Beginnings and initial group success 3rd Avenue, originally from
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, gained recognition when
Pabst Brewing Company contracted the group to perform commercial
jingles for
Olde English 800, a brand of malted liquor marketed towards the "urban contemporary market". The resulting exposure from the commercials led to the group signing a recording contract with SOLAR, who had recently signed a distribution agreement with
Epic Records as their previous distribution deal lapsed in 1989. "The Minute You Fall In Love", a record from their upcoming debut album, was placed onto the
Billboard R&B Albums Chart Top 10-peaking
Deep Cover Soundtrack, distributed by SOLAR/Epic and released in early 1992. The group's label debut was deemed a "priority project" by SOLAR executives in a June 1992
Billboard article alongside the launch of
Times 3, a female R&B trio, and 3rd Avenue members Pearl and Robinson co-wrote portions of the project alongside producer
Dennis "Den Den" Nelson. Their debut album ''
Let's Talk About Love'' was released in June 1992. The parent album underperformed as it did not chart at a time in which the new jack swing genre was at its creative peak, but the singles fared better and received national R&B airplay without the aid of music videos, peaking at #66 and #58 respectively.
SOLAR decline and group dissolution In 1993, the members of 3rd Avenue co-wrote and/or produced "Baby, I'm Hooked on You", "My Love for You Will Last Forever", and "Are You Ready To Be Loved?" for SOLAR labelmate and Cincinnati-based R&B Group
The Deele's final 1993 album
An Invitation To Love. Robinson also co-wrote album track "Feel It" alongside
Vincent Herbert and SOLAR writer
Tania Carmenatti.
An Invitation To Love, a foray into a more hip-hop-influenced, new jack swing style without original members Kevin Roberson,
Kenneth Edmonds and
Antonio Reid, was a commercial disappointment. As a result, Epic did not renew their SOLAR distribution deal, causing the label to cease operations in early 1994. 3rd Avenue disbanded soon after. Over the next two decades, the SOLAR catalog was purchased and sold by various companies (including label
The Right Stuff Records in 1996), with Canadian independent record label
Unidisc gaining control in 2009. Fragments of "Freak Me" and "Wiggle It", the two tracks that did not make 3rd Avenue's debut album, were leaked onto YouTube in 2018. 3rd Avenue's debut album, along with the catalogs of many of their SOLAR labelmates, was re-released to various music streaming channels in January 2019 as a condition of a new shared global ownership agreement with
BMG Rights Management. This resulted in the issuance of a deluxe version of ''Let's Talk About Love'', attaching all of the various mixes from both singles to the parent project for the first time. ==Solo Careers==