Mista (band)

Mista
Origin	Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Genres	R&B
Years active	1996-1997
Labels	Elektra/EastWest
Members
Darryl Allen Bobby "Valentino" Wilson Brandon Brown Byron Reeder

Mista was an American R&B group in the mid-1990s from Atlanta, Georgia.

Biography

Mista is a R&B quartet who hit the scenes in 1996. Mista was a group of friends who were reportedly formed by a group of girls on their bus. According to Bobby Valentino he says "I would always sing on the bus and one day somebody came up to me and said this dude wants you to sing with you, which was Byron." Byron in turn introduced Bobby to Darryl and Brandon. They tried out the sound of their harmony and banned together. Before Mista Bobby V expressed they'd called themselves Smooth. He continued that all the girls loved their voices and would comment on how angelic the guys' voices sounded. They did talent shows and performed all around their school and to any crowd. In 1994 Bobby Wilson caught The legend Rico Wade and told him all about the group and how their looking forward to a deal. Supposedly they all met at Bobby's house and performed to Rico the harmony and Rico fell in love and now the group had been noticed. Tony Hightower, a manager over the EastWest records, held auditions. Rico Wade phoned to him about Mista and raved on their potential. Somehow Tony found Mista's addresses and gathered them together and to audition they sang. According to Bobby: All the big time producers were there and of Elektra they had won their ears and earned a deal. Mista was signed to Elektra in 1995 they recorded their soon-to-be-smash "Blackberry Molasses" hit. Inspired by the Atlanta crimes and the struggles of teenagers. The song hit airwaves May 13, it was the second most requested song on Hot97 and on WBDG, Mista also aired the video in Atlanta's streets. The highest chart number it rose to was no #7 on Hot Airplay. They created a tour called Earthjam going to high schools to promote their singles, from Dallas to New Orleans. The boys released their self-titled debut album. Mista peaked at no #37 on Top R&B & Hip Hop Albums, but Top 200 they hit no#183 critiques felt they were too young to talk hardships. The album was a moderate success. Mista received some pretty good criticism from Vibe and Jet. In November they released "Lady" which peaked at no #67. They made many appearances on Teen Summit and on Soul Train. In 1998 they disbanded due to them just wanting to do their own thing. Mista last recorded "About You" that had never rose to radio airplay, after Mista just called it quits. Bobby V went on to a solo career having huge success when redebuting in 2005 with his single "Slow Down". Thus having 3 albums and many hit singles, he stated in an 2008 interview that there could be a possible Mista reunion.

Discography

• Mista (1996)# 36 U.S R&B

Blackberry Molasses (1996)

References

External links

• Mista at Allmusic