The Force MDs is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 R&B

Contemporary R&B

Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...

 vocal group, that was formed in 1981 in Staten Island, New York.

Biography

The Force M.D.'s originally called themselves the L.D.s, then the Force MCs, but ultimately preferred MD, which is short for Musical Diversity. Though the group was not quite always as recognizable as other New York R&B acts when it first started, the Force M.D.'s were among the first R&B vocal groups to intermix doo-wop

Doo-wop

The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...

-affected consonances with hip-hop beats.

When the group began performing as the L.D.s on Times Square

Times Square

Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...

 street corners and the Staten Island ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

, the group was composed of brothers Stevie D., Antoine "T.C.D." Lundy (February 3, 1964 – January 21, 1998), Rodney "Khalil" Lundy, their uncle Jessie Lee Daniels, and later friends Trisco Pearson and Charles "Mercury" Nelson (December 19, 1964 – March 9, 1995). After the L.D.s connected with DJ Dr. Rock

Dr. Rock

Cleophus "Dr. Rock" Turner began his career as one of the original Discjockeys, self dubbed, "the only pop-locking DJ in L.A.", in Lonzo's Wreckin' Cru during the early '80s. This group included Andre "Dr. Dre" Young, who would later achieve fame as both a rapper and a producer in the group NWA and...

 (Roger Daniels) they also performed as Dr. Rock & the Force MCs. In collaboration with Dr. Rock, the group continued to perfect their unique sound- a fusion of doo-wop harmonies and hip-hop that involved singing, rapping and group member's "human beatbox" melodies at underground hip hop shows. The Force M.D.'s gained even more credibility and respect from local fans after competing in an emcee lyrical battle against the well known Cold Crush Brothers from the Bronx.

By the time the Force M.D.s got a record deal, signing with Tommy Boy Records

Tommy Boy Records

Tommy Boy Entertainment is an independent record label started in 1981 by Tom Silverman.-History:...

 in 1984, the group had already developed into a pure quiet storm

Quiet storm

Quiet storm is a late-night radio format, featuring soulful slow jams, pioneered in the mid-1970s by then-station-intern Melvin Lindsey at WHUR-FM, in Washington, D.C. Smokey Robinson's like-titled hit single, released in 1975 as the title track to his third solo album, lent its name to the format...

/contemporary R&B group, with its top-ten R&B hit "Tears" from the Love Letters album. With the exception of their first album, the group was the first act on Tommy Boy to have major-label distribution through its then-parent Warner Bros. Records

Warner Bros. Records

Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...

. The group produced a collection of R&B hits throughout the 1980s

1980s

File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...

, and received overwhelming commercial success from the Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis

James Samuel "Jimmy Jam" Harris III and Terry Steven Lewis are an American R&B and pop-music songwriting and record production team...

-penned love song

Love song

A love song is about falling in love and the feelings it brings. Anthologies of love songs often contain a mixture of both of these types of song. A bawdy song is both humorous and saucy, emphasizing the physical pleasure of love rather than the emotional joy...

 "Tender Love" from their second album, Chillin’ (1985). "Tender Love" was featured in the 1985 feature film

Feature film

In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...

 and soundtrack Krush Groove

Krush Groove

Krush Groove is a 1985 Warner Bros. film, written by Ralph Farquhar and directed by Michael Schultz . This film is based on the early days of Def Jam Recordings and up-and-coming record producer Russell Simmons , portrayed by Blair Underwood in his feature film debut...

. The single proved to be a huge success, peaking at #10 in the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 chart, becoming an instant R&B classic after it stayed on the chart for 19 weeks. "Tender Love" was also one of the tracks that helped Jam & Lewis garner a Grammy Award

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

 for Producer of the Year. The song was sampled in the 1996 Bone Thugs N Harmony hit "Dayz Of Our Lives" and a number of current musicians that include Alicia Keys, the Backstreet Boys, Kelly Rowland, Marques Houston and Marsha Ambrosius have also included "Tender Love" in their stage shows in some way.

The Force M.D.'s finally scored its first R&B #1 hit in 1987, "Love is a House

Love is a House

"Love is a House" is a 1987 single by Force M.D.'s. Released on the band's Touch and Go album, the single was the group's third top ten hit on the Black Singles chart, and their most successful on that chart peaking at number one for two weeks, in the summer of 1987...

," from the group's third album, Touch & Go. However, the group's popularity began to wane the following year. A fourth album, Step to Me, was released in 1990, which featured production was by Full Force

Full Force

Full Force is a group of R&B performers and producers from Brooklyn, New York, USA, calling itself the original hip hop vocal band.-Members:*B-Fine - drums and drum programming*Shy Shy - bass guitar...

, Marley Marl, Monte Moir (of the Time), and others. Mercury and Trisco then left, and were replaced by original member Rodney "Khalil" Lundy and new member Shawn Waters. The group then released the album Moments in Time in 1994.

