CLASH OF THE TITANS: The New Edition Story FinaleBy Dominga Martin
January 26, 2017
June 20, 1988. Two albums drop: NE Heartbreak and Bobby Brown’s “Don’t Be Cruel.” In hindsight, it seems like a cold move. However, at this time, New Edition is at the top of their game, and there’s no other competition—so if you’re going to rule the charts, might as well be with your boys.
When Night 2 of The New Edition Story left off, the new New Edition, which now includes Johnny Gill has just been informed that Bobby will join them on the tour. The group finally has the potential to make real money: $30 million dollars. Both N.E Heartbreak and Don’t Be Cruel are multi-platinum, and Ricky Bell, Michael Bivens and Ronnie DeVoe are at the inception of becoming BBD. They would all gather for 80’s hit video show: BET’s Video Soul, for what will go down in history as the “tension interview” and the world would see they were unraveling. In public. Egoes were clashing. However, hey still tried to give NE one more run. 6 years later they would make “Home Again” a highly anticipated album with all 6 players: Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky, Mike, Ralph and Johnny.
During this time, my cousin Charlita Brown and I had formulated our dance duo, entitled Roxbury—inspired by the neighborhood we grew up in. We had picked up the work ethic of New Edition and rehearsed everyday, for no reason at all, except an opportunity to finally join New Edition on Tour. We were just little girls inspired by New Edition. We thought their blueprint to success would be ours. The opportunity struck when Bobby’s younger sister Carole (AKA Coupe) was working on her first album, and his older sister Tina would start her own music company: Big Sixx, in which she’d have several artists launch on the Home Again Tour.
For Charlita and I, this was a long awaited dream—growing up, we had followed in the footsteps of New Edition with our own group: Female Force. Performing at the Maurice Starr Hollywood Talent Nights. Winning 1st Place. Being invited to Maurice Starr’s studio to record a demo. Being interviewed on local radio stations. However, it would be the Home Again Tour that would open my eyes to a glimpse of New Edition I had not seen. It seemed like the ending of an era. I would watch from the wings of the show and wonder why performance outfits were being recycled from years before [and] why if this was a brand new our had sets not changed? It wasn’t until the tour bus dropped us off in Arizona, and told us to get all of our bags that I realized, this is over. There was no more money to pay our driver for our bus. Bobby had already taken over the payments, but it was not his responsibility any longer. New Edition continued on and I was flown home, back to Atlanta. Shortly after that, the tour ended abruptly.
The fight on stage with New Edition was never spoken of. It would not be until years later that I realized what happened VIA a New Edition interview “Behind The Music”. It would not be until BET would produce The New Edition Story that I would see what became of my beloved group.
Newspaper interviews were circulating about tensions between Bobby and Johnny during the Home Again tour, which Johnny Gill disputes:
“You know what’s crazy? Everyone always says there’s tension between Bob and myself—if there was tension between Bobby and myself, maybe I overlooked something. After the Heartbreak Tour, Bobby would come and stay at my house, I was a little baffled, but he would come hang out and we would just talk…we just bonded,” he says.
“That guy has a heart of gold,” Johnny continues. “A big, big, big heart [and] what I realized is that he was carrying the bad boy image which he carried for many, many, years. When he used to come to my house and sit down, I would see a guy in tears. I would see a guy who was so humble in a lot of ways…he’d talk about some of the things that he feared—that’s what bonded us. I recognized that when you see him up front and what was going on, some of the actions he was taking, I’d always say: ‘Who is that guy?!’ We all go through the growing pains and try to figure things out, there’s no blueprint for this.”
For the young actors who had to channel the New Edition, as triple threats: Singing, Dancing and acting, their blueprint was simply getting to know each member personally. Woody McClain who portrays Bobby Brown’s duality with superb precision, shares:
“Everybody thinks that he’s this monster with all this ra-ra-ra, but it’s not that. I was typical, thinking Bobby is just this wild and crazy guy, but he wasn’t. To get to really know him, all his frustration came from the music industry, it wasn’t New Edition.” He continues: “They gave me a flash drive with everything Bobby. I locked myself in a dark room and watched everything… from his mannerisms, the way he talked…just everything. That’s what really got me involved.”
