Truth Inc

Truth Inc. wasn’t a manufactured vocal group so much as a production house that stepped out from behind the boards. The entire 1992 self-titled album was written, arranged, and produced by keyboardists/vocalists Jon Nettlesbey and Terry Coffey through their own Mercenary Productions, with Horace “Bokie” Coleman on bass and guitar, Dean Pleasants on guitar, and Robert “Baba K” Burns II on drums and percussion rounding out the band. Lead vocals were split between Derald Conway and Jimmy Demers, with Interscope executive John McClain serving as executive producer.

The connection to the rest of the archive runs through Howard Hewett: Nettlesbey, Coffey, and Coleman were all in the room together two years earlier for Hewett’s Number 2 R&B hit “Show Me,” the same rhythm section and writing team simply regrouping under their own name for one album on Interscope. Released into the sophisticated, westcoast-soul corner of early-90s adult contemporary R&B, Truth Inc. stands in the archive as a rare instance of a hit songwriting-and-production team stepping fully into the spotlight themselves.