It was arguably the greatest Big Brother entrance of all time. Sisqó's introduction to the Borehamwood compound on Sunday night, which included a full performance of his 2000 spring break anthem 'The Thong Song', was truly hilarious stuff. But apart from penning a hit single about a female with "dumps like a truck" and "thighs like what", what do we really know about the R&B singer? Keep reading to discover ten pop facts about the Baltimore star.
1. Sisqó was born Mark Althavean Andrews in November 1978.
2. The singer found fame with R&B group Dru Hill in the 1990s (scoring two platinum albums), before launching a solo career in 1999. Sisqó's "flamboyant stage personality" is often credited as a primary reason behind Dru Hill's breakthrough to the mainstream.
3. Def Jam/Def Soul record label boss Kevin Liles predicted big things for Sisqó when he went solo in 1999, comparing the young musician to the world's biggest popstars. "Only time will tell if Sisqó will reach the level of Prince or Michael Jackson," said Liles. "But what you remember about those artists is that there are no others like them. And there is no other artist like Sisqó."
4. Sisqó's infamous 2000 spring break anthem 'The Thong Song' earned him five MTV VMA nominations. Sadly, he only took home one, for 'Best Hip-Hop Video'.
5. Sisqó is best known as a singer, but he also has an impressive filmography. There may have been no Oscar noms for Snow Dogs, Pieces Of April or Surf School, but he gave a decent turn in not-actually-that-bad rom-com Get Over It!.
6. Did Sisqó ever release any more singles after 'The Thong Song'? Yes, he did! 'Unleash The Dragon', 'Incomplete' and 'Dance For Me' all broke the UK Top 40. However, since 2001 he has failed to secure a chart hit.
7. At the peak of his fame, Sisqó shifted a whopping 6,000,000 copies of his debut solo LP Unleash The Dragon. Time to own up, who bought one?!
8. Sisqó is no stranger to reality TV, having previously appeared on the US series Gone Country on CMT. The show gave celebrities the chance to win a country music recording contract. Unfortunately for Sis' though, he lost out to Julio Inglesias Jr.
9. Oddly, during the video for 'The Thong Song' there is actually only one female sporting the said item of underwear. The rest of the women in the raunchy promo are all wearing bikini bottoms.
10. Sisqó was accused of misogyny and exploiting women as sex objects with his video for 'The Thong Song', which involved him and various scantily clad females. However, the clip's director Joseph Kahn has always defended the track. "Well, this song is about asses. So you can either accept it and do something like I did, or you can go and try and turn 'The Thong Song' into some kind of Chemical Brothers video and make it all pretentious; about some f**king communist upheaval or something," he says. "Let's just relax and make a booty video!"
Monday, February 22, 2010
4:31 AM
savcenko
