With the hit song, “Candy Girl” back in 1984, New Edition served as the model for the re-emergence of the “Boy Band” that took off in the 1980’s. Influenced by the Jackson 5, the young group had style, flair and dance moves that could rival the Temptations, The Pips and many other groups from the Motown era. The success of New Edition paved the way for other “Boy Bands” including New Kids On The Block, NSYNC, Hi-Five, Boys II Men and others.

Now 30 plus years later, the New Edition family is still going strong. The group has been through a number of changes over the years–ups and downs, break ups, make ups, new members, returning old members, solo projects, separate group projects. Nevertheless, one thing the fans can be sure of, is that the New Edition family is still touring, performing, entertaining packed arenas nationwide.

The latest form of the New Edition to hit the stage is RBRM (Ronnie Devoe, Bobby Brown, Rick Bell and Michael (Mike) Bivins, four of the original five members of New Edition.

RBRM recently kicked off their nationwide tour at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, where they performed to a near sellout crowd. Thousands of diverse fans came out to enjoy the RBRM hits live for a mid-week concert. Many concert goers might have been extremely tired as they reported to work Friday morning, but the show put on by RBRM was well worth the struggle.

From the time RBRM hit the staged until the house lights came on, no one was in their seat. Not even for the slow songs. The RBRM sound took the crowd back to when the NE sound was new. With world famous DJ Kid Capri cutting it up on the turntables just before RBRM took the stage really got the party going

Faith Evans, the queen of Bad Boy Records opened the show for RBRM. Faith was a chart topping solo artist with her self-titled debut album FAITH in 1995. It produced five No.1 Billboard hits and a number of awards including Billboard Awards, Soul Train Awards, Source Awards, American Music Awards, MTV Awards and BET Awards. The hits include Falling in Love, No Other Love, Ain’t Nobody, Come Over and Soon As I Get Home.

The New Edition family has put out new music within the last three years. It was well received by the diehard New Edition fans, and it received good air play and streaming hits. However, the new work didn’t take the place of the old hits.

The New Edition Family can be compared to Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, a legendary old school group. Maze featuring Frankie Beverly hasn’t produced new music since 1978, but they still sellout arenas everywhere they go. With exception of their project three years ago, the NE Family has not produced new music since the 1992, but they still have sellout crowds everywhere they perform.

“Longevity in this business is something to be desired in this business, and to be compared to a group like the Maze featuring Frankie Beverly is truly an honor,” said Ronnie Devoe. “With social media and the internet, everything is instantaneous, so to be able to withstand the societal changes is truly a blessing,” he added

The RBRM concert in Ontario solidified their influence in old school music. Between the hits from Bell Biv Devoe (BBD) and Bobby Brown’s solo projects, RBRM has enough hits to put together a nationwide tour. The best part about it is that in addition to Bobby’s solo hits like My Prerogative, Don’t Be Cruel, Every Little Step, and many others along with BBD’s hits like Poison, Thought It Was Me, Do Me, fans get to hear some bits and pieces of the their favorite New Edition hits like Mr. Telephone Man, Can You Stand The Rain and several others.

“We’ve been doing this for 30 plus years with music that has stood the test of time, we wear that old school or classic title as a badge of honor. A lot of people in this business would love to make old school status,” said Ricky Bell.

Although the classics is what packs the arena, the group still thinks it is very important to produce new music. It may not take the place of the old classics, but they feel confident that the fans will embrace it.

“New work is very important. You always want to build and add to your resume and increase your body of work. With new music it’s not about changing our sounds, it’s about adding current music to our body so we will remain relevant, concluded Mike Bivins.