Shai was an early 1990s vocal R&B/soul quartet. Their biggest hit was an a capella single, “If I Ever Fall in Love,” which made #2 in the U.S. Top 40.
Shai was formed at Howard University in Washington D.C. Three of the four members, Marc Gray, Carl Martin, and Darnell Van Rensalier, belonged to the same fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, and along with good friend, Garfield A. Bright, decided to take a chance at turning their hobby of singing into a career. Moving to New York City, New York, the foursome tried to secure a record deal, but they couldn’t find any takers. With their money running out and their future looking bleak, the members of Shai took a chance on a radio contest that radio station WPGC was sponsoring. They chose to perform a song that Carl Martin wrote, “If I Ever Fall in Love,” which they sang a cappella. The song won the contest and began finding airplay on WPGC. Other stations soon followed, and suddenly the record labels came calling. After signing with Gasoline Alley, Shai began putting together its debut album.
“If I Ever Fall in Love” was the first single and peaked at #2 in the U.S. The next two releases from the double-platinum album, “Comforter” and “Baby I’m Yours” both reached #10. The group’s next CD was a remix album largely consisting of new versions of their previous hits, which resulted in a revised version of the song “Baby I’m Yours” simply titled “Yours” which peaked at #63. Future efforts fell shy of the Top 40 although the group did briefly reappear there in 1994 with the #34 “The Place Where You Belong” from the Beverly Hills Cop III soundtrack. The group’s last charting single was 1996’s #89 single “I Don’t Wanna Be Alone”. They are still on stage, and keep digging it… |
