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From the early '90s and throughout,
Jon B, as well as a few others, had the R&B game on lock, mesmerising with his passionate ballads, doting love songs, uptempo club numbers and seductively smooth ride out jams. Continuing into the new millennium, many argue that while R&B as a genre was on the decline Jon’s finest offering came in 2004 when he offloaded the dark, deep and honest
Stronger Everyday. While to date he’s released six official albums, including the more recent
Helpless Romantic and
Comfortable Swagg, his newest project focuses more on what the genre used to sound like as opposed to what it has become.
Come on, admit it. If you are a female of a certain age you wanted to be a member of 
Veteran R&B group Next recently performed live in London, treating fans with their classics, including “Wifey” and “Too Close,” as well as debuting new material. The live show marks the return for the trio, who are set to release a new album - seductively titled Next, Lies & Videotape – early next year.
Nowadays authentic R&B music is noticeably scarce in the mainstream charts. I remember growing up in the '90s; you’d hear a lot of credible R&B on the mainstream music channels. It had a soulful edge to it, with elements of swing, jazz and even hints of reggae mixed in. But these days R&B chart music barely resembles its rhythm and blues origins. It’s now watered down to cater to a more commercial audience, creating a new R&B/pop sound in the process – one that’s a million miles away from the genre’s previous generations.
In the late '90s urban boybands – or male vocal groups, as some like to call them – were really big: from the likes of Jodeci, 112, Blackstreet and Dru Hill, to Damage, Boyz II Men and H-Town. One band that was riding high in the late '90s/early '00s were Next.
Formed in 1997 by Robert Lavelle "R.L." Huggar and brothers Raphael "Tweety" Brown and Terry "T-Low" Brown, 
After releasing his album Journey of a Gemini in 2006, Donell Jones took a break from the music scene for a minute. In that time the R&B singer-songwriter, who has written and produced for likes of Usher, Silk, Brownstone and Madonna, decided it was time to cut ties with his record label, Jive - and now after four years away is ready for a comeback. He released The Lost Files EP last year and joins the growing list of artists and bands from the ‘90s era, like Maxwell and Jodeci, who have all returned to try and revive their R&B/Soul successes. Donell reveals why he believes people are now missing the R&B music of the ‘90s and how he is vowing to bring some love back to his music.
SoulCulture: It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything from you musically and otherwise, why the break?