Tiffany Villarreal - Tiffany Villarreal (2004)

In the final post from the three members of Pharrell Williams' Latina girl group Affair, we have Tiffany Villarreal. Tiffany Villarreal was born into a musical family, and as a teenager her family moved to California, and later Las Vegas, Nevada where she attended a performing arts school. There she met and joined the R&B girl group 702, who introduced her to Missy Elliott. In 1996 she was signed to MCA Records and was preparing to release her debut album, with Missy Elliott as the executive producer, but due to RCA Records folding, the album was never released. In 2003 she was signed to Universal Records, and was featured on rapper Raekwon’s song 'The Hood', and during that same year she released her own debut single 'You, Yourself & You', which was well-received by critics, but had no impact on the charts. Her follow-up singles 'Rewind The Time' (featuring Raekwon) and 'Holla At Me' didn't fare any better, and so when Universal released her self-titled debut album, they only released it in Japan. After her stint with Universal Records, she signed with Pharrell Williams' Star Trak Entertainment record label as a member of Latina girl group Affair, alongside Vanessa Marquez and Natasha Ramos. When Affair didn't take off, she signed with Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment label, and later with Motown Records. After that, nothing solo was released, although she did make appearances on albums by artists such as Flo Rida & Baby Bash, and also co-wrote Fantasia's song 'Trust Him' for her 2010 album 'Back To Me'. Despite Universal's lack of confidence in her album, it's a perfectly acceptable collection of early 2000's R&B, and so if that's your thing, then here it is for you to enjoy.  

Track listing

01 The Real Intro
02 Fire
03 Rewind The Time
04 You, Yourself & You 
05 Erotic Interlude
06 Erotic
07 Go To Work
08 Holla At Me
09 For My Girls
10 Better Woman
11 Us
12 Set U Free
13 Silent Gun
14 Nine Months

Vanessa Marquez - Good Girl (2005)

Vanessa Rosalia Marquez was born on 21 December 1968, and is primarily know as an actress, appearing in the first three seasons of 'ER' as nurse Wendy Goldman, as well as her role as Ana Delgado in the 1988 biographical drama film, 'Stand And Deliver'. Her success with 'Stand And Deliver' led to a career in film and television, with roles in the crime drama 'Blood In Blood Out', and the independent film 'Twenty Bucks', both in 1993. In addition to her acting credentials, Marquez appeared as a singer in the 2000 thriller film 'Under Suspicion'. A few years later, produce Pharrell Williams, one half of The Neptunes, had a vision of putting together a Latina R&B girl group, inspired by The Supremes, and as Marquez had been signed as a solo artist to their imprint Star Trak Entertainment since 2001, she was considered for the group. By that point, she'd recorded vocals for Justin Timberlake's 2002 megahit 'Rock Your Body', as well as touring with him to promote his debut album, and she was also featured on 'Good Girl', a single from the compilation 'The Neptunes Present...Clones'. When the idea popped into William's head, Marquez had just started working on her debut album, and so he offered her the chance of joining his group, to be named Affair, along with Natasha Ramos, and later being joined by Tiffany Villareal. 

The timing felt impeccable, as in the summer of 2005, Destiny's Child, the biggest girl group of the 2000's, announced they were parting ways, and while no one could match the trio's groundbreaking contribution to pop, a fresh, talented, and bilingual group seemed like the right way to carry on the momentum that they'd leave behind. The music was going to be in English and Spanish, and they would have the star power of The Neptunes on their side, and as Marquez already knew Ramos there was a connection there from the start. Williams wanted three Hispanic females who could really sing R&B, so a search started for a third member of the group, and after a few try-outs a third girl was picked, but she didn't click with the rest of the group, so the search continued. Meanwhile, Marquez and Ramos had already formed a bond, and with both of them having similar husky voices, the songs sounded complete, and they felt that there wasn't a need for a third member. However, Williams was obsessed with "the power of three. The Supremes. The Trinity. The power of three" and so after six months of auditions, the third slot was filled by Tiffany Villarreal, a Texan of Puerto Rican and Mexican descent. With Affair finally complete, the label sent the group to Hollywood for a few weeks to bond and lay down some tracks. 

Villarreal continued singing with Affair while she waited for her Star Trak contract to be finalized, but a few weeks turned into three months, and doubts started to creep in. While she ruminated on her future with Star Trak, another offer came along, with Dr. Dre wanting to sign her to Aftermath Entertainment, and with no paperwork from the Pharrell side, and a contact ready to go with Dr. Dre, she signed with Aftermath, and the remaining girls found themselves back at square one. They finally accepted that a duo, even with their seamless vocal synergy, wasn’t going to be enough, and so Marquez left the label after her contract expired. Ramos signed as a solo artist after Marquez left, but it only lasted for a few years, and she let her contract expire too. As for Tiffany Villarreal, it didn’t work out with Aftermath, and she, like Ramos and Marquez, went independent. In her short musical career, Marquez had exploded on the scene with her collaboration with Justin Timberlake, and then  featured on The Neptunes' album, but not much else that she recorded was ever released, apart from a guest appearance on Butch Cassidy's debut 'Back B4 You're Lonely' in 2007. A year before Affair's debut album was due to appear in 2005, Marquez was recording her own solo record, and luckily there's enough material out there to piece together what it could have sounded like, so here it is, including a couple of tracks featuring Ramos and Villarreal. 

