From blue stars to true stars..Miami heat is nothing compared to Pretty Ricky’s scorching musical inferno. Not since the ‘70s heyday of The Jackson 5, and the more recent ‘90s frenzy of *NSYNC, has a young act stirred crowds to such a feverish pitch, creating mass hysteria wherever they appear. But how did a relatively unknown family act emerge as one of the biggest new groups of 2005? Ever since the brothers’ love for entertainment expanded into a career as one of the most popular acts in Miami back in 1997, they stayed on the grind, working their hometown’s music circuit with performances at every show under the hot Florida sun. Their father, Joseph "Bluestar" Smith, kept his boys rocking fly gear and catching radio programmers’ ears until their notoriety reached the ears of Atlantic Chairman/CEO Craig Kallman in late-2004. When Kallman was nearly trampled by thousands of concertgoers at a Pretty Ricky show, the group quickly landed a deal with Atlantic Records. Over the course of a few months, Pretty Ricky became hugely popular, bringing heightened awareness to the urban Miami music scene. It seems fans just couldn’t get enough of Pretty Ricky. Brothers Pleasure (Marcus Cooper), Slick ’Em (Corey Mathis), Diamond Blue Smith (Baby Blue), and Spectacular Blue Smith, became unable to even go to a local movie theater without causing pandemonium. "Blue Stars," one of the best-selling albums of 2005, spawned three hit singles - "Grind With Me," "Your Body," and "Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number" - and sold nearly a million copies.So, what to do for round two? "We didn’t want to be in a position where the label would say, ‘Give us four hot records,’" Baby Blue explains. "We wanted to come up with an album full of singles, from the intro to the outro. We’ll never put fillers on our album."After landing nominations for a Billboard Award, a World Music Award, and an American Music Award, Pretty Ricky believed that it was important to make a comeback in 2007 with an album just for the fans. In an effort to include their burgeoning and loyal audience in the process of creating the new CD, the group went so far as to advertise a contest on the Internet in which fans could submit a potential title for the album. Over 10,000 hopefuls submitted possibilities, and the winning entrant - who suggested "Late Night Special" - received a thank-you phone call from the group as well as recognition in the album credits.

Pretty Ricky, who have become favorites on the concert tour scene - including sold-out performances on "Scream 4" - took a hiatus from the public eye to prepare for the making of "LATE NIGHT SPECIAL." "We decided we weren’t going to do any more shows, but that we would go into the studio before we even got a call from the label asking us to start on the album," says Baby Blue. "The money we were making from touring was tempting, but we thought it was more important to get to work and start coming up with new material for our fans. We wrote and produced everything ourselves through Blue Star Productions, with the exception of our collaborations with Static Major, who co-wrote on the album."

"When we brought the new tracks to the label, we played the first record and people said, ‘Wow.’ Then we played the second record and they said, ‘Wow.’ By the time we got through the third record, they said, ‘Whoa!’ Because we had made sure that we put together an awesome album."

"Late Night Special"’s sensuous first single, "On The Hotline," whets fans’ appetites as its ear-licking lyrics satisfy the listeners’ musical senses.

Although Pretty Ricky’s debut CD, "Blue Stars," boasted big hits, "Late Night Special" seems destined to surpass their previous success. The growth and maturity of their lyrics, production, and vocals, coupled with the group’s innate ability to connect with fans of all ages, shows the diversity and expansion of Pleasure, Slick ’Em, Baby Blue and Spectacular as major recording artists.

On the menu for "Late Night Special": appetizing interludes to whet your palate, mouth-watering ballads for the main course, and Pretty Ricky for dessert!

Pretty Ricky