Show biz brothers show off; groups of versatile and talented siblings are taking the entertainment industry by storm

Ebony, Oct, 1990

SHOWBIZ BROTHERS Show Off

THAT enduring entertainment industry tradition known as the brother act is back. In an unprecedented show of fraternal muscle, teams of brothers are assaulting the music charts and television airwaves and racking up multi-media success.

While these brothers are not exactly hogging the limelight, many are simultaneously making breakthroughs. In the past two years, groups like pop music's LeVert and The Boys, and The Winans of gospel music fame have helped usher in a diverse mix of brother acts, including the Harper brothers, Phillip and Winard, who lead one of the most critically acclaimed new jazz bands working today.

And, of course, there's television's most talked about writer/producer/actor Keenen Ivory Wayans, the mastermind behind In Living Color, Fox-TV's late season hit. The weekly variety show's ensemble cast features Wayans' younger brothers, Damon and Shawn, as well as their sister Kim.

Brothers are operating behind the scenes as well. Entertainers such as M.C. Hammer, the superstar rapper who has taken the country by storm with his slickly produced videos and dazzling footwork, have turned their entire management teams over to competent family members. Hammer (ne Kirk Burrell), 27, the president of his own burgeoning production company, is managed by his brother Louis Burrell, 30, vice president of the company and one of the star's most trusted advisors. "I'm always sure that my brother has my best interest at heart," Hammer says. "He's a very gifted and intelligent person, probably one of the best in the world at what he does. That's why we make a good team."

Why the sudden rise in brotherly teamwork? "I think this is a period where Black people - particularly people in the same family - are reaching out more to help each other," says Kevon Edmonds, who is one-third of a rapidly rising singing trio that calls itself After 7. "Since talent tends to run in families it makes helping out a little easier."

After 7 was founded and developed with the kind of fraternal collaboration that is typical among today's hot brother teams. The group is composed of Kevon, his brother Melvin Edmonds and Keith Mitchell, all Indianapolis natives. Their debut album, which spawned the chart-topping single "Ready or Not," was produced by the hit-making team of Kenny (Baby-face) Edmonds, younger brother of Kevon and Melvin, and Antonio (L.A.) Reid, Keith Mitchell's cousin.

It was L.A. and Babyface who coaxed the group members out of Indianapolis - where each held day jobs while dabbling part-time in music - and down to Atlanta where the hot young producers have established a base. The working relationship is close and creative. The group members live together dormitory-style in an Atlanta apartment as they and their producers plot the course of After 7's career.

Being brothers is a plus in such a close and intense professional environment. "A lot of producers and artists get together for the very first time and they don't know each other," says Melvin. "It's a lot easier working with family. They know you. They know your personality, so they know what buttons to push at the right time to get the most out of you."

The bond between many of these show biz brothers can be almost symbiotic. Take, for example, Reggie and Cino-Vincent Calloway, the singing, songwriting and producing duo that just scored big with the hit single "I Wanna Be Rich." The Calloway brothers have worked together since the late 1970s when they were members of a jazz/fusion band that evolved into the funk/fusion band Midnight Star. In the mid-1980s they ventured into producing and tandem songwriting, churning out hits for artists such as Natalie Cole, Gladys Knight and LeVert. Along the way, they discovered that they were better suited to working as a twosome, without the distractions and conflicts of groupmates.

"With just us two, we can definitely concentrate on what we want to do," says Cino-Vincent, the younger of the pair (though they decline to reveal their ages). "By being brothers, and knowing each other as well as we do, we don't have to discuss things. We just feel our way through them."

The Calloway brothers, who live in side-by-side homes in Cincinnati (where they grew up), say they have a strangely intuitive connection that keeps them on the same wavelength, though sometimes things go amiss. "Usually when we leave our houses in the morning, we're wearing pretty much the same kind of thing, whether it's a business suit or casual clothes or whatever," says Reggie. "But if we leave and one of us is in a business suit and the other is in jogging clothes, we know our timing is off and it's probably not going to be a good day."

Not all of the brother groups find that living and working together is the best arrangement. The Wiggins brothers, Dwayne and Raphael, two of the front men for the group Tony Toni Tone, maintain distinctly separate private lives. Dwayne, the older of the two, lives in Oakland, where the brothers grew up. Raphael lives in Sacramento. "I just wanted a change," says Raphael. "I had lived in Oakland all my life. I wanted to live someplace else." Adds Dwayne, "We have different friends, some different interests. But when it comes to working together, this is the best working situation I've had.