Cameo
Cameo can be booked through this site. Cameo entertainment booking site. Cameo
is available for public concerts and events. Cameo can be booked for
private events and Cameo can be booked for corporate events and
meetings through this Cameo booking page.
Unlike most middle agents that would mark
up the performance or appearance fee for Cameo, we act as YOUR agent in
securing Cameo at the best possible price. We go over the rider for
Cameo and work directly with Cameo or the responsible agent for
Cameo to secure the talent for your event. We become YOUR agent,
representing YOU, the buyer.
In fact, in most cases we can negotiate for
the acquisition of Cameo for international dates and newer promoters
providing you meet professional requirements.
Cameo Biography
An outlandish, in-your-face stage presence, a strange sense of
humor, and a hard-driving funk sound that criss-crossed a few musical
boundaries earned Cameo countless comparisons to Parliament/Funkadelic
in their early days. However, Cameo eventually wore off accusations of
being derivative by transcending their influences and outlasting almost
every single one of them. Throughout the '70s and '80s, the group
remained up with the times and occasionally crept ahead of them, such
that they became influences themselves upon younger generations of
R&B and hip-hop acts. By the time the group's popularity started to
fizzle in the late '80s, a series of R&B chart hits -- ranging from
greasy funk workouts to synthesized funk swingers to dripping ballads
-- was left in their wake. Further separating Cameo from their
forebears, they didn't have a diaper-clad guitarist. Instead, they had
a codpiece-wearing lead vocalist.
That vocalist was Larry Blackmon. In 1974, the ex-Juilliard student and
New York City club-goer instigated a funk band with a membership of 13
called the New York City Players. Blackmon, Tomi Jenkins, and Nathan
Leftenant formed the group's nucleus. The Casablanca label signed the
group to their Chocolate City offshoot, and shortly after that, the
group changed its name to Cameo. Their excellent debut album, 1977's
Cardiac Arrest, was highlighted by four singles. Three of those hit the
Billboard R&B chart: Rigor Mortis (number 33), Funk Funk
(number 20), and Post Mortem (number 70). Although the group was
clearly inspired by elder funk groups like Parliament, Funkadelic, and
the Ohio Players, Cardiac Arrest made Cameo's case for belonging in the
same division an open-and-shut one.
In an attempt to keep the ball rolling, 1978 saw the release of Cameo's
second and third albums. Neither We All Know Who We Are nor Ugly Ego
were as solid as the debut, but the group's singular characteristics
were becoming increasingly evident. The winding, horn-punctuated It's
Serious (from We All Know Who We Are) narrowly missed the Top 20 of
the R&B chart, while Insane (from Ugly Ego) dipped just inside
it, peaking at number 17. The best halves of these two albums would've
made a fine sophomore LP.
1979's Secret Omen, featuring a disco-fied re-visiting of Cardiac
Arrest's Find My Way and the magnificently funky and slightly loony
I Just Want to Be (a number-three R&B chart hit), was stacked
with fine album cuts and brought Cameo back as a group that excelled in
the LP format. Sparkle was one of their best ballads, a sinewy number
that hit the Top Ten. Five albums released between 1980 and 1983
(Cameosis, Feel Me, Knights of the Sound Table, Alligator Woman, Style)
brought about a slight dip in quality on the album front. Despite an
abundance of filler on each record, none of those albums were strict
disappointments, delivering hot Top 20 R&B singles like Shake Your
Pants, We're Goin' Out Tonight, Keep It Hot, Freaky Dancin'
Just Be Yourself, Flirt, and Style.
One of the most significant ripples in Cameo's time line came during
that period, in 1982, when they packed up and set up shop in Atlanta.
Pared down to a quintet and located in a less hectic city, the group
became bigger fish in a smaller pond. Blackmon even started his own
label, Atlanta Artist. The label's first LP, Style, also marked a
significant shift in sound, with synthesizers taking on a pronounced
role. Paydirt was struck with 1984's She's Strange; the title cut, a
late-night slithery smolder, topped the R&B chart and eclipsed the
Top 50 of the pop chart, kicking off a remarkable three-album run that
made Cameo one of the most popular groups of the '80s. Single Life and
Word Up!, released respectively in 1985 and 1986, continued the hot
streak. The singles from those two albums -- Attack Me With Your
Love, Single Life, Word Up, Candy, and Back and Forth -- held
down the Top Five plateau of the R&B chart. Word Up even went to
number six on the pop chart, giving them their biggest bite of the
mainstream. The song was everywhere.
What goes up must come down, and that's exactly what happened to Cameo.
Despite the fact that two more singles -- Skin I'm In and I Want It
Now -- scaled up to number five on the R&B chart, neither Machismo
nor Real Men Wear Black performed well as albums. After 1991's
Emotional Violence, the group's profile was lowered significantly, but
they did tour sporadically to the delight of hardcore fans as well as
plenty of misguided people who thought Cameo was all about Word Up
and nothing more. Notably, Blackmon spent a few years of the '90s at
Warner Bros., as the vice president of A&R.
Cameo's presence continued to be felt throughout the early 2000s, not
only through extensive sample use and less tangible influences upon
younger artists and producers. Several retrospectives have kept the
group's music alive: Casablanca's 1993 compilation The Best of Cameo is
an excellent point of entry. Mercury's 12 Collection & More,
released in 1999, covers the group's best dancefloor moments. 2002's
spectacular Anthology, a double-disc set also released by Mercury,
covers a lot of ground and does the group justice as a total package. ~
Andy Kellman, All Music Guide
Written by Andy Kellman