Donell Jones, Carl Thomas and Dave Hollister Announce New R&B Group “The Chi”
R&B Legends Represent Their City of Chicago with News of New R&B Group
On Saturday, July 10th much to their fans surprise and delight, three of the most recognized names in R&B music announced via their social media pages that they would be forming a new R&B group called, The Chi. Donell Jones, Carl Thomas and Dave Hollister are all natives of Chicago — a city with deep roots in classic R&B music. Other R&B greats to come out of Chicago are Donny Hathaway, Curtis Mayfield and Jackie Wilson to name a few.
Each of the gentlemen have seen their own success as solo artists. Sean “Diddy” Combs discovered Carl Thomas and signed him to his Bad Boy record label in 1997. Thomas‘ 1999 single, “I Wish” was an instant hit and held the number one spot on Billboard’s R&B charts for six weeks! Other hits including the single, “Summer Rain” would follow. The Grammy-nominated artist released his last solo project entitled, Conquer in 2011.
“My ‘Karma’ remix will be the first song that people hear us on together; the remix also has RL and Jacquees on it. We [The Chi] will start working soon on getting a single out that’s just us.” – Donell Jones, to AMN Magazine
Dave Hollister has lended his powerful vocals to everything from Tupac‘s hit singles, “Keep Your Head Up” and “Brenda’s Got A Baby” to his own hit solo records including, “One Woman Man” and “Take Care of Home” to hits as a member of the platinum-selling 90’s R&B group, BLACKstreet. The incomparable singer has released eight studio solo albums. Hollister posted to his social media about the new R&B group, “We started talking about this in 2009 and now the time has finally come….Brothas I count it an honor and privilege to Rep home with you both! LETS GO!”
Donell Jones is a singer, songwriter and producer who has not only written hit songs for himself, but he’s also penned hits for Usher, 702 and Mariah Carey among others. Jones released his debut album My Heart in 1996. His sophomore album Where I Wanna Be put him front and center with the album’s title single becoming an instant classic! Jones‘ single, “U Know What’s Up,” featuring the late Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes of R&B group TLC, peaked at seventh on the Billboard Hot 100.
Donell Jones released a seven-song EP called 100% Free this year on Valentine’s Day led by the single, “Karma”— a song written by Jones that samples The Stylistics hit, “Payback.” The fan response to the new single was immediate! Jones shot the music video in his native Chicago, and decided to include Hollister, Thomas, and fellow R&B singers RL (of the group NEXT) and Jacquees on the upcoming remix.
Fans and fellow R&B artists, including Chicago’s own Syleena Johnson, and Brownstone singer Nicci Gilbert, expressed their overwhelming excitement about the news of the newly-formed super group!
While The Chi have not yet announced when they plan to release new music, be sure to check them out for their first time together on Donell Jones‘ remix for his single, “Karma” coming soon!