Music you've never heard….'til now! A blog of rare, hardly-heard or remembered pop, hip-hop, R&B, freestyle, dance and country music from the '70s to the 2000s. From one-hit wonders to no-hit wonders, this blog has it all!!
Hey there! Thanks for dropping by rareandobscuremusic! Take a look around and grab the RSS feed to stay updated. See you around!
Chris Pittman (born in Jackson, New Jersey) was an R&B singer from the ’90s. Not much information is given about him, but he was discovered by Maurice Starr and signed to Atlantic Records.
In 1991, he released his debut album “CP Time.” It’s unknown how or if the album made the charts at all.
His first single “Show Me” peaked at #51 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Singles chart, staying on the chart for 8 weeks. R&B group Perfect Gentlemen provided backing vocals on the song.
Chris’ follow-up single “We Forgot to Say Goodbye” was released promotionally, but it’s unknown if it ever charted. After that, it seems as if Chris Pittman has faded into obscurity. His whereabouts are unknown.
To see the music video for “Show Me,” go to:
To see a fan-made video for “We Forgot to Say Goodbye,” go to:
As a bonus, here’s a video of Chris Pittman performing “We Forgot to Say Goodbye” on Soul Train:
Missez were an R&B female trio from the 2000s that consisted of Keyshia (born in Germany), Tomi (from Columbus, Ohio) and Rashe (from Los Angeles, California).
Keyshia was a military brat, born to a German mother & an African-American father. She grew up in Orlando, Florida and Las Vegas, Nevada. She has been performing since she was seven years old.
Tomi performed in musicals in high school. Rashe grew up in a musical family, sang in a choir and studied dance.
The trio signed to Interscope Records in late 2005 and later put under Geffen Records on the label Fo’Reel Entertainment. In May of 2006, Rashe replaced former member Rocky, who left the group.
During that same year, they released their debut single “Love Song” (featuring rapper Pimp C.) which peaked at #53 on Billboard’s Hot R&B\Hip-Hop Songs chart, staying on the chart for 20 weeks. There is also another version featuring rapper Paul Wall.
After that, nothing much has been heard from Missez and it doesn’t appear that they ever released an album at all. It appears as if they’ve faded into obscurity.
To see the music video for “Love Song” (featuring Pimp C.), go to:
To see a fan-made video for “Love Song” (featuring Paul Wall), go to:
No Secrets was a girl group from the 2000s that consisted of Angel Faith (born Angel Marie Faith on January 8, 1988 in Los Angeles, California), Carly Lewis (born Carly Sarah Lewis on July 26, 1985 in London, England), Erin Tanner (born Erin Elizabeth Kaulani Tanner on November 5, 1985 in Burbank, California), Jade Ryusaki (born Jade Alexis Kapololu Ryusaki on January 5, 1988 in Los Angeles, California) and Jessica Fried (born Jessica Allison Megan Fried on July 25, 1986 in Glendale, California).
The group was formed by Carly’s stepfather Adrian Gurvitz (who is a singer, songwriter & music producer). Carly wrote a letter to Adrian asking him to put a music group together. Soon after, Jade was invited to join the group and her cousin, Erin was the next person to join. Carly, Jade and Erin found Angel in an advertisement for a singing group. Angel joined the group and brought Jessica with her.
Once the line-up was completed, No Secrets began recording songs for their debut album, working with various producers & songwriters. They later took a break from recording the album to go touring in order to promote the group.
In June of 2001, they joined Aaron Carter in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for the shooting of his music video, “Oh Aaron” and provided backing vocals for the song. They were also featured on Aaron’s album, “Oh Aaron” on the track, “Stride (Jump on the Fizzy).”
In 2002, after touring with Aaron Carter for four months, the group filmed their first video, “No Secrets: Get to Know Us” which was released on VHS and DVD, and resumed working on their album. They were also featured on the soundtrack to the film, “Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius” with a cover version of Kim Wilde’s song, “Kids in America.”
During that same year, they released their debut single, “That’s What Girls Do.” It’s unknown how or if the single made the charts at all, but the song was featured in the end credits of “The Powerpuff Girls Movie” and on the soundtrack to the film, “The Hot Chick.” They were also featured on the soundtrack to the film, “Stuart Little 2” with the track, “Little Angel of Mine.”
