Fatty Koo: Overnight Celebrities

By Donna Marbury
Contributing Writer
Columbus Post

“Did I mention that I’m the original Eddie B from Columbus,” says Ron Riley, the Fatty Koo producer, after at least five times reppin’ the city. “There are a lot of talented people in Columbus and our group wants to put the city on the map, the way Atlanta is and Detroit was.”
Blowing up is one thing, staying up is another. Some of the most talented blends of street and R&B have been susceptible to the ills of the music industry. Mismanagement at all levels has caused the demise of many a group, and the industry graveyard continues to grow.
Enter Fatty Koo, a group of young Buckeyes vying for top spots on the music charts and our iPods. While many artists wear the years of struggle and hardship it took for them to become famous like badges , members of Fatty Koo know their success has come rather quickly.
“Things have happened with this group that has never happened in history. And you know how people say stuff happened over night? Well that how it was with us,” says Riley.
The group will perform in their first Columbus concert on Thursday, May 26 at the Southern Theater at 7:30 p.m.
“We’re really excited because we will be raising money for CAPA. This is our first show in Columbus period,” Riley says.
The industry has been abuzz about the super group, all under 21, whose mix of hip-hop, pop and instrumentation is being called the best thing since the Beatles. The group hails from Columbus and was discovered making music as the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus rolled through the Buckeye State. Within three months, Eddie B, 20, Gabrielle, 17, Marya, 18, Ron, 20 and Valure, 20 were jetting between New York and Columbus, making one of the most anticipated CDs of the year, called House of Fatty Koo. Their single “Bounce” was chosen as the anthem for TNT’s NBA playoffs this year. But after seeing the first couple shows in their series “Blowing Up: Fatty Koo,” which chronicles their first live performances, flubbed studio sessions and failures at choreography, one may wonder what is all the buzz is about.
“What you are seeing now is from two, three years ago,” says Riley. “We’re well established now.”
During the reality show, Fatty Koo must deal with the impatience of their management.
“We’ve learned the ins and outs of the business and the ups and downs of management. Our management is good people, but they’re not used to developing somebody,” says Riley.
With names like The Fugees and The Black Eyed Peas, DAS Management has established its niche in genre-bending, urban, eclectic music. But Riley says that although the group is talented, with each member writing and producing the entire album, DAS was expecting miracles.
“When we first got signed, we wrote and produced the whole album, but they (DAS) hardly called us. We were sitting by the phone like Charlie’s Angels just waiting for an assignment,” Riley said, adding that things are running a little more smoothly but the group is no longer naive. “Everything is good now. But there are people you can’t trust and they put you in uncomfortable positions, but that brings the best out of me. I’m a fish and there are a lot of sharks around.”
Riley put the album together using a laptop Mac computer, two keyboards and Logic Pro 7.
The group is like an industry hit squad all in one: Valure is the soul singer reminiscent of early Lauryn, Gabrielle is the smoldering pop/rock princess, Eddie B is the prolific writer/singer (“The first time we met, we made so many songs it’s ridiculous,” says Riley, who is already being sought across the industry because of his production skills) and Marya is an element of surprise, a Venezuelan cellist with all the hip-hop of violinist Miri Ben-Ari.
“Because of our individual sounds, the group is more unique,” says Riley. “And everybody can write.”
The group will open for label mates Black Eyed Peas and Talib Kweli the first half of the summer. At the end of the summer, look for them with Common, Faith Evans and Brian McKnight. There, audiences will be able to gauge better whether all of those choreography and vocal lessons stuck.
“Our growth now is that we all came together and have chemistry. We became a family,” Riley says. “Back then we didn’t know what to do. But now that we’ve had a hand in the business, we’ve had more coaching, we know what to do at a show.”