The genius behind Jodeci has fallen on hard times over the last decade, with rumors of drug addiction (and an embarrassing TMZ video) taking the place of hit records. But none of this changes the intensity of the impact that Donald “DeVante Swing” Degrate had on the sound of ’90s R&B music in a prolific five year period. A freakishly talented instrumentalist with a freaky side, the Virginia native wrote and produced nearly every song Jodeci ever performed, inspiring a generation* with his achingly sincere, hyper-sexualized slow jams.
Before Jodeci’s breakthrough in 1991, DeVante did some co-production work at Uptown Records, including the radio version of Al B. Sure’s “Missunderstanding” that became a #1 R&B hit. He continued to make big moves as a songwriter, using the talkbox-heavy “Jodeci Sound” to create hits for everyone from a 50-year-old Al Green to a 16-year-old Usher. In the mid-’90s he developed his own training camp of artists and producers called the Swing Mob, which famously introduced names like Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Ginuwine, Tweet, Static Major, Darryl Pearson, and Stevie J to the industry. He executive produced the #1 Dangerous Minds soundtrack, and before long he was being managed by Suge Knight, spending a lot of time with 2Pac, and crafting Jodeci’s ambitious third album.
In the next few years, everything fell apart—Death Row died with 2Pac, K-Ci & JoJo went solo, and the Swing Mob artists started signing with other labels. By the late ’90s, DeVante had been completely eclipsed by his former protégé, Timbaland, as mainstream R&B’s biggest innovator. His career fell into a 15 year black hole, marking a tragic end for one of music’s brightest stars. Spark one and zone out to my compilation of 30 DeVante classics…
THE TOP 25 ALBUMS:
The eldest brother in the Jackson-style family band The Sylvers, Leon F. Sylvers III was 19 when he wrote the group’s first top 10 R&B single “Wish That I Could Talk To You” in 1972. By the late ’70s, Leon had really hit his stride as a songwriter and producer after Dick Griffey hired him at S.O.L.A.R. Records—The Sound Of Los Angeles. His brand of classy, soul-drenched disco-funk became known in the industry as “The S.O.L.A.R. Sound,” made famous by Leon’s string of smashes with Shalamar, along with the label’s all-star roster Lakeside, The Whispers, The Spinners, and Dynasty. Hits with everyone from Evelyn “Champagne” King to Gladys Knight & The Pips continued into the mid ’80s.
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