Tragedy struck the group three times with the passing of three of its members: Charles "Mercury" Nelson suffered a fatal heart attack in 1995; Antoine "T.C.D." Lundy died of Lou Gehrig's disease in 1998; and DJ Dr. Rock died under unknown circumstances. The Remaining MDs returned with a comeback album titled The Reunion in 2000. In an interview in 2009 President Obama highlighted the Force M.D.s among other artists included in his Air Force One iPod playlist. On April 8, 2010, the Force M.D.'s made its first national television appearance in over a decade on B.E.T.'s Monique Show.

A documentary film on the group titled The Force M.D.s Relived was made recently. The release date for a DVD is unknown at the moment.

Discography

• Love Letters (1984, Tommy Boy/Warner Bros. Records)

1. "Be Mine, Girl" (5:18)
2. "Don't Make Me Dance (All Night Long)" (5:18)
3. "Tears" (4:17)
4. "Let Me Love You" (5:04)
5. "Itchin' for a Scratch" (4:56)
6. "Forgive Me, Girl" (4:22)
7. "Let's Stay Together" (4:37)
8. "I Just Wanna Love You (4:50)

• Chillin (1985, Tommy Boy/Warner Bros. Records)

1. "One Plus One" (4:07)
2. "Here I Go Again" (6:24)
3. "Uh-Oh!" (4:28)
4. "Chillin'" (4:35)
5. "Force MDs Meet the Fat Boys" (4:07)
6. "Tender Love" (3:54)
7. "Will You Be My Girlfriend?" (4:25)
8. "Walking on Air" (4:17)

• Touch & Go (1987, Tommy Boy/Warner Bros. Records)

1. "Love is a House" (5:08)
2. "Would You Love Me?" (5:03)
3. "Touch and Go" (4:57)
4. "Couldn't Care Less" (5:30)
5. "Your Love Drives Me Crazy" (5:10)
6. "Midnite Lover" (5:02)
7. "Take Your Love Back" (4:48)
8. "Sweet Dreams" (4:34)

• Step to Me (1990, Tommy Boy/Reprise/Warner Bros. Records)

1. "Are You Really Real?" (5:51)
2. "Step to Me" (4:50)
3. "How's Your Love Life?" (5:11)
4. "Walking Into Sunshine" (4:36)
5. "Somebody's Crying" (4:04)
6. "I Only Wanna Be With You" (5:13)
7. "What's the Name of That Song?" (3:41)
8. "Watching You" (5:14)
9. "Why Can't We Be Friends?" (4:39)
10. "After 12" (3:45)

• Moments in Time (1994 NUWR Records)

1. "Inside My Room" (5:23)
2. "Dry Your Eyes" (5:12)
3. "Last to Know" (4:15)
4. "Moments in Time" (5:22)
5. "Do You Have a Friend" (4:22)
6. "Intro-Remember" (1:41)
7. "It's a Funk Thang" (Radio Edit) (4:00)
8. "From the Back" (4:29)
9. "Stop Frontin' (On a Good Thing)" (3:57)
10. "Everytime (Feels Just Like the First Time)" (3:59)
11. "If You Let Me" (4:55)

• The Reunion (2000 Mad Love Records)

1. "The Mighty Force MDs" (3:47)
2. "Rub it In My Face" (4:24)
3. "Messin' Around" (4:47)
4. "Don't Leave" (5:46)
5. "If I Die" (4:38)
6. "Everything" (3:52)
7. "She's a Dime" (5:07)
8. "Playing Around" (4:27)
9. "Come Close" (3:41)
10. "Big Shots" (3:47)
11. "Issues" (3:33)
12. "Shaky Ground" (3:44)
13. "Body and Soul" (3:31)

Cover version

One of their songs "Tender Love" was covered by Jordan Knight

Jordan Knight

Jordan Nathaniel Marcel Knight is an American singer-songwriter best known as the lead singer in the boy band, New Kids on the Block , and actor, who rose to fame in the 1980s and 1990s. He is best known for his distinctive falsetto style of singing, influenced by The Stylistics. After New Kids On...

, Backstreet Boys

Backstreet Boys

The Backstreet Boys are an American vocal group, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1993. The band originally consisted of A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson. They rose to fame with their debut international album, Backstreet Boys...

, Usher

Usher (entertainer)

Usher Terry Raymond IV , who performs under the mononym Usher, is an American singer-songwriter, and actor. He is considered around the world to be the reigning King of R&B. Usher rose to fame in the late 1990s with the release of his second album My Way, which spawned his first Billboard Hot 100...

, and Uncle Sam

Uncle Sam

Uncle Sam is a common national personification of the American government originally used during the War of 1812. He is depicted as a stern elderly man with white hair and a goatee beard...

.

External links

• [ The Force M.D.s] at Allmusic
• The Force M.D.s at Discogs
  Discogs
  Discogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...