What Happened to Az Yet? A New Lineup Going Independent in 2026

If you had a radio on in the fall of 1996, you heard Az Yet. “Last Night” was the slow jam that owned every quiet storm block, every school dance, every long car ride. Then came the Chicago remake, a Grammy nomination, and… not much else. One platinum album and the group seemed to evaporate. So what actually happened? The short version: they never really stopped. They just stopped being on your radio.

01Profile

Look closely at that member list and you’ll notice something: only one name, Kenny Terry, connects the 2026 group to the one that made the hits. That single thread is basically the whole story of Az Yet.

02The Rise: From a Hotel Lobby to LaFace

A duo that kept growing

Az Yet started in Philadelphia in 1989 as a duo — Shawn Rivera and Dion Allen. The lineup grew the way vocal groups often did back then: by accident and by ear. Rivera and Allen reportedly met Kenny Terry while he was singing in the lobby of the Wyndham Hotel in Philadelphia, and he joined in 1991. Claude Thomas, DyShon Benson, and Damon Core rounded out the roster over the next couple of years.

Philadelphia in that era was practically a factory for harmony groups — Boyz II Men had come out of the city’s High School for the Creative and Performing Arts and gone stratospheric. The competition was fierce, and Az Yet spent years grinding through it before anything broke.

Babyface hears the demo

The break came through Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds. Once he heard them, the group landed at LaFace Records — the label he ran with L.A. Reid, at that point arguably the most reliable hit factory in R&B. In 1995 they added Marc Nelson, an original member of Boyz II Men who had left before Cooleyhighharmony came out. Nelson became the lead voice on the record that made Az Yet famous.

Two singles, two platinum plaques

The self-titled debut arrived in 1996 with a guest list that reads like a Grammy seating chart: Babyface, David Foster, Sheila E., and Brian McKnight all contributed. “Last Night,” released August 12, 1996, went to No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on the R&B chart, hit No. 2 in Australia, and spent two weeks at No. 1 in New Zealand. It was certified platinum.

The follow-up was the swing that really connected internationally: a remake of Chicago’s “Hard to Say I’m Sorry,” released February 2, 1997, featuring Peter Cetera himself. It reached No. 8 on the Hot 100, went platinum, and earned the group a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 1998 ceremony. The album went platinum too. Cetera returned the favor later that year, bringing Az Yet onto his own “You’re the Inspiration,” which scraped the Hot 100 at No. 77.

There was television, too — The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show, Nickelodeon’s All That, two Soul Train appearances, and a recurring gig as “TJ’s Band” on the short-lived drama Fame L.A. For about eighteen months, Az Yet were everywhere.

03The Turning Point: Life After the Debut Album

Here’s the fact that surprises people: Az Yet never released a follow-up on LaFace. The 1996 self-titled debut remained their only major-label album. The reasons were the usual mid-90s mix — lineup churn, shifting label priorities, and a genre rapidly reorganizing itself around hip-hop-driven production.

Marc Nelson departed to pursue a solo career, which meant the group lost the voice most listeners associated with those two hits. Tony Grant stepped in as lead singer — that’s him on the group’s second Soul Train appearance in 1997 — and was later replaced by LeDon Smith. Each substitution was competent. None could un-ring the bell of a public that had bonded with a specific tone on a specific ballad.

1989Shawn Rivera and Dion Allen form Az Yet in Philadelphia as a duo.
1991Kenny Terry joins after reportedly being heard singing in a Philadelphia hotel lobby.
1995Marc Nelson, an original Boyz II Men member, joins as lead vocalist.
1996Self-titled LaFace debut released; "Last Night" hits No. 9 pop, No. 1 R&B.
1997"Hard to Say I'm Sorry" reaches No. 8 and earns a Grammy nomination. Nelson exits; Tony Grant takes over lead.
2006Independent album Back Home 2007 released.
2007Single "Keep on Pushin'" tied to the American Heart Association's Power To End Stroke campaign.
2013Group tours as featured performers in the stage musical My Brother Marvin.
2016Comeback album She's Magic released.
2023Major lineup reset: Dion Allen departs; DyShon Benson returns; three new vocalists join.
2025Independent comeback single "Get Used 2 It" released in April; R&B Unity Tour date in Michigan in August.

04The Revolving Door: Two Decades of Lineup Changes

If you want to understand why Az Yet feels like a group that disappeared, look at the membership history rather than the discography. Since 1989, more than a dozen singers have cycled through. Founding member Shawn Rivera stayed until 2015; Dion Allen, the other original, lasted until 2023. Claude Thomas left in 1994, returned in 2014, and left again in 2023. Marc Nelson has been in and out at least four times — 1995 to 1997, around 2007 to 2010, briefly in 2015 to 2016, and once more in 2023.

