The list of R&B singers who live in Atlanta and have signed onto a reality show just increased by one: Leanne "Lelee" Lyons of the 1990s trio SWV.
WE-TV already has reality shows featuring Mary Mary and the Braxtons. Now it's introducing"SWV Reunited," which debuts at 10 p.m Thursday, January 16. The show features the trio working on their first full-fledged nationwide tour in 15 years.
SWV, a New York-based trio from the 'hood, was really hot in R&B circles in the early 1990s with hit songs such as "Weak" and 'Right Here/Human Nature." But like a lot of groups, they broke up a few years later in contentious fashion.
Lyons moved to Atlanta in the late 1990s and was soon out of cash and living out of her car. She was briefly suicidal before family brought her back to sanity.
"I didn't really know anything else" besides music, she said. "But I knew I was smart. I just didn't have the proper guidance being in the group" to figure out life after the group.
She had two kids and needed to do something to take care of them.
Her family in Atlanta helped her get her life in order. She got her GED and eventually landed a job in accounts receivable at an accounting firm off Jimmy Carter Blvd.. At the office, she had to ignore folks who would talk about her and critics who called her a has been.
"I had to put my pride aside and forget about SWV fans and what they thought of me," she said. "Fans would call me at the office and ask for me. It was crazy."
Those years she worked a 9-to-5 job, she said, were her happiest. "I knew I had a guaranteed check every two weeks and I kind of built off of that," she said. "That was an awesome experience."
Around 2005, she began talking to the other members of the group again, Tamara "Taj' Johnson-George and lead singer Cheryl "Coko" Clemons. Once they were able to make the peace, they reunited. "We had grown up," she said. The separation "was necessary. The break up was necessary at that particular time in our lives."
After they did a radio show, they did a tour in Japan. "From then on, it took a life of its own," she said. "We've been working since 2005."
And now this reality show. "It was just awesome to have a major network such as WE-TV to believe in you and your story. This kind of brings your vision to the world and the masses. It's been a wonderful experience. I'd do it again!"
The show, she said, will reveal the three women will still get on each other's nerves. "We don't always agree but it's okay," Lyons said. "We have to realize who brought us here. The reason we're still here is our fans. We don't forget that."
She knows most of the R&B divas who are in Atlanta and have had reality shows or are on reality shows (and there are plenty!). Her two closest are Faith Evans (who recently stepped away from TV One's "R&B Davis") and Monifah.
TV preview
"SWV Reunited," 10 p.m. Thursdays (beginning January 16, 2014), WE-TV
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