Cheryl "CoKo" Gamble: Cheryl "CoKo" Gamble, who's birthday is June 13, is the lead singer of SWV. When SWV first hit the music scene she had extremely long beautiful fingernails, but she had to cut them in order to take care of her baby. She had her beautiful baby boy who she named Jazz Ishmael, with her ex-boyfriend, Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler, formerly of the rap group "Digable Planets".
Not only is CoKo gifted in music, she also has her own styling company, with partner Trina Patterson, called "O So Jazzi" and they've already had vocalist Faith Evans as a client. It's true that she is a diva of all trades!
CoKo left the group to pursue a solo career in music back in 1998. She recorded collaborated with artists on hits such as "Men In Black", "Fire & Desire", "Everything You Are" and "He Be Back". The name of Coko's first album was "Hot Coko". Her first single from that album was "Sunshine" produced by Rodney Jerkins who also produced Brandy & Monica's "The Boy Is Mine", Mary J. Blige's "Share My World" & "I Can Love You" & Whitney Houston's "It's Not Right, But It's OK". "Sunshine" was ..1 overseas and was a Top 20 R&B hit! She also worked with Babyface, Brian Alexander Morgan, who produced "Rain", "Weak", & "Fine Time" and the Ruff Ryder Eve.
Currently CoKo is back with SWV. She is married to music producer, Mike Clemmons. The happily married couple is expecting another son due sometime in March! With SWV back in the studio, her new marriage, new son, and more happiness, CoKo is sure to be on cloud nine!
On October 31, 2006, Coko released her Gospel album entitled 'Grateful'. Its in stores NOW!
Leanne "Lelee" Lyons: Next, we have the outgoing Alto of SWV, Lelee. Lelee was born in the "Boogie Down" Bronx and, along with her five sisters and one brother, was raised by her mother Margaret Lyons. Times were often hard for Lelee and her family, but singing was a way out of the turmoil.
At the age of fifteen, Lelee became pregnant and gave birth to her first child, Margaret (named after her mother). After Margaret was born, Lelee found that some of her family members were less than thrilled with her being a young, single mother. "After I had my first child, I had some family telling me I wasn't going to be nothing, that I was going to have all these kids and be on welfare.", says Lelee in the October 1997 issue of Vibe Magazine. Soon after, at the age of seventeen, Lelee gave birth to a son, Khiry. It was during this time that the phenomenon known as SWV took shape.
With her love for singing, and sparse support from her family as motivation, Lelee's desires to put together a group were fueled. Lelee was initially responsible for putting SWV together, but success did not come easily.
After a short while as a Gospel group, and a few unsuccessful tries with other big record labels, SWV landed a deal with RCA records.
Lelee originally recorded lead vocals for two of the fifteen tracks on SWV's debut album, "It's About Time"; however, Lelee was uncomfortable with the results, and chose to not have them released.
Once "It's About Time"'s run was over (six million records later), SWV went on a lengthy three year hiatus, during which Lelee lost someone very dear to her. Her mother, Margaret, died of cancer, and left Lelee and her siblings devastated. But, as mentioned earlier, Lelee is very outgoing, she's a fighter.
1996 saw the release of SWV's sophomore album, "New Beginning", for which Lelee supplied lead vocals for two songs. After this CD and its subsequent singles had sold over four million copies, she and her band members had to "Release Some Tension".
Lelee has spoken at several schools, in an effort to send a positive message to today's youth. Among the issues dearest to Lelee is teen pregnancy. In the January 1997 issue of Word Up!, Lelee had this to say: "It was very hard for me raising two kids and trying to have a singing career. I just want my sisters to understand that it's all right to say no, because too often saying yes can get you into a lot of trouble." Words from the wise.
Tamara "Taj" Johnson: Rounding out this amazing trio, know as SWV, is Tamara "Taj" Johnson. Some may say that Taj is the shy one of the group, which may be applicable at times, but during most interviews, Taj is the one with the most to say. She always greets with a warm, pearly white smile, such that you would never guess what she's gone through to get where she is today.
Taj joined SWV when she turned 18 and soon found herself sitting on top of the world. It was stated in Sister 2 Sister Magazine (1996) that Taj was seeing Dennis Scott, from the Phoenix Suns. They seemed to be very much together at that time. However, there is nothing confirming that they are still together. Besides having a family that she loves very much, she has two dogs she considers as her babies and loves them just as much. She is really a down to earth person.
It was rumored back in 1999 that Taj was supposed to be signed to Addicted Records. It was supposed that she was releasing a single called "Cloudy Days" for a soundtrack and a tentative album. Although the song was beautifully recorded, nothing ever flew with the label or the single.
Aside from music Taj is very established model. She has posed for a number of magzines and was recently signed to the Ford Modeling Agency.
