New Edition

New Edition is an American R&B and pop vocal group formed in the late 1970s in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The founding lineup — Ralph Tresvant, Bobby Brown, Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, and Ronnie DeVoe — was assembled with the help of producer Maurice Starr, whose polished vocal-harmony-plus-choreography formula echoed earlier groups like The Jackson 5 and The Temptations while updating the sound for the era of electro-funk and early hip-hop rhythms.

Their 1983 debut «Candy Girl» made them teen stars almost overnight, and after a split from Starr over royalties, their self-titled 1984 album cemented their sound with hits such as «Cool It Now» and «Mr. Telephone Man». Bobby Brown later left for a hugely successful solo career, while the remaining members expanded the group and also branched into the spinoff act Bell Biv DeVoe, blending New Jack Swing with their R&B roots.

New Edition is widely credited as a direct blueprint for the boy-band explosion of the following decades, with acts from New Kids on the Block to Boyz II Men, Backstreet Boys, and *NSYNC citing their influence. Their catalog remains a touchstone of 1980s R&B, valued for tight harmonies, charismatic lead vocal trade-offs, and songs that balanced romantic ballads with dancefloor energy.