H-Town

Twin brothers Kevin and Solomon Conner, along with longtime friend Darryl Jackson formed H-Town, the endearing term for their hometown of Houston, in 1991. After honing their skills and developing a local fan base, the trio sent a demo tape to 2 Live Crew rapper and label executive Luther “Luke” Campbell. The result of which was an unexpected audition and ultimately the band signed with Luke Records in the early '90s.

The group’s debut album “Fever for Da Flavor” arrived in April 1993, went multi-platinum, and spawned H-Town’s biggest and most recognisable hit “Knockin’ Da Boots”. The single topped the R&B charts, rose to No. 3 on the Billboard 200, and subsequently made way for the single “Lick U Up”. The same year the group won the Soul Train Music Award for Best New Artist and embarked on the Coca-Cola Summerfest Tour alongside ’90’s R&B and rap favourites Shai, SWV, Naughty by Nature and LL Cool J. The group represented a new wave of R&B artists adopting the flavour of vintage soul music, which has since been adopted by a host of modern R&B acts.

H-Town's sophomore album “Beggin’ After Dark” was issued in 1994 and spawned the successful hit single “Emotions”, which reached No. 11 on the R&B chart and No. 51 on the Billboard 200. Other singles from the album included “Sex Bowl”, “Full Time”, “Buss One” featuring Papa Reu, and “Baby I Love Ya” featuring Roger Troutman.

Undergoing a female-focussed transition in 1996, H-Town cut ties with Luke Campbell and raised a number of women’s issues on their third studio album “Ladies Edition”. Listing national women’s helplines on the back of the CD, the album spawned the singles “Don’t Sleep on the Female”, “Julie Rain” a disturbing account of domestic violence, and “Jezebel”. Solomon Conner released a solo effort “Bringing the Heat” in 2000 followed by the band’s fourth album “Imitations Of Life” issued in 2004 on their own label H-Town Music. Frontman Kevin Conner passed away prior to the release in a car accident, and due to lack of major-label backing the album didn’t receive a great deal of promotion, which led to little success in the charts.