Biography All Music GuideWikipedia
Group Members: Tony Thompson
All Music Guide:
A Southwestern teen R&B ensemble, Hi-Five found success with a sound that updates elements of the Jackson 5 and New Edition. Tony Thompson, Roderick Clark, Russell Neal, Marcus Sanders, and Toriano Easley were the original members. Treston Irby replaced Easley on their second release. Hi-Five debuted on Jive in 1990 with Hi-Five. They scored a Top Ten pop hit with "I Can't Wait Another Minute" and also landed a number one pop single in "I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)." Their 1992 LP Keep It Goin' On had another Top Ten pop hit in "She's Playing Hard to Get." After disbanding in the mid-'90s, Thompson re-formed Hi-Five with new members and released the album The Return in 2005. Tragically, Thompson died of an apparent drug overdose on June 1, 2007, in his hometown of Waco, TX.
Wikipedia:
Hi-Five is an American R&B quintet based in Waco, Texas, which had a #1 hit on Billboard's Hot 100 in the early 1990s with "I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)". The band 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.
Rise to fame [edit]
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. The group was aggressively marketed by Jive and was part of the "new jack swing" 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. The groups single, "Too Young" was featured on John Singleton's Boyz n the Hood, the soundtrack from the movie.
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). "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."Never Should've Let You Go" was featured in the 'Sister Act 2' soundtrack.
Later years [edit]
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.
In 2011, Treston Irby released his debut solo single "Everything" under the mantle Tru$ on his independent label, Bronx Most Wanted Ent. Then in 2012, Irby, Shannon Gill and Marcus Sanders reformed Hi-Five with two new members and have released a new single called "Favorite Girl" also on the BMW label. Both singles can be found on iTunes and other digital media outlets.
