ARP

Probable

1990s Jamaican R&B-influenced vocal group — the name stood for A Raw Perspective, also styled Always Ready to Perform — built around lead singer Orville Thomas, later known solo as Da'Ville, alongside Patrick Hylton, Leon Gilbert, Roger Mitchell and Orand Rose-Green. Da'Ville, drawn to the style of Boyz II Men, Silk, Shai and Jodeci, developed his craft inside the group before it took its ARP name; Mitchell and Gilbert's close harmonies, both gleaned from church singing, completed the line-up. Their debut release was a cover of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" cut at Cell Block Studio, performed over dancehall rhythms in an R&B style that had the group tipped by the media as the next big thing by the mid-1990s. Da'Ville left for a solo career in 2001, signing to Penthouse Records.