20080318

J'Son

Now I know the first four posts may not be that obscure, but I'm wondering if anyone can put their finger on this next artist:



He's so obscure that a VHS tape of his video is the only evidence we have to prove he actually existed!

OK, kidding. There actually is another video of his on YouTube and a few fan-made videos, but I'm sure most of us obscure R&B fans will always associated J'Son with "Take A Look" and this Box favorite. God, how I miss The Box. Did every '90s video have to have the big-flowing-curtains-in-the-background thing? Imagine being a set designer going to a fabric store saying, "Gimme 100 yards of red taffeta STAT!" And doesn't this song give you a Mariah Carey "Dreamlover" vibe?

After checking Billboard, Allmusic and Wikipedia (he doesn't even have a page there), little information has turned up. J'Son has charted three low-position songs ("Take a Look," "I'll Never Stop Loving You" and "I Should Cheat on You") on the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts, and a self-titled album was released on Hollywood Records (pre-Disney pop music takeover), but nothing more since 1998. Billboard lists "I Should Cheat On You" (what was he, like 14? Serious subject matter there...) as being produced by Rodney Jerkins. It only peaked at #72 Hot 100/#48 R&B, at a time when Jerkins-produced songs ("The Boy is Mine," "If You Had My Love") were dominating the charts.

I remember hearing a rumor back in 8th grade that J'Son was gay, but I'm pretty sure that's middle school urban legend. And since I can't find his real name, I can't even MySpace him. So if anyone knows what became of him, let me know! In the meantime, here's his Billboard and Allmusic profiles. Here's his video for "I'll Never Stop Loving You" (I vaguely, vaguely remember this) as well.

How to make a comeback:

By guesstimation, J'Son should be about 24-28 by now, which is still young enough to attempt a singing career. So what are you waiting for? A quick stage-name change and maybe a switch to a more contemporary or neo-soul brand of R&B would do a world of good. Come on J'Son, I'm waiting on a comeback!

7 comments:

Reina Negra V said...

Maaaaaaan, I used to LOVE him! I wonder if proof of the other video for "I'll Never Stop Loving U" is out there. You know...the one where he's in a gym while the object of his affection is practicing her cheers with her team? I think I still remember part of the routine from that.

Weird.

Rae Sanni said...

dude, he came out in the early 2000's as part of a singing group called 3rd storee.

I've been dying for someone to write a wiki page on him! ahhhh!

Unknown said...

Now he's a part of the music group Chapter 4, here's video of them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RXrQItxENI

I wish I could find the video of "I'll never stop loving you, someone took down the regular version, all I can find is the remix version of the video on Singingfool.com. Now I gotta go through all my vhs to find the original video. My friends and I were crazy about him.

crystal said...

he is back! https://www.facebook.com/iamjaysonic
he goes by jay thomas as well

crystal said...

here is some more info: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lX6to1Q6I8 his new video and his new nick name is jay sonic and his name is jay thomas for friend profile, he was my biggest crush in the 90s so I had to do a lot of research and I finally found him

Madison said...

Hi, I came across your site and wasn’t able to get an email address to contact you about some broken links on your site. Please email me back and I would be happy to point them out to you.

Thanks!

Madison
maddie0147@gmail.com

jade said...

Just Want to Hold You" (#27 R&B/#34 Hot 100) was the obligatory ballad. R&B