That kind of turnover isn’t unusual for a legacy R&B act — the touring circuit rewards a recognizable name, and the name usually outlives the original voices. But it does explain why the group kept releasing music most people never heard: a second album, Back Home 2007, out in 2006 on InnerSoul; a run of independent singles from 2008 to 2013 on their own imprint; a 2013 stint touring as featured performers in the stage production My Brother Marvin (The Secret Life of Marvin Gaye) alongside Keith Washington, Tony Grant, and Lynn Whitfield; even a duet with Malaysian Idol winner Jaclyn Victor for the animated film Ribbit.

In 2016 came She’s Magic, the closest thing to a proper comeback album. It got respectful reviews in soul-music circles and almost no mainstream attention. Reports around 2020 indicated the group was recording again with a tour to follow; neither materialized as described. Then came 2023, and the biggest reset yet.

05What Az Yet Is Doing Now

A rebuilt group and a self-owned label

The Az Yet performing in 2026 is essentially a new band wearing an old name, with one crucial exception: Kenny Terry, a member since 1991, is still there. Beside him is DyShon Benson, an early member who first joined in 1992 and returned in 2023. The other three — Jibriel Patterson, Jay Naught (styled J. Naugh-T!), and Drayton — all came aboard in 2023.

The bigger change is structural. The group now operates on its own as AZ YET MUSIC 7154, handling production, songwriting, video, bookings, and merchandise in-house. No label, no A&R department, no waiting. Their own materials describe the goal plainly.

Connect directly with fans and preserve the art of R&B harmony. — Official Az Yet biography, azyetmusic.com

Back on streaming, back on satellite radio

The rebuilt lineup started warming up in 2024 with covers and collaborations: a version of Atlantic Starr’s “Send For Me,” an updated take on D-Train’s “You’re the One for Me” with D-Train himself, and a contribution to the Emmy-winning ensemble recording of “People Get Ready.”

The real relaunch came on April 15, 2025, with “Get Used 2 It,” an independent single with an official video on the group’s YouTube channel. It was picked up by SiriusXM’s Heart & Soul channel — reportedly selected by the channel’s B.J. Stone — and put into rotation, which for an unsigned legacy act is a meaningful win. A follow-up, “4 Ya Bday,” was announced for summer 2025, and the group has been building toward a full album titled 7154. As of mid-2026 that album does not appear to have been formally released, so treat it as in progress.

Live dates and a podcast

They’re also working. In August 2025 the group headlined “Az Yet Presents The R&B Unity Tour” at the Diamondback Music Hall in Van Buren Township, Michigan, on a bill with singer Lathun and DJ IN10ENSE. Kenny Terry, who goes by “Bass Man,” also fronts the Az Yet Music Podcast on the group’s official YouTube channel — a low-key but steady way of keeping a 37-year-old name in front of the people who remember it.

Marc Nelson, the voice on the hits, continues his own career as a solo artist and songwriter and is no longer connected to the group as of 2026. If you’re chasing that 1996 vocal, that’s where it lives now.

06Summary

Az Yet reads like a one-album flameout on paper and looks completely different up close. They never got the follow-up the debut deserved, and constant lineup turnover meant they were forever reintroducing themselves. But they never actually quit — and in this independent phase, they’re arguably in more control of their own work than they ever were at LaFace.

Az Yet in 2026: Quick Facts

Formed in Philadelphia in 1989; still active 37 years later.
Their 1996 self-titled LaFace debut remains their only major-label album, and it went platinum.
"Last Night" hit No. 9 on the Hot 100 and No. 1 R&B; the Chicago remake "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" hit No. 8 and earned a 1998 Grammy nomination.
Kenny Terry, a member since 1991, is the only current member from the hit-making era.
The 2023 reset brought back DyShon Benson and added Jibriel Patterson, Jay Naught, and Drayton.
They now run everything themselves as AZ YET MUSIC 7154, with 2025's "Get Used 2 It" picked up by SiriusXM Heart & Soul.
An album titled 7154 has been announced; live dates include the 2025 R&B Unity Tour stop in Michigan.

So the honest answer to “whatever happened to Az Yet?” isn’t a sad one. The hits belonged to a specific moment and a specific voice, and that moment passed the way moments do. What’s left is a working group with one original anchor, a self-funded studio operation, and a stubborn belief that five men singing in harmony is still worth doing. That may never chart again — which doesn’t seem to be the point anymore.