In August of 2002, No Secrets released their self-titled debut album which peaked at #136 on the Billboard 200 and topped Billboard’s Heatseekers Albums chart.
In early 2003, No Secrets was featured on the “DisneyMania” compliation album with their cover version of “Kiss the Girl” from the film, “The Little Mermaid.” During that same year, they recorded a cover version of Atomic Kitten’s song “Whole Again” which didn’t appear to make the charts.
Angel left the group to pursue a solo career and released the album, “Believe in Angels… Believe in Me” in 2004 just as the finishing touches were being put on the group’s sophomore album, “Friends Forever” which was never released.
The four remaming members recorded and shot a video for the song, “Once Upon (Another) Dream” for the 2003 re-release of Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty.”
At one point, there were rumors about a new member joining No Secrets, but no official statements were ever made about it. A few years later, it was revealed that Lady Gaga (who was then known as Stefani) was confirmed to be the new member, but her manager back out of the project.
Due to the greedy actions of one of the girls’ parents (according to a 2007 interview with Jessica), No Secrets disbanded in 2005.
According to research, Jessica (now Jessi Malay) is a solo artist, fashion & beauty curator, has her own candle business called Haven Namai and is married with two daughters.
Erin began working on solo material under the stage name Nicki Foxx; it’s unknown what she is currently up to these days.
After returning from a six-month tour to promote her debut album, Angel began working on a follow-up album which was never released. After that, she retired from music in 2007 to pursue an education.
She went on to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology at UCLA, graduating magna cum laude in 2009. She later completed her Master’s and Doctoral degree in clinical psychology at Pepperdine University. These days, Angel works as a clinical psychologist at a hospital in Los Angeles, California.
Jade Ryusaki resides in Hawaii and works as a model. It is unknown what Carly Lewis is up to these days.
P.Y.T. were a girl group from Tampa, Florida. The members consisted of Ashley Niven (born Ashley Dee Niven on September 23, 1985), Lauren Mayhew (born Lauren Courtney Mayhew on November 27, 1985), Lydia Bell (born Lydia Terez Bell on February 25, 1986) and Tracy Williams (born Tracy Margaret Williams on May 22, 1986).
The girls were childhood friends and they performed together in Tampa Bay’s Entertainment Revue. Lauren portrayed the role of Marah Lewis on the CBS soap opera “Guiding Light” from August of 1998 to June of 1999.
The group formed under the name “Glory” in order to enter a contest in Teen People magazine.
Instead of entering the contest, they recorded a demo which made it to Epic Records’ Dave McPherson who signed them to a record deal in 1999. The group’s name was renamed to “P.Y.T.” which is derived from Michael Jackson’s song “P.Y.T.” (Pretty Young Thing), but on some occasions, the acronym stood for “Prove Yourself True.”
During that same year, P.Y.T. released their debut single “Something More Beautiful.” It’s unknown how or if the single charted at all.
In 2000, they released their second single “P.Y.T. (Down With Me).” Once again, it’s unknown how it charted, but a music video was made for the song.
The group toured with artists such as Britney Spears, *NSYNC, 98 Degrees and Destiny’s Child. In January of 2001, they performed at Super Bowl XXXV’s pre-game show, singing a cover version of the Bee Gees’ song “You Should Be Dancing.”
On June 19, 2001, P.Y.T. released their debut album “P.Y.T. (Down with Me).” The album failed to make any impact on the Billboard 200 at all.
Their third (and last) single “Same ‘Ol, Same ‘Ol” (featuring rapper Sarai) also flopped, but a music video was made for it.
P.Y.T. was later dropped from Epic Records in 2002. After the group was dropped, some of the girls wanted to shop themselves to other record labels, but Lauren Mayhew decided to focus on her acting career.
There were rumors that Lydia Bell and Lauren Mayhew were asked to leave the group due to personality conflicts or something like that, Ashley Niven was approached with several solo deals and Tracy Williams was offered to join a new girl group.
After P.Y.T. disbanded, Lauren & Lydia formed a new group called Turning Point, but the group fell apart.
