The above sounds like the general lifestyle of your basic hermit, but that’s Ralph Tresvant, describing an average day. The New Edition member and solo recording artist owns the kind of credentials that could keep him out in the streets and in the clubs for days, but Tresvant has a style quite unlike the standard image of the young pop star. Ralph is probably the most sedate.
“Don’t get me wrong. I like to hang,” Ralph said several weeks ago when his solo album was released, “but I don’t have to be out there in the streets all the time. That ain’t my thing. I did lot of that stuff when I was young – when New Edition was coming up, it was a party every night, just among ourselves – but I guess I’ve mellowed just a bit. But I ain’t dead yet!”
Tresvant’s personal style is probably best reflected in his music. On his self-titled platinum solo album, he gets funky, but it is the ballads and love songs that Ralph really seems to sink his teeth into, songs like “Sensitivity” and “Do What I Gotta Do,” and the sultry, mid-tempo grooves like “She’s My Love Thang.” If those songs sound like they were tailored just for Tresvant, it’s because they were. “When we talked with Ralph, he told us what he wanted,” says producer/songwriter Jimmy “Jam” Harris, who with partner Terry Lewis, contributed several tracks for Tresvant’s LP. “But every artist we work with tells us what they want. What we do is spend some time with the singer to get a picture of what their personality is really like and that helps us come up with the right material. In Ralph’s case, he seemed partial to ballads and love songs, even back when we produced New Edition’s ‘Heart Break’ album. You meet a guy like Ralph and boom, you come up with a ‘Sensitivity.’ His style dictates it.”
Tresvant has always been just a little introverted. After New Edition began to mature, when the group hung together while on the road, it was always Ralph who was missing. He’d either be back at the hotel chillin’, writing a song or, sometimes, taking a cue from one of his idols, Michael Jackson and simply staying out of the public’s eye until necessary.
Fact is, according to a friend, Tresvant lives a double life of sorts. “One on hand, Ralph is this sex symbol, who is the ultimate single guy,” says someone who knows. “On the other hand, Ralph is a family man with a steady girlfriend and a child that they raise together. He’s a grounded cat, he’s not out of control, and I think their child is responsible for a lot of that.” Another factor in Ralph’s sanity is his relationship with his family. “He’s close to his sister, and he and his mother are more friends than anything else. She looks out for him, and he’s real close to her. It’s a regular ol’ household. You go by his mom’s house, and people are there playing Dominoes, talkin’ loud and having fun.”
When Ralph does let his hair down, he usually does it with partner-in-crime, Bobby Brown. Schedules permitting, they’ll get together and cruise through Los Angeles while listening to their own demo tapes, or grab a bite at the local fast-food joint. Fans at the mall usually can’t believe their eyes when they spot both Ralph and Bobby doing a little window-shopping.
In the meantime, this stone cold gentleman says he’s looking forward to the day when New Edition comes back together and starts working on the reunion LP and tour. “It’s definitely gonna happen,” says Ralph. “It’s gonna happen because number one, we’re contracted by MCA to do another record as a group. But even if that wasn’t the case, I think we’d do it. We can all put our egos aside to make some good music and good money, no question.”
Until then, when he isn’t making videos or personal appearances on behalf of his own album, chances are good that you’ll find Tresvant at the crib, kickin’ back and talking on the phone, checking out a little cable TV. Just chillin’. It’s Ralph’s way.
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