Balladeers big during the ’90s set to perform this weekend

A wave of soulful ’90s pop will sweep across the island this weekend at a pair of concerts featuring hit-making groups All-4-One and Shai, and Hawaii’s own singing sensation Forte.

Hop aboard the “Stuck in the 90’s” concerts’ time machine and travel back to a decade when we bought our favorite music at record stores, cellphones weren’t yet a 24/7 necessity — and if you heard music in the car or at the beach, it was playing on the radio or your CD Walkman. In the middle of that decade, these bands’ throwback love jams struck a chord with Hawaii fans, who loved the youthful romanticism and synchronized harmonies.

Pop and R&B dominated the charts during the ’90s, and the suave balladeers of All-4-One, made up of Delious Kennedy, Jamie Jones, Alfred Nevarez and Tony Borowiak, proved a formidable foursome. The group sold more than 22 million albums worldwide, with power ballads “I Swear” and “I Can Love You Like That” leading the way.

“I Swear,” the group’s signature hit, won a Grammy in 1995 for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group and spent 11 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, a record at the time. (“One Sweet Day” by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men would set the current all-time mark of chart supremacy with a 14-week run the following year.)

The group has remained together through the years, and will appear with its original lineup intact.

Shai burst on the scene in 1992 with the soulful “If I Ever Fall in Love,” and had an impressive run from 1992 to 1995 that produced a handful of hits. The friends out of Howard University in Washington, D.C., brought a cool, gentlemanlike swagger to go along with the vulnerable content of Top 10 songs “Comforter,” “Come With Me” and “Baby I’m Yours.”

Shai’s Darnell Van Rensalier says providing “positive love music to the people and portraying a positive image” helped set the group apart.

After 1995, Shai’s members separated. Van Rensalier and Garfield Bright, both original members, performed as a duo for years, until Dwayne Jones and George Spencer III joined the group in 2016.

“We went back to four members mainly to give the fans our signature harmony and a capella moments in our live performance,” said Van Rensalier. “For the most part we have the same fan base who loved the songs then. We are definitely grateful and appreciative.”

Forte’s performance will be the first reunion on stage for the group in more than 15 years.

Adored by fans for their angelic voices and friends’ chemistry onstage, Joanne Bonilla, Kristina Acidera, Marlene Markos and Giselle Tejada took the islands by storm through the ’90s and into the next decade, buoyed by their heartfelt, textured harmonies on songs such as “Follow the Sun,” “Give My Love to You,” and “Close to You.”

All were teenagers living on Oahu when the group began. It’s been almost three decades since they were first discovered while singing karaoke at Fisherman’s Wharf.

Today, the members all have families of their own. Tejada, Acidera and Bonilla live on Oahu. Markos, who lives in Las Vegas but spends time each year back in her hometown of Ewa Beach, said talks of a Forte reunion date as far back as 2010.

“We were originally just going to record a couple new songs and release an EP. The show came up, so it was perfect,” Markos said. “It’s fun to hear old songs that we haven’t sung in forever.”

Forte released three albums: “Forte,” “Changes” and “Montage.” At the group’s height of popularity, the four opened up for megastars including Mariah Carey, NSYNC and Destiny’s Child.

“There’s never going to be a time like the ’90s,” Markos said. “It was such a distinct time. Everything was so carefree and fun.”

Since the group disbanded in 2002, Markos and Tejada said the four have all remained the best of friends — and now are thrilled to find that fans would like to see and hear them again.

“It’s not only a reunion of the four of us. It’s also a reunion with our fans,” said Tejada. “The fans meant everything to us back then, and they still do today. We are really excited to see everyone.”

Response to the reunion news on social media has been overwhelming, the members report.

“I’m so happy to see the reaction from people; how they still even remember us! It’s been so long,” Tejada said.

“I’m sure there’ll be major butterflies. We just want to make this a fun reunion,” said Markos.“We’re doing it ourselves; that’s an empowering thing. This is really our baby. We are really molding it from what we think we can do.”

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity, packed with vocal rehearsals, choreography classes and late-night workout sessions at the gym. And in addition to the busy boot-camplike nature of getting ready for the show, Forte’s members are also recording new music.

Along with the release of “Forte: The Complete Collection” (37 songs, including a new bonus track, “You”) on iTunes last week, Markos said more shows on the neighbor islands and in Las Vegas may be in the works.

“We are very open to doing more,” Markos said. “It’s nice to have that feeling that we’ve never been forgotten.”

Recommitting to performance while balancing their ongoing jobs and motherhood has been challenging but gratifying, said Tejada.

“It’s almost like we never left each other,” Tejada said. “It’s crazy to say, but we’ve never lost our connection as friends or with singing. This is something I’ve always wished for, but I never thought it would happen.”