Words by Amir Muhammed
His music is currently being streamed in more than 132 countries around the world. His ever-growing catalog of melodious emotions resonate with every aspect of life. Touching on a myriad of moods from passion and pain to partying and prosperity to the lulling lows of losing loved ones, Ft. Pierce, Fla.-based crooner Teko Baby has forged his own lane in the world of R&B music.
And he continues to push the envelope in music and business with his three latest singles “Lately I’ve Been Thinking,” “Right There 4U” and “I Realize” featuring So Unique from Love & Hip Hop Miami in the music video.
“I drop new music whenever I feel the vibe. Whatever season it is, whatever vibe it is, I drop new music,” says Teko. “We ain’t doing albums. We doing hot singles.”
Teko Baby’s formula for dropping a hot, new single every month, has garnered him a strong fan base in the United Kingdom, France, Japan and Turkey, just to name a few. “Having my own freedom, I don’t have to do what a label wants me to do,” he explains. “I want my music to grow worldwide. I want to show that you can be independent and reach the world.”
Being around music his entire life, he might know a thing or two about the industry. Born Alvin Lyons to a two-parent household, his mother was a middle school chorus teacher, and his father was famous jazz musician Ricky Lyons, who played alongside world-renowned jazz percussionist and band leader Lionel Hampton and Sammy Davis Jr.
His father played 10 different instruments and specialized in the piano, keyboard and vibraphone. In fact, when Hampton passed away in 2002, Ricky was given Hampton’s coveted “golden vibes,” a recreation of the instrument covered in gold, which was donated to the Smithsonian Museum after Lyons’s death in 2011.
Additionally, Lyons’s 1960 hit records “Shim Sham Shuffle” and “Have No Fear” were on the same label, Federal Records, as James Brown. His music was also included on Time Warner Music’s Golden Era of Rock and Roll compilation.
“It was a bitter sweet moment for him because he was recognized by being on that album,” says Teko, “but at the same time, he wasn’t getting any money from it because he didn’t own any rights to his music. He died without owning his publishing.”
For that reason, Teko created Royalty Lyons Entertainment in 2013 to help artists get publishing that is rightfully theirs. “The company was created from seeing my father’s pain,” Teko divulges. “Imagine if we buy back our publishing and it goes back to the families, the rightful owners.”
Currently wading through mountains of paperwork to claim what is due, Teko has had that same business accruement since he got his start in music as an adolescent. As early as fifth grade, he knew that in order to make it, he had to stand out from the crowd. So in his first talent show, he chose to sing R. Kelly’s racy “Slow Dance (Hey Mr. DJ).”
But because of the song’s seductive lyrics, him mother, who was a teacher at the school and spearheading the talent show, told him not to. “I didn’t know what the lyrics meant,” he admits, “but I knew I could sing that song.”
It just so happened that she didn’t come to work on the day of the show, and he performed it anyway.
“When I sang it, the whole crowd started running up to the stage like it was a Beetles concert,” he describes. “I was doing the moves and grinding and everything. I got disqualified, but they let me sing the whole song because I had the crowd going crazy. Even the teachers were going crazy. They said it was too much, but I didn’t care.”
Over the years, he continued to perform at various talent shows, and in high school, he formed R&B group Innermission with his cousins. After high school graduation, he landed a full scholarship to Morehouse College in Atlanta for chorus. When he went to Atlanta to sign his scholarship papers, he convinced the group members to join him to pass out their music.
In their favor, the Budweiser Fest was in town, and they ran into Slim from R&B group 112, who gave them the opportunity to sing in front of Gerald Levert, DMX, Lil Kim and finally P. Diddy, who invited them to accompany them to the show that night. Backstage at the show, they sang for multi-platinum producer Timbaland, Aaliyah, Genuwine, Da Brat and Jermaine Dupri. “They were amazed!” Teko points out.
A mother later, they were on a plane to New York City to sign their first contract. They negotiated a 75/25 deal, meaning the group got 75 percent, an unheard of situation for a new group, so their music never came out. “Doing that,” Teko explains, “it soured the deal.”
Over the next few years, they bounced around from Murder Inc. to Sony/Columbia, but due to so many uncertainties, the group eventually disbanded and Teko went solo.
“I didn’t have to worry about nobody showing up for nothing,” he says. “I didn’t have to worry about nobody not being reliable, no other egos. So I started doing everything on my own.”
Teko eventually went back to college to earn a degree in business. Since then, he has used his business mind and talents to make a worldwide name for himself. And his music says it all. “Everybody gone have different things they go through in life. Everything that people go through is in my songs,” says Teko. “My music is your brother, your uncle and your daddy all talking to you at one time through songs.”