At Last, we have Tatum Jones
by David Lu

As Asian Americans begin to have more of a presence in the American population, they are looking to have more of a presence in the entertainment industry as well. One group of Asian Americans that America may already be familiar with is At Last, now known as Tatum Jones. Their melody, beats, and style have drawn and impressed audiences wherever they go. This sensational group has had a long history and first got their start in the late 1990s.

In the late 1990's, an up-and-coming respected Asian American actress, Ming Na, noticed that Asian Americans were missing from mainstream music, and set out to find some real talent. Ming Na and actor and producer Eric Zee decided to form a music production company called Innovazian Records to help the search. To answer that call was the group At Last which consisted of four members, Michael Lee, Hans Cho, Justin Fong, and DJ Say. Together they were able to garner some success.

The group toured around the California area for awhile and were able to get Hollywood to start noticing them. They appeared on the Wayne Brady Show, It's Showtime at the Apollo, Switched Up, and Steve Harvey's Big Time. At Last may even be noticeable to the younger audiences as they performed the theme songs for the animated series "Krypto the Superdog" and Nickelodeon's "Drake and Josh". The music industry began to familiarize itself with the group's presence and potential as they began to headline concerts with artists such as Boyz II Men, Destiny's Child, and Justin Timberlake.

Perhaps their presence on the music scene was most noticeable when the group appeared on the summer hit reality TV show, America's Got Talent. The self-proclaimed "hip-hop-apella" group introduced their style of music to the audience by describing it as "old school harmonies with new school beats". The group has admitted that it was not all glamour for them as they had to try to win over their parent's support of their career path. Michael stated that parents of each member of the group had expressed that they wished they followed other professions such as law or medicine. However, their talent, persistence and dedication won over their parents.

At Last quickly became an audience favorite with their renditions of such classics as "Ain't No Sunshine", "Let's Stay Together", and "Killing Me Softly". They won over not just the audiences, but music icon Brandy, TV star legend David Hasselhoff, and toughest critic of the show, Piers Morgan. With these performances, they quickly catapulted to the finals, and gained much attention. During their stay on America's Got Talent, the group re-released a previously recorded album, "Slow it Down", under popular demand.

After At Last's appearance on the show, the group's contract expired with Ming Na and shortly after DJ Say left the group on friendly terms. Now Michael, Justin and Hans were left and decided to form their own group named Tatum Jones after a close friend of theirs who had passed away.

Tatum Jones has become a California Bay Area celebrity, having done many appearances and performing unique material. Whether the song be an original material or their personal remix of a hit, the group has always been a crowd-pleaser. Recently, Tatum Jones released an EP called The Love Movement which features five catchy, sensational R&B and pop tracks. Though Tatum Jones is still a young group, there is much room for them to grow, and with such experience and talent, it won't be long until they reach another plateau in their career.

To learn more about this group, and listen to their music, you can  visit Tatum Jones at www.tatumjonesmusic.com
or their MySpace page at www.myspace.com/tatumjonesmusic.