Floetry, Carl Thomas, and Teedra Moses

Strangely enough for a music duo who debuted so young, Marsha Ambrosius and Natalie Stewart first bonded over their shared love of basketball while they were studying together at the BRIT School in Croydon. While Ambrisious was musical, she wasn’t even studying a performing art the way that Stewart was, but the two young women kept in touch even after they left for university. Stewart went on to form a performance poetry group called 3 Plus 1 while Ambrosius began writing songs prolifically, and in 1999, they collaborated on a song called “Fantasize”. The fledgling duo were so proud with their efforts that Ambrosius joined 3 Plus 1 to perform its live debut with them, and soon afterwards Stewart and Ambrosius decided to collaborate more, forming a band together that they called Floetry.

However, the band saw no future for them in the U.K, so in 2000 the duo moved to the United States to perform on the poetry circuit there. They settled down in Philadelphia to begin writing and recording demos together, and in 2002 they signed a record deal with Dreamworks Records to release their debut album “Floetic” in the same year. Right off the bat they were critically acclaimed and found a sizeable following thanks to their live shows, but the duo wouldn’t find commercial success until the 2005 release of their second album “Flo’Ology”. Even though it stormed into the Billboard charts at number 7, it still couldn’t stop the band parting ways the following year. After succesful solo careers for both members, the band got back together at the end of 2014 during a solo concert of Ambrosius’, and have announced a string of tour dates for 2015. For being one of the best songwriting acts of the neo-soul style, Floetry come highly recommended.

Thomas’ career catapulted whilst he was performing around New York City, singing at open mic nights. He was fortunate enough to be at a performance attended by Sean Combs, who decided to take a chance on Carl Thomas, signing him to Bad Boy Entertainment in 1997. He released the single “I Wish” on February 15th 2000. It became a number-one in the R&B single charts, spending six weeks at the top spot. It also reached number 20 in the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The single created enough buzz for his debut album, “Emotional” to take off, which was released on April 18th 2000.

The album made it to number 8 on the Billboard 200 and number 2 on the R&B chart. It was shortly after, certified Platinum, and featured more singled such as “Summer Rain” which made it to the top spot of the R&B charts and number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Let’s Talk About It”, Carl Thomas’ sophomore album released on March 23rd 2004, made it to number 4 in the Billboard 200 and number 2 in the R&B Chart, despite the singles not quite reaching the chart positions that his previous singles had. In 2006, Thomas featured alongside Hussein Fatal and Papoose on “Dumpin” on the “Pac’s Life” album. Thomas managed a Grammy Award nomination for the soundtrack category with the song “Everyday (Family Reunion)”.

Thomas’ third installment, “So Much Better”, released on May 30th 2007 made it to number 25 on the Billboard 200. It also reached number 2 in the R&B chart.

In 2011, he released an album called “Conquer” that reached number 21 in the R&B charts.