Pretty Ricky, Ricky, Rick-y
The Early Years
(Bluestars) [CLICK IMAGE FOR SOURCE]
Pretty Ricky is a group of four boys known for their sensual music. The founding members being, Slick'em (Corey Mathis), Baby Blue (Diamond Blue Smith), Spectacular (Blue Smith) and Pleasure (Marcus Cooper). In 1997 they began to perform together with their father, Joe "Blue" Smith, managing them. Originally there name was Pretty Rickie and the Maverix, until the country group the Mavericks objected. That’s when they decided to just call themselves Pretty Ricky, saying that ‘y’ endings are more masculine the previous ‘ie’ (The name also came from a character on the Martin Lawrence show). Their music career began to take off in 2004, when they recorded one of their most well-known songs, Grind on Me. This song began to be heavily played on many radio stations. The all-male quartet was taking off and many record companies were noticing. Eventually the boys signed with Atlantic Records, and began working on their new album. Signing with a huge company like this one gave them national exposure and there Miami based music was branching out across the nation. In 2005 they came out with their freshman album, Bluestars. They toured with R&B artists like Omarion, which gained them a lot of exposure. Two years later the band came out with the sophomore album Late Night Special, Pretty Ricky was climbing to the top of the music industry and making girls fall in love everywhere. Everything began to fall apart in 2008 though, when front man Pleasure decided to go solo.
After the Fall
Pleasure P[CLICK PICTURE FOR SOURCE]
After Pleasure left he adopted the name Pleasure P and began making his own music, but that didn't discourage the rest of the groups. Pleasure was soon replaced with 4Play (Christopher Myers). After he joined they began working on their junior album, Eighties Babies originally titled Cuddle Up. This record was supposed to be there way back to the top but it ended up being leaked on blogs and websites, which ultimately led to them being dropped from Atlantic Records. At the same time the newest member 4Play quit and was replaced with Lingerie (Manny DeAnda). Even though the boys were no longer signed they decided to come out with a self-titled album as a digital download in 2009 with new member Lingerie. Their music just wasn't the same anymore. They had lost many of their fan base and soon began to diminish. Pretty Ricky was no more and the group went their separate ways.