All-4-OneIt’s been 13 years since All-4-One’s peak popularity in the 1990’s- winning at the 1995 Grammy Awards and having their hit single I Swear certified by the ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) as one of the greatest love songs of the 20th century.

But now on the verge of resurfacing to the music industry and releasing their most successfully expected album to-date No Regrets on September 15, the four-man R&B band is ready to bring back a piece of work that caters to all.

“This record is a lot more exciting,” singer Jamie Jones tells andPOP. “We had a ton more leeway in the production and the writing, and just having the opportunity to make the record we wanted to make.”

“When we we’re making it, we agreed that regardless of the reception, we’re proud of it, and we’re happy with this body of work.”

Adds singer Delious Kennedy, “If we fail, we would like to fail because of what we did -our choices- and not because of the decisions of a record company.”

Now signed with Peak Records/Concord Music Group, the band formally dubbed as “The Dukes Of R&B” filled the the rave-reviewed sixth studio project with “multiple albums in one,” says Jones. Picture every last drop of R&B musical energy in their blood, squeezed into a final compilation- representing their entire careers.

“We went ahead and tried to make a record of a little bit of everything we are. We’re old school, we’re new school, R&B, Pop. So this is the first record in our opinion that really encompasses all the different styles that we are over our whole career. There’s gonna be a bit of everything for all our fans.”

At the peak of the album, according to Jones, is an heavy R&B sound like My Child. While I Love That Girl brings a Mo-Town vibe, and Perfect shows a bit more of the new-age sound. But a special track this time around is When I Needed An Angel, which was written after the band teamed up with Donate Life America- a foundation that tries to get more people to sign up as organ donors.

Says Jones, “Their concept really inspired us. It’s always fun to sing and do what you wrote, but even better when you have a message to say.”

Compared to previous albums, fellow singer Tony Borowiak admits there’s not one song he didn’t like. “There’s songs on our last albums where I just wanted to skip over, but there’s not a single song like that this time, I enjoy every single one. I think that’s the thing that everyone’s gonna see.”

During their first two studio albums All-4-One (1994) and And the Music Speaks (1995), the band coasted through fame with their hit singles I Can Love You Like That, which was Grammy Award nominated, and I Swear, which was Grammy Award winning- and also rode the no. one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for eleven straight weeks in a row.

They we’re often coined as a “Boy-Band,” along with groups like Boyz II Men. But the guys see themselves as more old school than that.

“Before boy-bands came out we were just a musical group,” explains Jones. “But all of a sudden at one point, people just started saying we’re a boyband. We are a singing group man, and we’ve always been from day one. When The Temptations and New Edition and guys like that came out, they we’re just singing groups.”

But following label rifts, the band took a downward spiral turn and fell into a musical limbo, releasing three albums in 1999, 2001 and 2004- which didn’t attract much popularity at all. Since then the band resorted to the international scene, performing in South East Asia for a while, in cities such as Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Seoul, Bangkok and Shanghai.

Though, don’t think there was any need for ice breakers after stepping into the studio after all those years.

“It’s still feels pretty normal,” says Borowiak. “We just went into the studio and had the same chemistry with each other, we’re great friends.”

The band had the fortunate opportunity of showcasing the single My Child in a world premiere performance in Las Vegas early in the summer. The result? A standing ovation.

“Truthfully it was one of those things where we just couldn’t wait to get back in the swing of things,” says Kennedy. “It was a great reception and singing the harmonies of the chords felt really good.”

And with post-release aspirations consisting of reintroducing themselves to the world, Jones sums up what we can expect from the group who’ve been gone for way too long. “You’re gonna see a different four individuals,” says Jones, “as far as mature and relaxed individuals- not stressed. You’re gonna see that we just had a great time putting together this record overall.”

“We know we still have the ability to make something special.”






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