Marques Houston: An Entertainment Veteran

After about 16 years in entertainment, Marques Houston at 25-years-old is considered a veteran. Born to Michael and Carolyn Houston, Marques Barrett Houston on August 4, 1981, under the sign of Leo it was only natural that he would become an entertainer. Marques Houston is a man of many trades and is know as a singer, actor, and dancer. He also is accredited for writing, and producing, therefore an over all entertainer.

At a talent show in his hometown of Los Angles, he was scouted by Chris Stokes who added Marques Houston to the singing group he was creating, including Jerome Jones and at the time Don Fernando Santos, that became known as Immature. Stokes became manager, mentor and producer to the group, and they released an album titled "On Our Worst Behavior." The group had a song on the soundtrack for the animated movie "Bebe's Kids" where Marques Houston, who was given the nickname "Batman" for wearing Batman underwear on his head, was the voice for the character Kahlil. Immature's debut was far from outstanding but with the subtraction of Don Santos, and the addition of Kelton Kessee, the release of their sophomore album titled "Playtyme is Over" brought success and they gained hordes of young female fans. Even though the group's name was Immature they changed their image to a more mature look, toning it down from their brightly colored and baggy days. The group also sang more ballads which won over all of the females. This is where "Batman" first showed his vocal strengths.

At the same time he also had a staring role on the popular series "Sister, Sister" with the twins Tia and Tamara Mowery, where he played the part of Roger Evans, a precocious teen in love with the twins. Although this was a good achievement for his career as an actor, he always felt that his role held the group back from even more success since they weren't able to do major tours, because he was needed on the set.

The group went on to record four more albums growing more mature with each release even changing the name of the group to IMX pushing away all that was Immature. After years with the group, each member decided to work on solo ventures. Of course with the friendship that had grown between each member, they all have helped to write, and produce for each other. Marques Houston released his first solo album "MH", dropping the nickname Batman. It is clear that one of his major musical influences is Michael Jackson, though his vocal performance on the first album and his stage performance as he glides across the stage in a very Michael Jackson-esque way. Well known producers R. Kelly and Jermaine Dupri worked on the album MH as well as Marques Houston himself.

During his career Marques became very involved in music business and producing learning from his manager and mentor Chris Stokes. He helped to create and produce the group B2K before their unfortunate break up. With the success of B2K, Marques, along with long time friends Jerome Jones, Kelton Kessee, and B2K, stared in the movie "You Got Served" in 2004 directed by Chris Stokes. The movie was reminiscent of 1980's film "Breakin'". According to www.imdb.com "many theaters considered the movie to be a huge failure and therefore stopped showing it only two weeks after its release" but the film was a major success for Marques, Chris Stokes and his showcase of stars Stokes has dubbed "The Ultimate Group." In fact www.wikipedia.com, reports that the film "was the most seen movie during the Super Bowl weekend with $16 million USD grossed in its first week, a record until late 2005; the movie went on to gross over 40 Million USD". Marques went on to release another solo album in 2005, titled Naked, where Marques proceeded to disrobe himself (figurativly and literally) to show how much he had grown since his childhood as lead singer of Immature.

Through 2005 and 2006, Marques also stared on the UPN (now CW network) network's "Cuts" which he played the character Kevin Barnes a barber and barbershop owner. Unfortunatly the show was canceled after two seasons. Marques along with "The Ultimate Group" have more films in production, including a horror film called: "Somebody Help Me." He recently released his third solo album "Veteran," which features the artists Mya, Shawnna, and Yung Joc. This album is to reflect the real Marques Houston as the veteran that he is in the entertainment business and the experiences he has gone through in his relationships. The first single of the album was "Favorite Girl" and the music video features actress Stacy Dash. Marques houston has definatly come a long way from the Batman underwear. He has left his mark on music, television and the big screen.