Biography
Foster was born in Oakland, CA and was greatly influenced by numerous of styles of music from The Beatles to Parliament/Funkadelic. Thomas McElroy, also born in Oakland, was influenced by his father's love for jazz music. The two musicians first met in California while attending college, and decided to work together as colleagues.
Signing to the independent Triangle label, they released one 12" single. Soon after Foster & McElroy joined forces with Jay King, and produced Timex Social Club's hit single "Rumors" in 1985-86, which spawned the hit group Club Nouveau,that Foster & McElroy was also members of. The Duo left Club Nouveau after the first Album to focus on production and songwriting. 1987-88 They managed to land a production deal with Wing Records. Signing the band " Tony Toni Tone' " and brother an sister act "Channel 2".Following the success of Tony Toni Tone' Foster & McElroy released two albums, FM2, in 1989, which included songs such as "Around the World in 80 Beats", "Gotta Be a Better Way", and "Dr. Soul" (a top ten R&B hit featuring rapper MC Lyte), and was a moderate success. The duo recorded a second album, a hip hop jazz album "Once in a Blue Moon", in 1994 under their new name 'FMob'.The duo also Has written a few Television theme songs as well, like "Hanging with Mr.Cooper", TV show "Roc",and BET's "Video soul".
While working on their FM2 album, Foster & McElroy made plans to put together a girl group that would be a modern-day version of The Supremes, and would produce records for the group that mixed classic soul style vocals with hip hop beats. After several auditions, Foster & McErloy eventually selected Cindy Herron, Maxine Jones, Dawn Robinson, and Terry Ellis to become the members of En Vogue, as the girl group came to be called. With hits such as "Hold On", "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)", and "Don't Let Go (Love)", En Vogue has become one of the most successful girl groups in music history.
Read more about this topic: Foster & McElroy
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