Track listing

01 Good Girl 
02 Daydreaming 
03 Friends Are (feat. Pharrell) 
04 Rider (feat. Natasha Ramos)
05 Do It Right 
06 Shorties (feat. Natasha Ramos & Tiffany Villarreal)
07 Want You to Know (feat. JR Huston) 
08 If You Keep on Askin' 
09 A View From The Top (feat. Butch Cassidy, Bishop Lamont & Damizza)

10 Runnin' Back (feat. Natasha Ramos & Tiffany Villarreal)
11 You Should Know (feat. Pharrell Williams)

12 One Small Kiss (feat. Damizza) 

Natasha Ramos - Show And Prove (2006)

Natasha Ramos started singing at a very early age, catching the attention of Linda Casey through a talent search that landed her a deal alongside Letoya Luckett and Latavia Roberson (formerly of Destiny's Child) in their new female group Anjel. After about a year with the band, she sought new opportunities after rumours surfaced of her not getting along with other band members, and she left Anjel. She started working with Andre Deyo, who wrote 'Jenny From The Block', and on which Ramos sang the demo, and JLo loved what she heard so much that she had Ramos record background vocals for the 'This Is Me...Then' album. She also kept most of the vocals on 'Jenny From The Block', and this all helped Ramos land a deal with Arista Records, although that fell through due to label issues, but it did lead to the opportunity to work with Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes. He fell in love with her voice and asked her to be a part of an all Latina girl group, Affair, which she accepted. She started to work alongside Vanessa Marquez, but just us Tiffany Villarreal was added as a third member, the group folded and parted ways. Ramos then signed a solo deal with Star Trak, and she had a slew of underground hits such as 'Midnight Hour', 'Invisible', and 'Strawberries', as well as singing background vocals with artists such as Jennifer Lopez and others. She recorded a solo album for Star Trak, tentatively titled 'Show And Prove', which was due to be released around 2006, and an early and unmastered reference version of it does exist. No official singles were released, but many tracks, including 'Deeper (feat. Robin Thicke)', appeared on several mixtapes and received some airplay, while the album cut 'Screwed' was set to be released as a single featuring Kanye West, but it was cancelled after West used his verse for another project. After the album's cancelation in 2007, interest in her skyrocketed when it was revealed that she and fellow singer Ashanti recorded a large percentage of vocals on several Jennifer Lopez projects, and although it's reported as being unmastered, her debut album is an R&B stormer, with many highlights, and so is well worth hearing. 

Track listing

01 Midnight Hour
02 Deeper (feat. Robin Thicke)
03 Got Me On Lock
04 Invisible 
05 Screwed (feat. Kanye West)
06 Pack Up
07 Dope Boy (feat. Pharrell Williams)
08 This Love (Interlude)
09 Last Night
10 Feelin' Myself
11 One Way
12 That Moment
13 Say Uh 
14 Running Out Of Love

The Neptunes - Big White Spaceship (2006)

In 2001 the Neptunes formed the Star Trak label, which was partially funded by Arista Records (from Bertelsmann Music Group) in a joint-venture. Pharrell Williams would sign longtime friends, Clipse, and release their debut album, 'Lord Willin'', on the label in 2002, led by the hits 'Grindin'', 'When The Last Time', and 'Ma, I Don't Love Her'. After the success of the album, the label would sign Kelis, Vanessa Marquez, Fam-Lay, N.E.R.D and pop rock band Spymob, who had provided backing instruments for N.E.R.D's debut album 'In Search Of....'. The label released a compilation album during the summer of 2003, entitled 'The Neptunes Present... Clones', featuring songs and remixes from various Star Trak artists. In late 2003, Star Trak Entertainment released the highly successful album, Tasty, by Kelis led by the hit single 'Milkshake', and in early 2004, Star Trak linked with EMI's Virgin Records for a new distribution deal. In the second of three compilations of rare and unreleased productions from the Neptunes, here are some of their lesser-known productions from 2002 to 2006.

Track listing

01 SOS Baby (Robin Thicke) 
02 Operator (Ol' Dirty Bastard feat. Clipse & Pharrell Williams)
03 Big White Spaceship (Pharrell Williams feat. Timbaland & Magoo) 
04 Wifey (Usher feat. Pharrell) 
05 My First Time (Beyonce) 
06 Want You To Know (Vanessa Marquez feat. Justin Timberlake) 
07 Another Life (Robin Thicke)
08 If You Keep On Askin' (Vanessa Marquez) 
09 Only One (Usher feat. Pharrell) 
10 Friends Are (Vanessa Marquez) 
11 Locked Away (N.E.R.D.)
12 What's A Guy Gotta Do (Usher)
13 Til the Morning [MJB Demo] (Natasha Ramos)