3LW (acronym of "3 Little Women") is an American hip hop, pop and R&B singing girl group that enjoyed a number of modest hits during the early 2000s. Its founding members, Naturi Naughton (born May 20, 1984 in East Orange, New Jersey), Adrienne Bailon (born October 24, 1983 in Manhattan, New York), and Kiely Williams (born July 9, 1986 in Alexandria, Virginia), signed with Epic Records, with Kiely's older sister and legal guardian Michele Williams serving as manager.

Musical Career History

In mid-1999, and the original line up for 3LW was formed. Their first single, "No More ", was released in the summer of 2000. "No More" was a success and was followed by the second single, "Playas Gon' Play" in early 2001. The group's debut album, 3LW, released on December 5, 2000. The album went platinum, selling 1.3 million copies in the US. In the summer of 2001, the group went on the MTV TRL tour along with Destiny's Child, Dream, Nelly, Eve, and Jessica Simpson.

Group Turmoil "3LW Becomes 2LW"

3LW spent the first half of 2002 in the studio, recording an album tentatively titled Same Game, Different Rules. The album and its intended lead single "Uh Oh" were presented to the label, who felt it didn't have enough urban radio appeal. The tracks from Same Game, Different Rules were leaked to the Internet in MP3 format, and Epic considered dropping the girls. A fan support campaign for 3LW named 'Never Let Go Of 3LW' after their song 'Never Let Go' spread to the radio, and the act was retained on the label.

Recording a new set of tracks, 3LW returned in late summer of 2002 with the P. Diddy-produced single "I Do ", featuring Loon. By August, the group was set to release its newest LP, A Girl Can Mack, when Naturi Naughton announced that she was no longer a member of the group. Naughton alleged that the other two girls and their manager forced her out of the group.

A Girl Can Mack

Williams and Bailon continued as a duo, though still using the "3LW" name, leading the press to jokingly refer to them as "2LW". The ousting of Naturi would affect the group's popularity greatly. According to a cover story for the October 2002 issue of Sister 2 Sister magazine, Kiely & Adrienne said received death threats and that they would have to beef up security. The group departure of Naturi would affect album sales as well. A Girl Can Mack debuted at #15 on the Billboard 200 with a disappointing 53,000 copies sold in the first week. After the second single released off the album, "Neva Get Enuf" underperformed, auditions were held across the country for a new third member. Jessica Benson made the cut and officially joined 3LW in December 2002. Jessica's first performance was in 2003 on Live with Regis & Kelly; the song was "Ain't No Maybe" and she also performed, with solo spots, "I Need That (I Want That)" and "This Goes Out" on Soul Train.

Point Of No Return

In fall 2003, 3LW departed from Epic, signing with Jermaine Dupri's So So Def label. The group's 4th album was to be titled Phoenix Rising( in refernece to the girls plan to return to musical success now that they has a third member) but was renamed Point Of No Return. The album was to be released but its current status is unknown.

As of late 2006, the girl's newest single's Feelin' You video premiered on Yahoo Videos and was #9 on the top 100 videos. The single was added at radio stations on July 12 2006. The album Point Of No Return, which is to include the single Feelin' You was pushed back to a 2007 release, because of members Adrienne Bailon and Kiely Williams involvement with Disney's Cheetah Girls franchise. Group member Adrienne Bailon stated in Girls Life Magazine that 3LW is on hold because of the Cheetah Girls project despite rumors of a breakup because of Kiely and Adrienne's involvement in The Cheetah Girls.

Acting Roles and Cheetah Girls

Besides their singing work, 3LW has appeared as guest stars on Christina Vidal's Nickelodeon show Taina and in the film The Cheetah Girls. Adrienne had a small appearance in the movie Coach Carter in 2005 and in 2006 co-starred in the MTV straight to video/television movie All You've Got beside fellow R&B singer Ciara.

Members Adrienne Bailon and Kiely Williams are in the Disney Channel group The Cheetah Girls. Two successful movies have aired, along with Cheetah Girls merchandise and The Cheetah Girls tours.

The group was also featured as bonus characters in the 2001 video game, NBA Street.

"Point Of No Return" Put On Hold

3LW confirmed that "Point of No Return" was on hold while Adrienne toured as The Cheetah Girls.

Kiely Williams said:

"Our fans have been really excited to find out when our new album is going to be released out in stores. We've been getting these anonymous questions about that I can't say but I can tell you this. We been in the studio for a while now making tracks to our CD, and Adrienne and I are touring and making our last movie with The Cheetah Girls, and that's all I'm gonna say I can't give out any more information it's a secret..."

Discography

• 2000: 3LW
• 2002: A Girl Can Mack
• 2002: Naughty or Nice
• 2008: Point Of No Return

The Cheetah Girls crossover

Two of the members of 3LW, Adrienne Bailon and Kiely Williams, are also in the girl group The Cheetah Girls with Sabrina Bryan. Fans of both stars can now feast on all the albums they have released. Their first album released was a Christmas album, Cheetah-licious Christmas, which peaked at #74 in the U.S.. However, since "The Cheetah Girls" started out as a film ,which had Raven Symone as a 4th member, and spawned a sequel, there are two soundtracks containing several songs by "The Cheetah Girls".

Adrienne and Kiely also filmed the sequel to The Cheetah Girls movie in March 2006 in Spain. The Disney Channel premiered the film on August 25. They also went on tour from September-March with fellow Cheetah Girl Sabrina Bryan to promote the soundtrack. They've been writing songs while on tour and plan to hit the recording studio directly after their tour wraps up to begin recording tracks for The Cheetah Girls' second official studio album, TCG which is due in stores on September 25, 2007.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z # TAGS