Naturally 7 is an American music group with a distinct a cappella style they call "vocal play," which, according to group leader Roger Thomas, is "the art of becoming an instrument using the human voice to create the sound." They simulate the sounds of an instrumental band using only their voices, mouths and distortion effects. The group was formed in 1999 in New York City. It currently consists of the Thomas brothers Roger (musical director, arranger, first baritone, rapping) and Warren (drums, third tenor), Rod Eldridge (first tenor, scratching, guitar, trumpet), Ricky Cort (first tenor, guitar), Dwight Stewart (second baritone, vocals, trombone), Sean Simmonds (second tenor, harmonica), and N'Namdi Bryant (bass guitar, trumpet).

History Early years Naturally 7 was founded in 1999 by brothers Roger and Warren Thomas, from Rosedale, Queens. The brothers recruited five other singers they had come to know over the years of singing around the city. Roger was part of several traditional male groups over the years, thus developing his singing quality. When the group was invited to sing at a major a cappella competition in New York City, they won and moved onto the nationals before they took two more wins in the competition. Riding their new-found success and still having made no decision whether to have Naturally 7 as an a cappella group or a traditional band, Roger had the novel idea that the group would become both.Evan C. Gutierrez, Rovi Naturally 7 - Biography Billboard Retrieved November 15, 2014.Naturally 7 Biography Naturally 7 Retrieved November 15, 2014.

Ready II Fly Naturally 7 has released a number of albums over the years since the formation at New York City in 1999, including their debut studio album entitled Non-Fiction released in 2000, What Is It released in 2003, Christmas... It's a Love Story released in 2004, and Ready II Fly in 2006, released through Virginia Records. The group gained success by the partial cover of Phil Collins's "In the Air Tonight", titled as "Feel It (In the Air Tonight)", which contains additional lyrics from the group. The performance of the song at a subway has received over four and a half million hits on YouTube alone, and a number of people discovering the group, which adds to a figure daily. The single itself has turned into a Top 3-chart- success in countries outside North America, such as France, Belgium and South Africa, and also made the single charts in other European countries.

Wall of Sound In January 2009, the group released Wall of Sound as an exclusive special album in the United Kingdom and Ireland to commemorate their participation at the Royal Variety Performance. It contains known material from their previous albums, as well as five brand new tracks, which entered the British Album-Charts in the first week after release at #29. The group appeared on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, performing "Stardust" with Michael Bublé. In November 2009, the group travelled to Bermuda, as they took part in Quincy Jones's 2009 Bermuda Music Festival performing before an enthusiastic crowd.

Vocal Play The CD/DVD version of Vocal Play, which was released in 2010, contains original self-made tracks, such as "SOS (Anybody Out There)", the power ballad of "Love Me", the Motown-influenced “Ready or Not”, the Latin 768 and a duet with Michael Bublé on the Dinah Washington classic, “Relax Max”. The DVD includes HD live material from their performance at Madison Square Garden, extensive interviews with each group member, as well as their video clips. In fall 2010, the group, along with American rapper Ludacris, were featured on a track that appeared in Quincy Jones's album, Soul Bossa Nostra, which led them to a performance at The View in November, before continuing on touring with Bublé. Naturally 7 contributed a few songs for the soundtrack of the 2010 German/English dub film Animals United, including "King of the Road", "Splish Splash", "Hokey Pokey", and "Move On Up".

Members Current Name Voice part Primary vocal play role Secondary vocal play roles Years present Roger Anthony Thomas 1st baritone, 4th tenor, leader rap keyboard, synth, trumpet, strings, wah wah guitar 1999 ~ present Warren Andre Thomas 3rd tenor drums, percussion trumpet, string, electric guitar 1999 ~ present Roderick Lowell Eldridge 2nd tenor DJ scratching, loop pedal percussion, electric and rhythm guitar, trumpet, string, flute, keyboard, rap 1999 ~ present Dwight Martindale Stewart 2nd baritone, lead vocal trombone rhythm guitar 1999 ~ present Lee Ricardo "Ricky" Cort 1st tenor, lead vocal electric guitar trumpet, strings, synth, rap Apr 2015 ~ present Sean Anthony Simmonds 3rd tenor, lead vocal harmonica trumpet, rap May 2018 ~ present N'Namdi Olufemi Bryant bass bass guitar contrabass, bass synth Aug 27th 2021 ~ present

Former Name Voice part Primary vocal play role Secondary vocal play roles Years present Armand "Hops" Hutton bass bass guitar contrabass, bass synth Oct 2006 ~ Dec 2014, Dec 2020 ~ Aug 15th, Nov 6th 2021 Kelvin “Kelz” Mitchell bass bass guitar contrabass, trumpet, bass synth Jan 2015 ~ Dec 2020 Garfield Rolando Buckley 2nd tenor harmonica trumpet, strings, rhythm guitar 1999 ~ May 2018 Napoleon “Polo” Cummings 1st tenor electric guitar trumpet, strings, synth Oct 2010 ~ Apr 2015 Jamal Mackram Reed 1st tenor electric guitar, flute, violin trumpet, synth, strings 2000 ~ Oct 2010 Andre Edwards bass bass guitar 2006 ~ Oct 2006 Marcus H. Davis bass bass guitar 1999 ~ 2006 David LaRoche 1st tenor 1999 ~ 2000

Timeline

Discography Studio albums Year Title Peak chart positions AUS What Is It: FRA GER UK2000 Non-Fiction — — — —2003 What Is It? 52 — 40 —2004 Christmas: It's a Love Story — — — —2006 Ready II Fly 14 64 — —2009 Wall of Sound — — — 292010 Vocal Play — — — —2012 Live — — — —2015 Hidden in Plain Sight — — — —2017 Both Sides Now — — — —2018 A Christmas Xperience — — — —2020 XX 20/20 — — — —2024 Naturally 7 @theMovies, Volume One — — — —

Singles Year Title Peak chart positionsGER single chart positions AUT FRA ITA SWI BE single chart positions AUT BEL (Vl) BEL (Wa) FRA GER ITA SWI 2003 "Music Is the Key"(with Sarah Connor) 6 3 11 – 1 – 2 2006 "Feel It (In the Air Tonight)" – – 3 15 55 14 –

Featured songs Xavier Naidoo: "Wild vor Wut" (featuring Naturally 7) Quincy Jones: "Soul Bossa Nostra" (featuring Ludacris, Naturally 7, & Rudy Currence) album Q: Soul Bossa Nostra Xavier Naidoo: "A New Horizon" (featuring Naturally 7) from the German/English dub film Animals United (2010). A "Vocal Play" version is included on the soundtrack, which was released on December 7, 2010 through Königskinder Music, and is also available on iTunes.Animals United (Original Soundtrack) iTunes Retrieved September 2, 2014

Other songs The following songs are included on the soundtrack for the 2010 German/English dub film, Animals United: "King of the Road" "Splish Splash" "Move On Up" "Hokey Pokey"

MLK Day performance In January 2016, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the group performed with The Maccabeats, a Jewish a cappella group from Yeshiva University, in a cover of James Taylor's "Shed a Little Light." The music video was filmed in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., where King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. Taylor called the performance "one of the best covers of 'Shed a Little Light' I've ever heard."

References

External links

Video of "Feel It (In the Air Tonight)" performance on the Paris Metro Interview by Michael 'The Dood' Edwards 'UK Vibe' June 2009 A profound feature with interviews in May 2015 at Soul Express