Luke James, who learned about New Edition through the lens of Johnny Gill had this to say: “I guess from the outside they were this great group when you saw them perform. They were absolutely excellent, but there was so much going on behind the scenes…a lot of chaos. Honestly, I think this story, what I learned…this story is not about New Edition vs. New Edition, but New Edition vs. the music industry and how they survived [and] all of it was [to just] reach their own goals [but] as young men coming up in this business you can be fighting each other, but really it’s not about each other—it’s this business that makes things heavy, and they really love each other, ’til this day. To still be here 33 years later is a blessing in it’s self.”
Meanwhile, Algee Smith who captures Ralph Tresvant’s charisma wanted a bit of reassurance that he was still fly in stirrups when filming the video “If It Isn’t Love.”
“All day I couldn’t breathe in those stir ups,” he says with a laugh. ““I’m already smooth but to embody Ralph smoothness was something I had to get…Ralph told me to just be myself because I already had it naturally.”
Algee already had a connection to a few members of the group before getting the part. At the age of 13, his father played guitar for Bobby, Johnny and Ralph after they formed their group: “Heads of State”
Algee’s biggest take-away in playing in the New Edition Story is: “Professionalism. Even after everything that was going on, after Ralph losing his baby, going through it with his mom, the pressure fighting with the guys everyday—but every night they were back on that stage with a smile, doing this for the fans, no matter what was going on back stage.”
The New Edition Story came full circle for not just the group but also it’s creative team. Director Chris Robinson who got his start in music videos, also directing the smash hit “ATL” shared this story:
“Ironically enough, my very first concert was when I was 15 years old. 1986. I drove from Maryland to Philly. I wasn’t supposed to drive outside a certain radius, but me and my cousins got into the car and drove to Philadelphia so they (New Edition) were my first concert. Being a kid, going to see guys that kind of remind you of your boys and your crew…is inspiring. I tell everybody I’ve done 30 years of prep for this moment.”
Stephen Hill who is now the President of Programming at BET was in college radio in 1983. He recalls the first time he heard “Candy Girl.’
“This is absolutely a dream come true,” he says: “For someone who was in college radio in Providence Rhode Island, when Maurice Starr walked in with the white label…I remember it so clearly: A 12 inch white label of “Candy Girl”…I was such a Jackson 5 fan, so once we played it, I was like: ‘Oh, I get exactly what this is.” I never knew 33 years later we’d be having this conversation about a group that has meant so much to so many—so the feelings of bringing it back around—it is one of the first things that I was able to green light when I came into this roll at BET, so it’s just fantastic.”
Executive Producer Jesse Collins was inspired to create the New Edition Story after witnessing them first hand in preparation for BET’s 25th Anniversary: “I saw the brotherhood: the function and the dysfunction. So I told Mike Bivens: ‘This is a movie, and this is a movie that’s going shock people.’
“It’s the most amazing story about brother hood, it’s almost 40 years later, they are still together, they are still on tour, they still look good, they’re still recognizing each other and taking care of each other still,” says Chris Robinson.
The New Edition Story is a full circle moment for a lot of us. For me. For my cousin Charlita who would never admit that she was Bobby’s niece because she didn’t want people to think she was bragging!
“This is for the world period…for the universe to grab onto,” She says, then offers her thoughts on the project: “It’s real simple and it’s real plain. Never judge a book by it’s cover, unless you open that book and actually read that book and get every drop of that story, don’t be so quick to judge because there might be something in that story that you missed which may be profound, and at the end of the day, Bob is in the midst of it all…and if something needed to be brought to the light—it may not have been brought to the light then, but it’s being brought to light now that they are living legends and that their story matters and that it can be very instrumental to all our lives. Period. Something that we can all relate to. Period. It ain’t just the hood in Roxbury. This is for all hoods. And I want to say I’m very proud. There was a time when I used to shy away from saying I’m Bobby’s niece, but I will say it now: ‘I am Bobby Brown’s first niece and we love him.’
For those of us who grew up in Orchard Park—which was renamed “Orchard Gardens” over a decade ago—“OP” will always be home [and] the guys have never forgotten where they’ve come from. From shooting BBD’s “Word to the Mutha” video in the projects to Michael Biven’s basketball jersey hanging in The Neighborhood House gym. To Boston’s current Mayor Marty Walsh proclaiming Sunday, January 8th 2017 as New Edition Day. This is a movie that is homemade, with the fans in mind, and it feels like they’ve only just begun.
