Force M.D.'s

In the early 1980s the Staten Island ensemble Force M.D.'s occupied a pivotal place in the development of street-level hip-hop even though they never achieved the visibility of many other New York acts from that period. One of the first vocal outfits to blend doo wop-style harmonies with hip-hop rhythms, the group began as a street troupe called the LD's that performed on Greenwich Village sidewalks and aboard the Staten Island ferry. Its original roster comprised brothers Stevie D and Antoine “TCD” Lundy, their uncle Jesse Lee Daniels, and friends Trisco Pearson and Charles “Mercury” Nelson. After linking with DJ Dr. Rock, the collective performed under the name Dr. Rock & the MC’s at neighborhood hip-hop clubs before securing a 1984 contract with Tommy Boy Records as the Force M.D.’s—an abbreviation denoting “musical diversity.” By that point the act had shifted toward a conventional R&B vocal sound still marked by its gritty street sensibility. Throughout the remainder of the decade the Force M.D.’s scored several R&B successes, yet their sole pop breakthrough arrived with the Top Ten ballad “Tender Love,” written by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and featured in the film Krush Groove. Their first R&B chart-topper, “Love Is a House,” arrived in 1987, after which mainstream interest began to fade. Mercury and Trisco departed in 1990; Rodney “Khalil” Lundy and Shawn Waters stepped in as replacements. The lineup issued the album Get Ready in 1994 while several members also produced tracks for other artists. Nelson, Lundy, and DJ Dr. Rock each succumbed to early deaths—Nelson from a heart attack and Lundy from Lou Gehrig’s disease—yet the group resurfaced in 1998 when fellow Staten Island natives Wu-Tang Clan helped secure a new recording deal. The 2000 release The Reunion did not register on the charts, though the members continued to perform occasional live dates until tragedy struck again in 2016 with Trisco Pearson’s death from cancer. In 2017 a reconstituted lineup featuring Jesse Daniels, Stevie D. Lundy, and Rodney “Khalil” Lundy delivered the album Our Favorite Joints. Jesse Lee Daniels passed away on January 4, 2022, at the age of 58.