Hi-Five is an American R&B quintet based out of Waco, Texas who had a #1 hit on Billboard's Hot 100 in the early 1990s with "I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)". Hi-Five was formed in 1990, and consisted of the late Tony Thompson, Roderick "Pooh" Clark, Marcus Sanders, Russell Neal, and Toriano Easley. Easley was later replaced by Treston Irby.
Hi-Five was originally signed to Jive Records in late 1989 and released their first album, Hi-Five, in 1990. The album went platinum and was produced by legendary producer Teddy Riley; it included such singles as "I Just Can't Handle It" (R&B #10), "I Can't Wait Another Minute" (Pop #8, R&B #1), and their biggest hit to date, "I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)", which went to number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and the U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[1] The group was aggressively marketed by Jive and was part of the "New Jack" sound that dominated much of the early to mid-1990s urban contemporary radio format. Hi-Five enjoyed marginal mainstream success and were essentially similar in design to R&B counterparts such as H-Town, Shai, Public Announcement, and perhaps most notably, Boyz II Men.
Hi-Five's second LP, Keep It Goin' On, came out in 1992. Though not as successful as their debut effort, several tracks from this album, including "She's Playing Hard To Get" (Pop #5, R&B #2) and the R. Kelly-penned "Quality Time" (Pop #38, R&B #3) got major airplay in East Coast (US) urban markets. Shortly after this album was released, Roderick "Pooh" Clark was involved in a near-fatal automobile accident. In 1993, Hi-Five emerged with a third album, Faithful, which featured the songs "Unconditional Love" (Pop #92, R&B #21) and "Never Should've Let You Go" (Pop #30, R&B #10).[1] "Unconditional Love" was also featured in the multi-platinum Menace II Society soundtrack, and received extensive airplay on urban contemporary stations throughout the summer of 1993 as the movie increased in popularity.
After Hi-Five disbanded around 1994, Thompson released a solo album, Sexsational, in 1995. He scored a minor hit with "I Wanna Love Like That."
In 2005, Thompson re-incarnated Hi-Five with four new members. Their album The Return was released in 2006 on Thompson's independent label, N'Depth.
On June 1, 2007, Thompson died with no official word released by the family of his cause of death. But the autopsy report stated that there were no illegal drugs or alcohol in his system when he passed. There were traces of methadone which is used for treatment for heroin addiction. He was found to have died as the result of a freon overdose after he had been inhaling it from an air conditioning unit. He was laid to rest in his hometown of Waco, Texas on June 9, 2007.
