Ronnie DeVoe is a known American rapper and a member of the R&B Group “New Edition” and R&B group “Bell Biv DeVoe”. He is also known as R.D., Big Ron and Ron-Ron Smooth mello fello.
His biggest success was his work in “New Edition” group who became widely known for their hits: Candy Girl, Can You Stand The Rain” , Youre Not My Kind Of Girl” and more.
Early years
Ronnie was born on November 17, 1967 in Roxbury in Massachusetts under the name Ronald Boyd De Voe Jr. He has four siblings and he spent all his childhood with them. They were always very supportive to each other.
His mother was Florence E. DeVoe and his father was Ronald Boyd DeVoe, so it is noticed that he has his father’s name.
He has two brothers: Robert “Money Walker” DeVoe and Roland “Rizzo Destroyer” DeVoe. He also has two stepsisters – Tonya and Regina Moss.
Brooke Payne, his uncle, is the choreographer of New Edition Group and he brought his nephew Ronnie to the group. Before that he was in the music group called “The Dramatics”. He noticed his talent and wanted to help him become a known artist.
His mother was afraid when she found out that he became the member of New Edition because they were known as a great dancers and Ronnie didn’t know how to dance. To her surprise he became one of the best dancers the group ever had.
Career development
In 1981, New Edition performed at a talent show and they gained second place. Maurice Starr, a music and record producer, got interested in the group and he signed them to his own label called “Streetwise recoed label”. In 1980’s they became extremely popular and they brought their record label a big income.
There is one interesting fact that we must tell and it is that the group’s debut album named “Poison” sold more copies of this album than the old group New Edition ever did. DeVoe had a big influence on this.
The group had a big help from the producers of Public Enemy in making their best known album called “Poison” – the album is considered as the first album which brought “new jack swing” music.
It is music combined of soul, hip-hop, funk, and pop.
In 1998 he was nominated for a Grammy award in the category for Best Performance by a duo or a group with vocal for a single “If It Isn’t Love “.
In 1990, the group ended their collaboration and Ronnie DeVoe, Ricky Bell and Michael Bivins(from the group) formed a new R&B group called “Bell Biv DeVoe”. Their first album came in 1990 and it was sold in over 5 million copies and had five hits on the album.
Three years later in 1993, they released their second album called “Hootie Mack”.
It was released by MCA Records and produced by three very known producers: Chris Stokes, L.A. Reid and Babyface.
In 1996, Ronnie made a collaboration with former New Edition members and they released an album called “Home Again”. It was followed by their 1997 World Tour.
Bell Biv DeVoe released their third album in 2001. It was called BBD (first letters of the group members).
Their fourth album came over a decade after, in 2017 and it was called Three Stripes.
Their most known hits were Poison and B.B.D. (I Thought It Was Me)? but they had a lot of successful albums too.
Ronnie is a co-owner of a real estate agency called “DeVoe Broker Associates”. He always wanted to try himself in a “real” business and see could he succeed in it. Today he is an owner of this agency and gaines huge income from it.
He is also an owner of his recording company called Private Line Inc and he is very proud of it for he had built it himself!
He collaborated with many artists and was featured on a lot of singles of other rappers. This made his fanbase larger.
He appeared on “Everyday”, a single sang by Tha Truth. He rapped on songs made by Johnny Gill.
At the 2017 BET Awards the New Edition group received their Lifetime Achievement Award. They held a speech after they received it but first they have performed their hits in front of the audience.
The group has recently also gained their star on the Hollywood Walk of fame as one of the most influentual R&B groups of all times.
Bobby Brown, a former member of the group, resisted to filming a series about tge group for a very long time but he gave his permission and BET TV filmed The New Edition Story mini series.
This brought the group back in the limelight and gave their careers a boost since they have started doing interviews on the TV, radio and their social media accounts started to gain more followers and subscribers.
Personal life
He got married in 2006 to Shamari Fears, a singer of a known R&B group called Blaque. They welcomed their twins, Ronald and Roman in 2017. They are extremely happy as new parents and they even revealed that they visited marriage council years before and their reconciliation brought them this blessing.
His wife Shamari Fears is a lead vocal of the known R&B group called Blaque and she had a very noticed role in “Bring it on” movie. It was a sports comedy film from 2000 which earned her a lot of money.
Her lady group “Blaque” was extremely popular and Shamari was a very beautiful and talented leading singer of the group.
He has a lot of outdoor hobbies he likes. They include jet skiing and horse riding.
He also likes snow sports and he and his wife often went to vacations and trips. They consider it a good vacation, but also a great way to keep their relationship close because they both tend to focus on their careers too much sometimes.
Quick summary
Full name: Ronald Boyd De Voe Jr.
Date of birth: November 17, 1967
Birthplace: Roxbury, Massachusetts
Age: 51
Profession: rapper, singer, producer, businessman
Height: 1,83 m
Weight: NA
Net Worth: $1 million
