Kevin Paige

Another post?? Yes! Another male pop singer?? Why yes! Today we bring you late 80s/early 90s pop singer Kevin Paige. Born October 10, 1966 in Memphis, TN. According to All Music Guide I was able to find the following info about his beginnings:

The youngest of nine children, his father was a radio singer for NBC during the 1940s. After earning consecutive All-State drummer honors in high school, Paige gigged with a number of local bands, includingthe Press, Xavion, and Finger Print before mounting a solo career and signing to Chrysalis in 1989 to release his self-titled debut LP

Kevin's debut single was Don't Shut Me Out. With it's mix of dance, pop, r&b, funk, etc. it was destined to be a hit. It was. It peaked at #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the fall of 1989.

The 2nd single was Anything I Want and was just as eclectic as his debut. By spring of 1990 Kevin scored his second Top 40 hit with the song peaking at #29. For whatever reason a third single never saw the light of day. If it did I certainly don't remember it. What little info I could find only mentioned these two singles. The success of these two singles was enough for this self-titled debut album (did I mention he wrote, produced and arranged it?) to peak at #107 on the Billboard 200. Apparently he also opened for Deborah 'Debbbie' Gibson back in the day. On a side note, I saw both the Out Of the Blue and Electric Youth tour and I don't ever remember him opening for her. Milwaukee (my hometown) must have gotten jipped!

So after making a sizable dent on the charts, you'd think a follow-up was inevitable. So the google search began. What do you know.

WE FOUND HIM!

Turns out he's still performing. He and his wife, Bethany Paige, perform every Friday & Saturday at Alfred's On Beale in Memphis! So what has Mr. Paige been doing w/ himself all these years? Turns out he's been writing songs for other acts (i.e. Martina McBride) as well as releasing several Christian albums. The duo has released their latest Dangerous Kind which can be purchased via the duo's official website. Who knew?

Let's take a trip back in time and revisit Kevin's two top 40 hits. First up Don't Shut Me Out:

Anything I Want...

React

Produced by The Berman Brothers (known for their work w/ Real McCoy), 1998 saw the release of React's self-titled debut album. Made of up of two former models (makes sense, cause if I recall I only bought their single because I thought they were cute), Timothy Cruz and Daniel Metreyeon, their album spanwed 2 singles Can't Keep My Hands Off You and Let's Go All The Way.

While neither song did much chart wise (...All The Way peaked at #3 on the Bubbling Under Chart in Billboard and hit #4 on the Club Charts) it must be noted that they had some FIERCE remixes! The Vission & Lorrimer Extended Mix of Can't Keep My Hands Off You alone is worth a visit to amazon.com. It shouldn't come to any surprise with the Berman Bros. on board, but I'll be honest, their album was not what I was expecting at all. The signature dance sound of their previous efforts (Real McCoy, She Moves) was replaced by a more teen pop sound. Check it out for yourself:




It's been about 10 years since this album came and went, so I got to wondering what ever became of the boys of React. After doing a little digging around, it didn't take much to find them. A quick visit to discogs.com lead me in the right direction.



Finding info on Daniel was a little more difficult probably because he now goes by the name Daniel Metrey. Seems he has been writing and producing for other acts over the years. The exact details are a little vague on his myspace page. He had a song featured in the film Laws Of Attraction and is currently working on his own album. You can visit his myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/danielmetrey




The other half of React was Timothy Cruz who goes by Timothy Andrew Cruz now. After the group disbanded, Tim went on to join the boyband B3 which had a lot of success in Germany. They were most noted for their cover of the Bee Gees I.O.I.O.



After 4 albums the band broke up and Tim is now a solo artist. You can visit his official site at http://www.tim-cruz.com/




From what I can tell Tim's current music is very far removed from his boy band past. It's nice to know that some of these forgotten acts are still doing their thing.