Ten City

Ten City

Ten City is a Chicago house group active from 1987 to 1994. The line-up centres on vocalist Byron Stingily, guitarist Herb Lawson, keyboardist Byron Burke and producer Marshall Jefferson. The group’s name comes from the word “intensity”.

Sound and style

Ten City works across deep house, garage house and house, and is also described as an R&B/house act. The group builds a crossover style that reaches both club audiences and urban/R&B radio.

Career and recordings

The group’s debut album, Foundation, is a crossover release that reaches number 49 on the Top Rhythm and Blues/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Ten City places ten entries on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. Among the best-known are “Devotion”, “Right Back To You” and “That’s The Way Love Is”, which all reach number 1 in 1989. These tracks remain closely associated with the group’s reputation as a house act.

Other Top 10 Hot Dance chart or single sales entries include “My Piece of Heaven” and “Fantasy”. The group’s album discography also includes State of Mind (1990), No House Big Enough (1992), That Was Then, This Is Now (1994) and The Best of Ten City (2001). The singles list also includes “Where Do We Go?”, “Suspicious”, “Foundation”, “Whatever Makes You Happy”, “Nothing’s Changed”, “Only Time Will Tell” and “Goin’ Up In Smoke”.

After the group

Byron Stingily leaves the group in 1995 and continues as a solo artist. He later rerecords “That’s The Way Love Is”, taking it back to number 1 on the dance chart in 1999.