time for my friends," he said. He began replacing that empty place with alcohol, which enabled him to hit higher notes and unwind after a show. It was then Abrams noticed an empty place inside. Color Me Badd embarked on a world tour they were guests on all the talk shows they had everything they thought they wanted. "We went from not having anything to not having any time," Abrams said.įor the next three years, Abrams and bandmates toured, something he likened to being on a never-ending rollercoaster ride. The group also bought beds so they could quit sleeping on the floor.Ĭolor Me Badd had no clue their song would become the number one requested radio song in the country until their manager informed them they only had two weeks, not eight months, to finish an album. The money obtained from the rights to that song enabled them to buy a small house in Glen Cove on Long Istand. "I had no idea they were in that kind of hurry." "I could have done that so much better," he said, looking back. They knew their song "I Wanna Sex You Up" would be on the "New Jack City" movie sound track, and what Abrams thought was a demo of the song turned out to be the version used. The group, signed by Giant in 1991, had eight months to produce their album. That encouraged the quartet to leave Oklahoma for New York City. That break emerged when a member of Kool and the Gang listened to the tape and liked it. They would give tapes to artists, hoping for a break. The group sang for every band that came through town. "When I went back to school, no one recognized me," Abrams said.ĭuring his senior year, he teamed up with Watters, Thornton and Calderon. Abrams went from barely making it one block to running three miles a day. His mother took him to a doctor who put him on a diet and exercise program. "At the worst, I had to drop out of school for three months and have a home tutor because my weight have become such a problem." When I finished, the crowd went wild, and for a few weeks, I was cool," Abrams said. "School talent shows were my time to shine."Īt one show, Abrams got on stage, and fellow students were yelling taunts and generally giving him a hard time about even being up there. I was the Meatloaf of our high school," he recalled. "When I was a junior in high school, I weighed 345 pounds. They sang together and after high school graduation, the quartet moved to New York, shared a cramped apartment and lived on hope, bagels and tomato soup.īefore he moved to New York City, Abrams didn't have an easy time. "With this album, I had complete control."Ībrams went to Northwest Classen High School with Sam Watters, Kevin Thornton and Mark Calderon. I want to appreciate all the good things that happen with success," Abrams said. He's working a day job but has just released a solo album "Welcome to Me." He hopes to repeat his success. He was 20.Ībrams, now 30, father of a six-year-old boy, is back in Oklahoma City. He never had the luxury of a checking account, until an accountant gave him a card for the automatic teller machine.Ībrams checked his balance for the first time at an ATM on a New York City street. Instead of wearing popular name brand shoes, he wore Wal-Mart brand shoes. Their do-wop, hip-hop song, "I Wanna Sex You Up," was number one on the charts, and they didn't even have an album out.īryan Abrams, once a member of this quartet, had always been poor. The four young men from Oklahoma City had a huge hit on their hands. In 1991, the group Color Me Badd had gone from living on bagels and soup to the fast lane of success.
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