All-4-One

"I Swear" won the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. It was also nominated for Song Of The Year.

Part of the recent wave in vocal groups in the quasi-doo-wop revival, All-4-One is a quartet whose roots are as equally grounded in the vocal arrangements of '50s acts like The Flamingos as they are in the suave stylings of '70s stalwarts Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes. Not content allowing themselves to blend in with the proliferation of Boyz II Men wannabes, All-4-One take a more liberal path towards putting together an interesting debut. Foremost is the choice to cover and totally re-interpret labelmate John Michael Montgomery's huge country hit "I Swear," giving it more of a barbershop quartet feeling.

While "So Much In Love" brings to mind the image of four singers gathered around a street corner harmonizing for lucky pedestrians, "Breathless" and "Something About You" find their muse tilling the fertile ground laid down by predecessors like Kool & The Gang, with a slight dose of new jack lite. "Here If You're Ready" is more pleading while "The Bomb" is a phat jam that is borderline risque in the vein of Bell Biv DeVoe with a healthy dash of Cameo thrown in for good measure.