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As a m em ber o f the now-
defunct New J ill Swing trio ,
SW V, Coko stood out as the
com m anding lead v o c a list
b eh in d s e v e ra l c h a rt-to p -
ping h its, in clu d in g "R ig h t
H e re ,” “ I ’m So Into Y ou”
and “ W eak” from SW V ’s
d o u b le -p la tin u m f ir s t a l-
w ith the rele ase o f her long-
a w a ite d so lo d e b u t, HOT
C O K O , the fo rm e r c h o ir
g irl sets out to e s ta b lis h
h e rs e lf as one o f c o n te m p o ­
rary m u sic ’s leading fem ale
v o c a lists and so n g w rite rs.
B orn and ra is e d in the
B ronx, New Y ork, Coko (n6
C h e ry l G a m b le ) grew up
sin g in g in church and e v e n ­
tu a lly w ould like to com e
back to g ospel m usic be-
“ s i s t e r s w ith v o i c e s ” ,
Coko says that SW V ’s su c ­
cess only in te n s ifie d te n ­
sio n s th a t had begun to
ra ttle the group. “ T hings
w ere not w orking out and
we w ere g ro w in g a p a rt.
The frie n d sh ip was gone
and th e re was no u n ity
w ith in the g ro u p ,’ she ex ­
p la in s. “ No one can c o n ­
tin u e to w ork like th at b e ­
cau se
i t ’s
October 13, 1999
—< JocusJZ>
as an o p p o rtu n ity to fu lfill
her life lo n g dream o f r e ­
co rd in g a solo album . “ It
was a lot o f fu n ,” she says
o f the recording p ro cess. “ It
was also a lot o f hard work
b e c au se i t ’s ju s t me now
an d I d id a ll th e b a c k ­
g ro u n d and le a d v o c a ls .
P lu s, I w ro te som e o f
the s o n g s ,” she say s
w ith a proud sm ile. In
to ta l, C oko c o -w ro te
f iv e s o n g s on
HOT COKO:
S u n -
giv es me w hat I n e e d .”
H aving put the ups and
dow ns o f the past behind
h e r, C o k o is o p t im is t ic
ab o u t her fu tu re and e x ­
c ite d a b o u t th e c r e a tiv e
freedom th at she now has
as a so lo a rtis t. “ I t ’s e a sie r
now b ecau se I can do w hat
Page 3
I w ant to do, w ear w hat I
w ant to w ear and sing w hat
I w ant to sing w ith o u t w o r­
ry in g ab o u t som ebody else
not w an tin g to do i t . ” And
w hy s h o u ld s h e ? HOT
COKO is u n d e n ia b le p ro o f
that C oko can do good all
on her ow n.
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cause t h a t ’s her ro o ts. “ I
w as sin g in g in H e z e k ia h
W a lk e r’s Love F e llo w sh ip
c h o ir w hen I d e c id e d to
le a v e an d s t a r t s in g in g
secular m u sic ,” explains the
2 5 -y e a r-o ld s o n g s tre s s ,
who c ite s g o sp e l s in g e rs
T w in k ie C la rk , T ra m a in e
H aw kins and Men o f S ta n ­
dard as her b ig g e st in flu ­
e n c e s . T h a t 's w h e n sh e
team ed up w ith c h ild h o o d
f r i e n d s L e le e ( L e a n n e
L y o n s) and Taj (T a m a ra
Jo h n so n ) and form ed SWV-
an acronym for S isters W ith
V oices. The trio rec o rd e d a
dem o tape and shopped it
around to vario u s reco rd la ­
bels. The tap e soon caught
the a tte n tio n o f p ro d u c e r
T eddy R iley , the o rig in a to r
o f the u b iq u ito u s ea rly ‘90s
New Jack Sw ing sound who
p lay ed an in stru m e n ta l role
in lau n ch in g the su c c e ssfu l
c a re e rs o f a c ts lik e Jo d eci
and M ary J. B lig e. R iley
help ed SWV c ra ft th e ir d e ­
but LP, I t ’s A bout T im e,
w hich gave way to two la te r
rele ase s 1996’s New B e g in ­
ning fo llo w ed by R elease
Som e T e n sio n in 1997.
D espite the g ro u p ’s popu­
la rity and p u b lic im age as a
happy c o lle c tiv e o f - w e ll-
4
very h ard ,
esp ec ially when y o u ’re not
sp e ak in g and th in g s like
th at. F in a lly , we decided
th at we w ere e ith e r gonna
get it to g eth e r or we w ould
ju st go our separate w ay s,”
she c o n tin u e s. “ We could
n ev er get it to g e th e r, so
we w e n t o u r s e p a r a te
w ays."
Instead o f brooding over
th e b r e a k - u p o f SW V ,
C oko seized the m om ent
s h in e ,”
“ You and
M e,” “ D o n ’t
T ake . Y our
Love A w ay ,” “ I
A in ’t
F e e lin ’
Y ou” and “ A ll My
L o v in ’ .”
S tay in g tru e to the
h eart a n d s o u lo f R & B ,
love and h a p p in e ss are
the them es that p rev ail
on HOT C O K O . The
fir s t s in g le , “ S u n ­
s h in e ,” for e x am p le, is
a lo v in g t r i b u t e to
Ja zz , C o k o ’s 3 -y e a r-
o ld s o n . “ I th o u g h t
th at tra c k was re a lly
happy and it m ade me
feel re a lly good, so 1
w rote about being in
love and being happy.
For m e, it re la te s to
my so n b e c a u s e he
b rin g s su n sh in e in my
l i f e . ” On th e s e x ie r
sid e , h o w ev er, is “ A ll
MY L o v i n .” “ I t ’ s
ab o u t bein g in a r e la ­
tio n sh ip w ith a guy and
g iv in g him my a ll, but
h e ’s not g iv in g it back
to m e ,” s a y s C o k o ,
a d d in g , “ So I tu rn to
s o m e o n e e ls e w ho
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