Amyth

Amyth (pronounced "a myth") is a vocal quartet consisting of two groups of friends, Wayne Spears and Otis "Labo" Jupiter from Baton Rouge, LA, and Jelani Phillips and Stephen Joyce from St. Louis, MO. Spears and Jupiter met while attending Southern University and decided to form a group. Jupiter brought in Phillips, and they performed as a trio for about nine months. When they decided to expand to a quartet, Phillips brought in his childhood friend Joyce. They moved to New York and began making demos. Their lawyer also had LL Cool J as a client, and he heard their tape. He was in negotiations with Warner Bros. for a production deal involving his own imprint, Rock The Bells (RTB), and signed Amyth as his first act. Their debut single, "1, 2, 3," was released in the summer of 1999 and made the R&B charts. It was followed in September by their debut album, The World Is Ours. ~ William Ruhlmann