For those who love the tunes of Marvin Sease, it may be a surprise to know that this blues man got his start as a gospel singer. He was born in Blackville, South Carolina and grew up with the influence of Southern blues music. He started singing with the Five Gospel Singers out of Charleston, South Carolina but moved to New York City by the time he was 20 years old. He found a second gospel group to join while he was there, called the Gospel Crowns.Tired of gospel and looking to move into R&B, Sease recruited his three brothers as a backup band and tried to find success that way. It failed, and Sease worked hard as a singer at clubs and started releasing his own music. He put out a self-titled release in 1986 and found measured success with the song "Ghetto Man." He worked many different gigs in order to try and promote the song. He re-released the LP after getting a record deal and added a song called "Candy Licker," which was 10 minutes long. The racy lyrics of the song made it banned from the radio, but it had an underground following that brought it to fame.The success of that album led to more releases for Sease. He released Breakfast in 1987 followed by two releases in 1989, Tell Me Why and Real Deal. He continued to put out albums into the 1990s with It's Christmas Time in 1990, Show Me What You Got in 1991, Housekeeper in 1993, Do You Need a Licker? in 1994, Please Take Me in 1996, The Bitch Git It All in 1997 and Hoochie Momma in 1999. Please Take Me was the highest charting release of that group by hitting number 54 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. More releases followed in the 2000s, but none found as much success as his earlier albums.
