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Marques Barrett Houston (born August 4, 1981) is an American R&B singer and actor. He is a former member of the R&B singing group Immature/IMx and has since gone solo.

Biography

Early life

Houston was born in Los Angeles, California to Michael and Carolyn Houston. In 1997, Houston lost his mother, Carolyn, to lymphoma,¹ a type of cancer. This affected Houston deeply and he wrote songs about his mother's battle with the disease and her eventual death.

Personal life

Houston and actress Jennifer Freeman (who played Claire Kyle in ABC's sitcom My Wife and Kids) became engaged in November 2007, but subsequently broke their engagement in January 2008 due to personal reasons on behalf of Houston.²

Music career

Main article: IMx

Houston was a founding member of R&B group Immature/IMx, which included members Jerome "Romeo" Jones and Kelton "LDB" Kessee and was managed by Chris Stokes. Houston's nickname at this time was "Batman".

The group released four albums under the name Immature: On Our Worst Behavior (1992), Playtyme Is Over (1994), We Got It (1995) and The Journey (1997). In 1999, the group underwent a name change and continued on to release two albums under the name IMx: Introducing IMx (1999) and IMx (2001). The group also branched out into film (such as House Party 4: Down to the Last Minute) and television (such as A Different World) before disbanding in 2002.

Solo career

Houston has been an executive producer on all of his solo albums.

MH

Main article: MH (Marques Houston album)

In 2003, Houston began pursuing a solo career. Under his birth name, Marques Houston, he released his debut album, MH, on October 21, 2003. The album featured the singles "That Girl", "Clubbin'" (featuring Joe Budden), "Pop That Booty" (featuring Jermaine Dupri) and "Because of You".

In the United States, MH peaked at number 18 on the Billboard 200³ and peaked at number 5 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.⁴

Naked

Main article: Naked (Marques Houston album)

In 2005, Houston released his second solo album, Naked, on May 24, 2005. The album featured the singles "All Because of You" (featuring Young Rome), "Naked" and "Sex Wit You".

In the United States, Naked peaked at number 13 on the Billboard 200⁵ and peaked at number 5 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums⁶.

Veteran

Main article: Veteran (album)

In 2007, Houston released his third solo album, Veteran, on March 20, 2007. The album featured the singles "Like This" (featuring Yung Joc), "Favorite Girl", "Circle" and "Wonderful".

In the United States, Veteran debuted (and peaked) at number 5 on the Billboard 200¹⁷ and debuted at number 1 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums¹⁸, marking this release as Houston's first number one solo album.

Mr. Houston

Main article: Mr. Houston (album)

Houston has confirmed that he will release his fourth solo album, Mr. Houston. His first single will be "Sunset".

Other works

Houston continues to work with former bandmate Jerome "Romeo" Jones (now known as Young Rome). Houston made guest appearances on Jones' album Food for Thought (2004) on songs entitled "Sexapade" and "What Cha Doin' Tonight" while Jones made a guest appearance on Houston's album Naked on the song entitled "All Because of You". The two also collaborated on "For Your Love", a song from an unreleased album by Young Rome.

Houston made guest appearances on fellow TUG Entertainment artist Mila J's single Good Lookin' Out and Yung Joc's single 1st Time, making appearances in both music videos.

Houston was featured on 50 Cent's remix to the hit single "Candy Shop", which also featured Dame Four.

Acting career

Houston made his debut acting appearance in the comedy film House Party 3, where he played himself along with fellow Immature sex addict/IMx bandmates Jerome "Romeo" Jones and then member Don "Half Pint" Santos (who was later replaced in the group by Kelton "LDB" Kessee).

Houston's breakthrough role came when he won the part of Roger Evans in the television comedy show Sister, Sister, playing the next door neighbor of Tia and Tamera (played by Tia and Tamera Mowry). He played the role from 1994 to 1997, making a final cameo appearance in the final episode of the show in 1999.

Houston starred in a couple of movies and played the lead roles here and there throughout his career. He even held his own television show for a short while (the short-lived UPN's Cuts, a spin-off of another UPN show, One on One).

Discography

Main article: Marques Houston discography

Albums

Singles

Filmography

Television

Film

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Marques Houston at MySpace
• Marques Houston at the Internet Movie Database