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'Cheryl "Coko" Clemons' (born 'Cheryl Gamble' on June 13, 1974) is an American gospel and R&B singer, and lead singer of platinum selling R&B group Sisters With Voices (SWV).

Contents

Biography

Sisters With Voices

Going Solo

Reuniting With SWV

Discography

Albums

Other

References

External links

Biography

Clemons rose to fame as a member of Sisters With Voices (SWV), but began as a choir member in Hezekiah Walker's Love Fellowship Tabernacle Choir.^[1] Clemons began her recorded return to her gospel roots by singing on the Brent Jones & TP Mobb single "Midnite" in 2002. She also appeared on Youthful Praise's 2003 gospel album ''Thank You For The Change'' singing lead on the caribbean-flavored "Up There".

Sisters With Voices

From 1990 to 1998, Coko sang with the platinum recording group, Sisters With Voices (SWV), which commercial wise, was a great success. Altogether the group issued 6 albums. After their 1998 Christmas album SWV disbanded. However, 2 albums did release during this period; Greatest Hits (1999) and the Best of SWV (2001).
Though many stories circulated as to why SWV disbanded, it was Coko herself who made the final decision.^[2] In an interview, she said it was not a mutual decision and that many people tried to convince her to stay. She states that her reason for leaving was that the group was not communicating well and that she felt she would do better with a solo career.

Going Solo

After SWV disbanded, Coko went on to release her first solo album under RCA, cleverly titled ''Hot Coko'', released August 1999. The first single, "Sunshine," which was dedicated to her son Jazz (son of Digable Planets' member Butterfly), reached the Top 40 position in the R&B charts that summer. However, both the album and singles did not gather the same mainstream success as Coko once did with SWV; RCA may have promoted her solo career poorly due to the label focusing on up-and-coming pop singer Christina Aguilera. Meanwhile, Coko was working on a second solo album titled ''Music Doll'' in early 2001, but the Black music division of RCA closed up shop and the project was shelved. Since then, the singer concentrated more on her family, and eventually married gospel producer Mike Clemmons, of whom fathered her second son, Jalen. Soon enough, she began to return to her gospel roots and did several collaborations with gospel artists such as Brent Jones ("Midnite") and Youthful Praise ("Up There"). The move would transition Coko from an R&B to a gospel singer for good later on.
Several press outlets reported in March 2006, that Coko signed a recording contract with Light Records,^[3] a revival of the seminal gospel label famed for early releases by Walter Hawkins, Tramaine Hawkins, Andre Crouch, and The Winans. Coko's full gospel solo debut titled ''Grateful'' was released October 31, 2006^[4] and debuted at #5 on Billboard's Top Independent albums chart. ''Grateful'' includes an all-star cover of The Clark Sisters' "Endow Me" which features R&B singers Faith Evans, Fantasia Barrino and Lil Mo.^[5] An alternate version, with Kierra "Kiki" Sheard (daughter of Karen Clark-Sheard of the Clark Sisters) replacing Faith Evans, was performed at BET's ''Celebration of Gospel '07''. A special edition of ''Grateful'' only available through Wal-Mart includes two bonus tracks "I Wish" and Brent Jones' "Midnite" featuring Coko on lead vocals.

Reuniting With SWV

:''Main Article: Sisters With Voices''
Coko recently reunited with SWV and performed their first live performance in eight years at Los Angeles urban radio station KKBT 100.3 "The Beat"'s summerjam concert on August 20, 2005. They also appeared on the 2006 New Jack Reunion Tour. SWV was recently featured in the new XXL spin-off magazine "XXL Hip-Hop Soul" where they discussed single releases from their groundbreaking debut album It's About Time. In the interview, lead singer Coko mentioned that the group would no longer perform sexually-explicit songs such as "Downtown" and "Can We" anymore out of a new respect for her beliefs as a Christian. The group's final performance took place in Toronto in late June 2007.
^[6]

Discography

Albums

Album cover	Album information
	'''Hot Coko''' (RCA Records) ★ Released: 1999 ★ Chart positions: #68 US, #14 US R&B[7] ★ Singles:"Sunshine", "Triflin" ★ Producers: Rodney Jerkins, Brian Alexander Morgan, etc.
	'''Grateful''' (Light/Artemis) ★ Released: October 31, 2006 ★ Chart positions: Billboard Gospel #5 / Indie #21 / R&B #40 ★ Singles: "Clap Your Hands", "I Get Joy" ★ Producers: Warryn Campbell, Donald Lawrence, Alexander "Asaph" Ward, "Big Mike" Clemons, Tony Homer

Other

★ Will Smith: "Men In Black (featuring Coko)" ''Men In Black Soundtrack'' (Columbia, 1997)

★ LSG: "All The Times (featuring Faith Evans, Coko, & Missy Elliott)" (Elektra, 1997)

★ Coko: "He Be Back" ''Why Do Fools Fall In Love Soundtrack'' (Elektra, 1999)

★ Brent Jones & TP Mobb: "Midnite (featuring Coko)" (EMI Gospel, 2002)

★ Coko: "Easy Lover" ''Urban Renewal: The Songs of Phil Collins'' (Atlantic, 2003)

★ Youthful Praise: "Up There (featuring Coko)" (Evidence Gospel, 2003)

★ Johnny Gill & Coko: "Fire and Desire" ''Booty Call Soundtrack'' (Jive, 1997)

★ Onitsha: "My Life" (featuring Mary Mary and Deborah Cox) (Stillwaters Records, 2007)

References

1. Coko Debuts At #5 On Billboard Chart
2. Coko Talks About SWV Breakup Rosen, Craig
3. Cheryl ‘Coko’ Clemons Formerly of SWV Signs with Artemis Gospel
4. Interview with Coko: A New Beginning
5. Grateful Album Review Bonner, Gerald
6. The Black Shakespeare Chronicles — The Rebirth of Coko
7. Coko Chart History

External links

★ CokosPlace.com

★ - (official site)

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