Now that SWV is back together we will be seeing a lot more of Taj!
Biographies, updates and photos provided by SWVonline.com
Their story reads like the legendary rags-to-riches tale of three Motor City sisters who emerged from the projects to conquer the world of entertainment. They were influenced by gospel and classic rhythm & blues; even though they came out of the hip-hop generation. Motivated by their mutual quest for a career in music, as well as promising talent show performances, all three remained dedicated until fate led them to producer Donald "Dee" Bowden, who took them into the studio to record demos, and to their recent manager, Maureen Singleton, who landed them a contract with RCA Records.
With loads of down-to-earth appeal, youthful vocal licks, sassy struts and a state-of-the-street blend of soul-rooted melodies, coasting above an assortment of streetwise beats, New York City-bred Cheryl (Coko) Gamble, Leanne (Lelee) Lyons and Tamara (Taj) Johnson struck big as SWV.
With slammin' singles like "I'm So Into You", "Right Here", "Weak" and "Anything", all Top 10 smashes, resulted in the multi-platinum statusof their debut album, It's About Time.
"This is most definitely a new beginning," Coko construes, "because on the first album, as you can hear, I was the only one doing leads. Now, on this second album, everybody is coming out. Everybody is really singing on the album, and sounding good, too. They just were not ready to sing yet." Lelee performed lead vocals on two tracks recorded for It's About Time, but opted not to have them released until she was more comfortable with her voice. Taj handles the majority of the lead vocals on "All About You", Lelee performs the sole lead on "Don't Waste Your Time," a dreamy, inviting hip-hop soul track she co-wrote with Faith Evans. "Personally, I didn't feel like I was ready yet", Taj willingly confesses of their first project, "because I'm really shy at times, and it's really hard for me to open up at those times."
Coko and Taj effectively make their debut as a song writing team with the bright-sounding, vampy urban funk flow of "You're The One." Of the remaining self-penned material, Coko and Taj also turn in the sultry soul-spiced "Whatcha Need", and Taj's solo song writing debut with "Love So Amazing". Coko composed the slow 'n steady soul grind of "I'm So In Love." Coko reveals that "Everything that I wrote about was something that I've been through at one time or another."
Their core urban audience will delight in everything from the oh-so-funky slam dunk beats of "On And On" (featuring a vocal cameo from Erick Sermon), to the sparse, no-frills street vibe of the bumpin' "That's What I'm Here For" (featuring Digable Planets' Butterfly). Furthermore, the heightened soul awareness of ballads like "Use Your Heart", a breezy, dreamy R&B affair, the lazy, seductive "When This Feeling", the lush, romantic "You Are My Love" and the somber, melancholy beat balladry of "Fine Time" will surely appeal to older audiences. "It's mellow, it's jazzy, it's streetwise and it has a little pop on it," Lelee sums up, of the set's overall sound.
Now, following their debut success, which included Top 10 hits, popular videos, endless magazine coverageand a sold-out tour (with the likes of LL Cool J and Naughty By Nature), SWV has re-emerged as three young women ready to express themselves and be heard for who they truly are today. Taj explains, "The voices are the same (maybe better), the musical style is a little more varied, and the attitude is still, we'll take it all with a bag of chips on the side and maybe some candy!" SWV is continuing a steady pattern, with the release of their third RCA Records album, RELEASE SOME TENSION. The LP is chock full of the best of today's most slamming grooves, done SWV-style. "Someone", the first single from the album, pairs SWV with today'smusic wizard, Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs, who both produced the track and raps on it. The second single, "Lose My Cool", is a rhythmic duet between SWV andrap superstar Redman.
For that "spice of life," variety, SWV slowed the pace a bit on tracks such as "Rain," a trademark torch song ballad written and produced by first album collaborator, Brian Alexander Morgan; the dreamy "Here For You" and the flowing "When U Cry". And of course, "Can We" appears on the RELEASE SOME TENSION LP,since it's the slamming track which spawned this new album's concept, the foray into marrying SWV's renowned sound with today's hip-hop sound!
SWV garnered enormous attention with their auspicious debut. They received nominations for a Grammy Award, an American Music Award and The Source Award in 1993. They won a Children's Choice Award and a BET "Best of Video Soul" Award. As if that weren't enough, they wowed audiences on a national tour with Bobby Brown, were "poster girls" for Cross Colours, appeared on "The Tonight Show", "Arsenio Hall", "New York Undercover", hosted "Showtime At The Apollo", and were chronicled in several notable publications, such as People, Us, Ebony, Essence, USA Today and Vibe. So, there you have it, the SWV whirlwind, to which they've added RELEASE SOME TENSION. All in all, it certainly appears that the prolific SWV/Sisters With Voices is indeed members of Mr. Brown's club, and should be deemed "the hardest working trio in show business!"
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