Lauren has appeared in various movies and television shows. She is currently working on her solo music career and has joined the cast of TheStream.TV.
Tracy formed an all-girl trio called UC3 which has performed for U.S. troops overseas & throughout the United States which later disbanded. She appears to have started a solo music career and in 2008, she released a single called “Instant Gratification.”
Ashley Niven later joined a Christian music girl group called Encore, but it’s unknown what she is up to these days. As for Lydia Bell, it appears that she is still singing and doing theater.
To see a fan-made video for “Something More Beautiful,” go to:
To see the music video for “P.Y.T. (Down With Me),” go to:
Innosense was a girl group from the late ’90s\early 2000s. The group decided to misspell their name so they wouldn’t sound like “innocent little four-year-olds.”
They formed in 1997 and were managed by Lou Pearlman & Lynn Harless (the mother of Justin Timberlake).
The group originally consisted of Danay Ferrer (born on July 28, 1974 in Camaguey, Cuba), Nikki DeLoach (born Ashlee Nicole DeLoach on September 9, 1979 in Waycross, Georgia), Amanda Latona (born Amanda Marie Latona on March 24, 1979 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), Mandy Ashford (born Mandeline Elizabeth Ashford on March 16, 1979 in Clinton, Mississippi) and Britney Spears (yes, the Britney Spears).
Nikki was a cast member on “The All-New Mickey Mouse Show” (which also starred Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears). Danay went to high school with Joey Fatone and was chosen to be in the group.
Mandy was a member of the Attache show along with her high school friend Lance Bass (of *NSYNC) with who she also shared a vocal coach with. Lance recommended Mandy to Lou Pearlman and she was selected to join the group.
After Britney Spears left the group to pursue her solo career, she was replaced by Veronica Finn (born Veronica Lee Finn on July 5, 1981 in Memphis, Tennessee). In 1998, Innosence released their debut single “Wherever You Are” which was released in Germany.
It’s unknown how or if the single made any music charts, but they made a music video which aired in Germany. Amanda later left Innosense and was replaced by Jenny Morris (born Jennifer DeLou Morris on August 30, 1980).
In 1999, the group appeared in the movie “Longshot” and Britney Spears also appeared in the movie, but not with Innosense. After Britney’s solo career took off, Innosense became an opening act for her when she went on tour. They were also an opening act for *NSYNC.
On June 27, 2000, Innosense released their debut single “Say No More” which peaked at #20 on Billboard’s Hot Singles Sales chart, but missed the Billboard Hot 100.
On August 8, 2000, the group released their debut (and only) album “So Together” on RCA Records, but failed to make any impact on the charts at all.
The group’s last single “Rain Rain” was released in Germany in 2002. In 2003, Innosense disbanded to pursue separate projects.
Nikki DeLoach went on to pursue an acting career and currently appears on MTV’s television show “Awkward.”
Danay Ferrer considered starting her own solo music career, but her contract with Innosense prevented her from doing anything outside of the group and she began working in a bank. In 2005, she appeared in the stage production of “Dora’s Pirate Adventure.” It’s unknown what she’s doing these days.
Mandy Ashford has modeled in several publications such as Playboy, Miller Lite, Samson Technologies, Swisher cigars and currently for Thompson Pump.
Amanda Latona signed a solo deal with J Records where she recorded two singles “Can’t Take it Back” (in 2002) and “Do You Still” (in 2003), but after both singles flopped, she was dropped from the label. These days, she is now a fitness trainer and bodybuilder.
Veronica Finn (now Veronica Davidson) was part of a band called Zoetic, but these days, she is now a realtor in Tampa, Florida with Coldwell Banker.
Not much information is given on Jenny Morris’ whereabouts, but she married Jeff Beisl in 2004.
To see the music video for “Wherever You Are,” go to:
Chris Pittman (born in Jackson, New Jersey) was an R&B singer from the ’90s. Not much information is given about him, but he was discovered by Maurice Starr and signed to Atlantic Records.
In 1991, he released his debut album “CP Time.” It’s unknown how or if the album made the charts at all.
His first single “Show Me” peaked at #51 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Singles chart, staying on the chart for 8 weeks. R&B group Perfect Gentlemen provided backing vocals on the song.
rareandobscuremusic 