The Case For Ricky Bell

At 47 years of age I am finally saw New Edition perform.

Not really. It was just Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky and Mike who now perform as RBRM. Oh well! I’m not going to pass up 2 free VIP tickets at The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. I went and overall it was a good show.

I want to applaud the guys for not allowing the sudden departure of Ralph and Johnny to stop the show. These boys know how to turn lemons into lemonade and lemonade into Bacardi Limon.

From New Edition > Bobby Brown > New Edition minus Bobby >New Edition plus Johnny > Bell Biv Devoe > Ralph Tresvant > Johnny Gill > New Edition plus Bobby > Heads Of State > RBRM.

With the removal of the two infamous lead singers, it gave Ricky Bell more spotlight.

There is one segment where Ricky was doing all of his parts. His ending of Is This The End and Can You Stand The Rain. Then he did Tell Me When Will I See You Smile Again which brought many ladies including my wife, to their feet begging for more.

At that point The Prudential Center recognized that Ricky Bell is severely slept on. They loved Bobby but for that moment in time, Brown was an afterthought. It was all about Ricky Bell.

Since the Poison album, I always felt Ricky was slept on and used as filler when it’s clear that he can sing lead with the right material. Many people don’t even know that he had a solo album that had a single that charted overseas. I still need to buy that album.

The show also provided some new information. Did you know Bobby’s Every Little Step was originally written for NE? As Bobby explained, when the group broke up, Bobby went back and recorded it for himself. At this point, Bell and Brown do Every Little Step together which was awesome.

If nothing else, I am glad New Edition broke up. Now my man can get his shine.