Louis York surfaced in the 2010s as an uncommon R&B partnership, functioning as an unrestrained creative vehicle for Charles Harmon, known professionally as Chuck Harmony, and Claude Kelly. The pair had each built substantial careers by the point they first crossed paths in 2009 while working on Chrisette Michele’s Epiphany. Harmon contributed his abilities as a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and songwriter to projects for Mary J. Blige, Janet Jackson, and Ne-Yo, among others. Kelly had already accumulated credits as an arranger, background vocalist, and composer on releases by Peabo Bryson, Leona Lewis, and Britney Spears. Once Epiphany was finished, they kept supplying behind-the-scenes support to prominent artists, sometimes on the same sessions. Beyond the Grammy nominations each earned individually, the two received joint nods in 2011 and 2012 for Best R&B Song after co-writing Fantasia’s “Bittersweet” and Ledisi’s “Pieces of Me.” Merging fragments of their birthplaces—East St. Louis, Illinois for Harmon and New York City for Kelly—they adopted the duo name and founded the Weirdo Workshop imprint. Through that outlet they released EPs and singles without stylistic boundaries. Issued across 2015 to 2017, the three-part Masterpiece Theatre series wove breakbeat-propelled hip-hop soul, acoustic jazz, and occasional house into smoother commercial R&B and pop textures.
