Remember when Filipino-American Musicians Ruled the Airwaves in the 90's?

Writer Dino-Ray Ramos

THERE WAS ONCE A TIME when the soul and R&B music scene wasn't dominated by precocious, hair-whipping preteens, leggy Caribbean beauties and fedora-topped, sneaker-wearing crooners with sharp suits and even sharper moves.

In the mid '90s, before Bruno Mars threw his "Grenade" and before the Black Eyed Peas phunked with our hearts, a generous swell of Filipino American soul and R&B music acts filled radio airwaves and concert stages in some major cities, in particular the San Francisco Bay Area, where many of these groups were based.

Among them was the boy band Kai, whose smooth-crooning slow jam "Say You'll Stay" reached No. 59 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1998 and was the second Filipino American act to release an album on a major label, after Jocelyn Enriquez's 1997 album Jocelyn was released on Tommy Boy Records. Fueled by the infectious freestyle club hits "Do You Miss Me?" and "A Little Bit of Ecstasy," Jocelyn hit No. 12 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Other popular Filipino American R&B/pop acts of that era include: Pinay (hit song: "Is It Real?"), Devotion ("When I"), OneVoice ("When You Think About Me"), M:G ("Sweet Honesty") and Buffy ("Give Me a Reason").

While they benefited from the stratospheric insurgence of R&B acts like Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men, TLC and Janet Jackson during this period and gained some fame among urban Asian American youth, most of these groups were left unrecognized by the American mainstream. Musicians of that era say that, because of their race, they were unable to vault over the marketability hurdle in the music industry, which was practically insurmountable only 15 years ago — and is still only slowly being overcome today.

In 1993, University of California, Berkeley, students Irma Laxamana, Maylene Briones, Angelica Abiog McMurtry and Jocelyn Enriquez (yes, that Jocelyn Enriquez) formed Pinay. A Filipino American version of En Vogue, the group got its start performing at a Filipino student group event on campus. "We got such an amazing response from the crowd, that we did another event and then another and another," Laxamana said. "It just kept on going."

Enriquez left the band shortly after to sign as a solo artist with local Filipino American-run independent music label Classified Records, and her 1994 debut album featured the hit singles "I've Been Thinking About You" and "Make It Last Forever." Pinay eventually signed to the label as well.

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What are your fond memories during the 90's when you heard Filipino-American's singing on the radio? Write you comments below.