SWV Deals with All New Drama on New Season of “SWV Reunited”
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(NEW YORK) — Fans have been patiently waiting for new music from SWV. And with their hit WeTV reality show, SWV Reunited, music lovers thought they were closer than ever to hearing Cheryl “Coko” Clemons, Leanne “Lelee” Lyons and Tamara “Taj” George together again. But fans will quickly see in season two of their show, that a comeback album is proving difficult.
One reason it’s hard is because Taj recently suffered a seizure and battled pneumonia. She tells ABC News Radio that she’s “great” after that episode, but has another health issue affecting her singing voice.
“Now, the only thing I’m dealing with are vascular polyps. It’s just little bumps that are sitting on my vocal chords, and they have little blood vessels on top of them that keep bursting,” she explains. “So my voice goes in and out. It just feels like a little strained. It’s really not painful.”
Another reason is because their manager, Jeff Robinson — who was once rumored to have ripped off Alicia Keys in a management deal — dropped them. SWV claims they weren’t even aware Jeff didn’t want to manage them any longer, eventually finding out via email after hearing it around the industry.
“I noticed his intentions a year before they did,” Taj says, referring to the other ladies. “I noticed those and it just didn’t sit right with me. It did not sit right with me. And every day he just proved me more right. It appeared like he really didn’t want to work with us. He was really working with Coko and trying to get his Gospel label off the ground.”
But if the ladies can overcome finding a new manager and getting healthy, they know exactly who they want to work with and what sound they’re aiming for.
“I want us to challenge ourselves. I want us to work with somebody like will.i.am or Pharrell again. And do some music that we’re not used to doing. I just want to feel challenged,” LeLee says. “I want to show the world that we are versatile.”
Taj adds, “We can have our normal R&B songs on the album but we definitely need to sprinkle in some newer cocktails, just to have that in there because I do enjoy some of the music that’s out now.”
SWV says they’re inspired by Chris Brown, particularly his ad-libs, and Joe. In fact, the ladies have long worked with Joe as he previously dated LeLee. “He worked with us on our first album,” Taj reveals. “He did a lot of arrangements and helped Coko with her ad-libs and stuff like that. He’s incredible.”
The only single member of SWV says she split with Joe because, “You know, careers. It’s hard. And this was the very beginning before y’all even knew who he was.”
WeTV’s SWV Reunited premieres Thursday at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
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