Editing Color Me Badd (section)

===1985–1990: Formation===
Thornton and Abrams became friends in junior high school, and Watters and Calderon became friends in grade school.<ref name="cdarling">Cary Darling, [https://www.chicagotribune.com/1992/07/09/color-me-badd-finds-success-far-from-home/ "Color Me Badd Finds Success Far From Home,"] ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', July 9, 1992.</ref> The four met in the mid-1980s while attending [[Northwest Classen High School]] in Oklahoma City. They were all members of the school choir. The group originally formed in 1985 as Take One, but changed their name to Color Me Badd to avoid confusion with an a cappella band named Take 6. Watters selected the name, after a horse at the racetrack named Color Me Bad. They aimed to be a vocal group in the vein of [[New Edition]] and [[New Kids on the Block]].<ref name="rcollins"/> They first performed together in a school talent show, influenced by doo-wop a cappella groups of the past,<ref name="sholden">Stephen Holden, [https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/08/arts/the-pop-life-994091.html "The Pop Life,"] ''[[The New York Times]]'', May 8, 1991.</ref><ref>Janice Page, [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-06-25-ol-1483-story.html "Beyond the Bubble Gum,"] ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', June 25, 1992.</ref> such as [[Sam Cooke]], [[The Temptations]] and the [[Four Tops]].<ref name="ctaylor">Chuck Taylor, [https://books.google.com/books?id=EQoEAAAAMBAJ&dq=i+adore+mi+amor&pg=PA84 "Color Me Badd Finds New Shades Of Success With Mature 'Remember',"] ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'', August 22, 1998.</ref>

The group came up with a plan to spontaneously audition for any big-name acts playing in Oklahoma City. They met [[Robert "Kool" Bell|Robert Bell]] of [[Kool & the Gang]] on May 27, 1987, when they were in Oklahoma City for a performance. They auditioned for him and he introduced them to his then-road manager, Adil Bayyan, who would become Color Me Badd's manager and convince them to move to New York City to pursue a record deal.<ref name="cdarling"/><ref>Dennis Hunt, [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-02-23-ca-4968-story.html "Hip-Hopping a Cappella in the Streets,"] ''Los Angeles Times'', February 23, 1992.</ref> They also sang for [[Huey Lewis and the News]], [[Sheila E.]] and [[Ronnie Milsap]],<ref name="rcollins"/> and opened for [[Tony! Toni! Toné!]] in Oklahoma City in 1988.<ref name="rennerbrown">Eric Renner Brown, [http://ew.com/article/2016/04/18/color-me-badd-i-love-90s-tour/ "Color Me Badd: I Love the 90s tour interview,"] ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'', April 18, 2016.</ref> One afternoon in 1989, Thornton saw [[Jon Bon Jovi]] in a movie theater and called the other band members to join him. They waited for him to leave the theater and then sang the 1961 doo-wop hit "[[Daddy's Home (song)|Daddy's Home]]" a cappella for him. Bon Jovi invited them to be his band's opening act the following night, to perform in front of 20,000 audience members.<ref name="sholden"/>

They moved to New York City on September 23, 1989.<ref name="cdarling"/> In 1990, they bumped into Tony! Toni! Toné!, who got them into the [[ASCAP]] Music Awards. There, Color Me Badd approached producers [[Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis]] and started singing for them. The producers advised that, being a multicultural group, they write a half-English, half-Spanish song. They wrote "[[I Adore Mi Amor]]" back in Oklahoma City with their producer and friend Hamza Lee.<ref name="rennerbrown"/> [[Giant Records (Warner)|Giant Records]] executive Cassandra Mills heard a tape of the band singing the song,<ref name="rcollins"/> and they signed with Giant on August 11, 1990.<ref name="cdarling"/>