Public Announcement

Public Announcement is an R&B and hip hop group, which was formed in the early 90s in Chicago, Illinois, originally backing singer R. Kelly on their first album.

The group signed with Jive Records after R. Kelly met the members from Public Announcement and auditioned the guys to be his back up singers and dancers. The group was originally R. Kelly backed up by Earl Robinson, Glenn Wright, & Andre Boykins. R. Kelly & Public Announcement released their debut album, Born into the 90's in January 1992. The album yielded the hits "She's Got That Vibe", "Honey Love", "Dedicated", and "Slow Dance (Hey Mr. DJ)" all of which was led by Kelly. The album sold a million copies making the album platinum. "Honey Love" and "Slow Dance (Hey Mr. DJ)" both reached #1 on the R&B chart during Public Announcement's tenure. The group was billed as R. Kelly and Public Announcement essentially making the group backup members for Kelly rather than a cohesive unit.

Public Announcement were signed to Atlantic Records/Big Beat. In 1996 Chicago, Illinois natives Feloney Davis and Euclid Gray were added to the group after Kelly and Boykins departure. Davis took over as the lead singer. In 1997 they eventually scored a record deal with A&M Records and started working on their sophomore and solo debut album All Work, No Play. In 1998 they scored their first and only top five hit without Kelly, named Body Bumpin (Yippie-Yi-Yo), which peaked at #5 Pop and #4 R&B. This album featured Feloney Davis taking over the lead vocals. Though having only one single hitting the Billboard charts, the album was a top twenty success on the R&B/Hip-Hop charts. After only a few years of being signed, they were dropped again.

Shortly after touring and being dropped by the label, Euclid Gray left the group after the tour was over because he didn't want to sing the secular music the group was singing anymore. After bumping heads with Earl, Glenn, and Feloney he left the group to pursue a gospel singing career.

Euclid Gray was replaced with another Chicago native named Ace Watkins and they started work on their next album Don't Hold Back.

In 1999 a new song called "John Doe", from their album Don't Hold Back on Epic was released and was a minor R&B/Hip-Hop hit, which led to the album release being delayed. A few months later in 2000 a new lead single called "Mamacita" was released. It was a moderate success entering number 39 on the Billboard Hot 100. After that, "John Doe" was re-released and went on to enter the Hot 100 at number 95. Another single named "Man ain't Supposed To Cry" was a top forty R&B/Hip-Hop hit.

After being let go by Epic Records Ace left the group to pursue a solo career and in 2004 was replaced by current member Mar-K a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. Mar-K is the youngest member of the group and also the only member that isn't from Chicago.