Ten City

Ten City was an American R&B and dance band from Chicago that was a successful house act in the late 1980s and early 1990s . The biggest hit is That's the Way Love Is from 1989.

Band history

Singer Byron Stingily , keyboardist Byron Burke and guitarist Herb Lawson founded the house trio Ragtyme in 1987 and released their first singles , Fix It Man and I Can't Stay Away . Atlantic Records offered Stingily a solo contract at the time, but he did not want to perform alone and brought in his Ragtyme colleagues Burke and Lawson.

The formation, which was overseen by house producer Marshall Jefferson , was named Ten City, derived from Intensity . In October 1987 the track Devotion rose to number 17 on the US dance charts, and in 1988 Right Back to You reached number eight there. With That's the Way Love Is , the final breakthrough came in early 1989. The single came to number one on the US dance charts, number eight in the United Kingdom , number twelve on the Billboard R&B charts and number 18 in Germany . In April, a re-release of Devotion made it into the top 30 of the UK charts. The album Foundation , on which the previous hits are included, was also successful, rising to number 22 in the UK and number 49 on the Billboard R&B charts.

The album State of Mind was released in 1990 and could not place in the charts. Only the decoupling Whatever Makes You Happy and Superficial People achieved notable placements. Ten City then left Atlantic Records and released another studio album called No House Big Enough on EastWest America in 1992 . My Peace of Heaven , which was included and produced by David Morales , made it to number 2 on the US dance charts, with Only Time Will Tell reaching number 17 a short time later.

After another label change, this time to Columbia Records , the album That Was Then, This Is Now was released in 1994 with the dance hits Fantasy and Goin 'Up in Smoke , the latter is a cover version of the 1976 hit by Eddie Kendricks lack of commercial success, the trio separated and Byron Stingily devoted himself to his solo career.

Nomad feat. MC Mikee Freedom had an international hit in 1991 with a cover version of Devotion .

Discography

Albums

year	Title music label	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		DE	UK	R&B
1989	Foundation Atlantic 81939	-	UK22nd silver (12 weeks)UK	R&B49 (16 weeks) R&B	First published: February 6, 1989 Producer: Marshall Jefferson , Ten City

more publishments

• 1990: State of Mind (Atlantic 82146)
• 1992: No House Big Enough ( EastWest America 7 92170)
• 1994: That Was Then, This Is Now ( Columbia 57183; released May 17)
• 2001: The Best of Ten City (compilation; Ibadan 037; release: October 30th)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks	[↑]: treated together with the previous entry; [←]: placed in both charts
		DE	UK	R&B	Dance
1987	Devotion Foundation	-	UK29 (4 weeks) UK	-	Dance17 (9 weeks) Dance	First published: September 1987 Chart entry in UK only in April 1989 Authors: Marshall Jefferson , Byron Stingily
1988	Right Back to You Foundation	-	UK80 (4 weeks) UK	-	Dance8 (10 weeks) Dance	First published: May 1988 Authors: Marshall Jefferson, Byron Stingily, Byron Burke, Herb Lawson
	One Kiss Will Make It Better Foundation (UK version)	-[UK: ↑]		-	-	B-side of Right Back to You Author: Marshall Jefferson
1989	That's the Way Love Is Foundation	DE18 (15 weeks) DE	UK8 (10 weeks) UK	R&B12 (15 weeks) R&B	Dance1 (12 weeks) Dance	First published: January 1989 Authors: Byron Stingily, Byron Burke, Herb Lawson
	Where Do We Go? Foundation	-	UK60 (2 weeks) UK	R&B34 (11 weeks) R&B	Dance28 (5 weeks) Dance	First published: July 10, 1989 Authors: Byron Stingily, Guy Vaughn
1990	Whatever Makes You Happy State of Mind	-	UK60 (3 weeks) UK	R&B53 (12 weeks) R&B	Dance16 (10 weeks) Dance	First published: October 15, 1990 Authors: Byron Stingily, Byron Burke, Herb Lawson
	Superficial People State of Mind	-	UK96 (1 week) UK	-	Dance22 (7 weeks) Dance	First published: December 10, 1990 Authors: Byron Stingily, Byron Burke, Mark Ingram, Orbert C. Davis
1992	My Peace of Heaven No House Big Enough	-	UK63 (2 weeks) UK	-	Dance2 (13 weeks) Dance	B-side of Only Time Will Tell Producer: David Morales Writer: David Morales, Byron Stingily, Alec Shantzis
	Only Time Will Tell No House Big Enough	-[UK: ↑]		-	Dance17 (10 weeks) Dance	First published: August 3, 1992 Authors: Byron Stingily, Byron Burke, Herb Lawson, Aaron Smith
1993	Fantasy That Was Then, This Is Now	-	UK45 (2 weeks) UK	-	Dance20 (9 weeks) Dance	First published: August 30, 1993 Authors: Byron Stingily, Byron Burke, Herb Lawson
1994	Goin 'Up in Smoke That Was Then, This Is Now	-	-	-	Dance21 (10 weeks) Dance	First published: May 1994 Authors: Allan Felder, Norman Harris Original: Eddie Kendricks , 1976

more publishments

• 1987: Fix It Man (as Ragtyme feat.TC Roper)
• 1987: I Can't Stay Away (as Ragtyme feat. Byron Stingily)
• 1989: Funny Love (The Knee Deep Mix)
• 1989: Suspicious
• 1990: I Should Learn to Love You
• 1992: Rejoice (Ten City presents DJ Shon)
• 1994: The Way You Make Me Feel
• 1996: Nothing's Changed
• 1996: All Loved Out
• 2009: Raindance ( Marshall Jefferson presents Ragtyme feat. Byron Stingily; release: July 2nd)

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: DE UK
2. ↑ ^{a b} UK gold / platinum database
3. ^ Joel Whitburn : Top R&B Albums 1965–1998, ISBN 0-89820-134-9
4. ^ Joel Whitburn : Hot R&B Songs 1942–2010: 6th Edition, ISBN 978-0-89820-186-4
5. ^ Joel Whitburn : Hot Dance / Disco 1974-2003, ISBN 978-0-89820-156-7

Web links

• Ten City at Allmusic (English)
• Ten City at Discogs (English)