Usher Touring This Summer?

2 The Advocate | Based out of Chicago, One Chance is gearing up to make it big with their single, “U Can’t,” featuring Young Joc. Not only is this single getting airplay, but the group is also about to release their debut album and begin a summer tour with multiplatinum artist Usher.

One Chance isn’t an overnight success, they have been working on their career for quite a while. The group’s story started with brothers Jon and Michael Gordon.

“When Michael and I were growing up, we wanted to start a group.” Jon Gordon said. “We started going around to different high schools looking for other artists. We came across Rob [Brent] at his high school in Chicago. Me, Michael and Rob started doing a high school tour, performing and stuff, and we came across Courtney [Vantrease]. From there, we got One Chance.”

This was six years ago, but even in high school, the road was not easy.

“It started off in Chicago. We were selling CDs and trying to move around town, so we would be seen and heard. We had our own little promotional tour,” Vantrease said. “There were a lot of obstacles. A lot of people said we needed to change certain things and styles. We also had another member we had to let go.

“There were a lot of things we had to go through. We took what everybody was saying and used it to our advantage.”

Once Chance finally received their big break at a showcase in Atlanta.

“Eventually, we hit it up in Atlanta where we knew a person, who knew a person, who knew a person, who knew Usher,” Vantrease said. “They entered us into Usher’s showcase. Out of the 14 acts, we won his showcase, and Usher signed us.”

After getting signed by the Grammy-award winning musician, the group was poised for their moment in the spotlight.

Unfortunately, their wait wasn’t quite over.

“[Usher] actually signed us a while back. Considering he was releasing his last album, we had to wait our turn. So we sat, got our things together, practiced and stayed in shape,” Vantrease said. “He finished up his tour and then went kind of hard on our project. That’s when we released ‘Look at Her,’ which was pretty much a warm up, so everybody could get a feel for us.”

“During those times of sitting and waiting, we got frustrated,” Jon Gordon said. “We were wondering if this was ever going to happen. While he was doing his tours, we had to learn how to have patience and dedication, being determined to keep going no matter what frustrations might set in.”

Even though this was an extremely trying time, the group stayed focused.

“The whole drive was based off of this dream. When we have a dream and a goal, we can’t take no for an answer. We’re going to try until we die. We had our eyes on the prize,” Jon Gordon said.

When asked about their current single “U Can’t,” Jon Gordon also had this to say: “We like to do fun records that keep people moving. We like to stay in the club scene. It’s about to be summer time. Summer time is for parties.”

R&B boy groups are not a new phenomenon to music, but it’s those past hit makers that One Chance looks to for inspiration.

“Other groups that have inspired us are Jodeci and Boys II Men, pretty much the groups that you remember today.” Michael Gordon said. “Someone who you can put in their CD, and you can feel the music. Those are the types of groups we try to study.”

One Chance has also collaborated with several prominent hip-hop/R&B acts for their new album.

“Most of the people we have worked with have been surreal experiences,” Jon Gordon said. “We just sit back and think, ‘Man we are working with some of the biggest artists in the music game right now.’ The people we have enjoyed working with are T-Pain, Robin Thicke and pretty much everybody, as well as some of our features like Young Joc.”

Jon Gordon has one thing to say to all of the supporters and doubters in the group’s past.

“Thank you. Without them we wouldn’t be here — without the haters or the congratulators. We’d like to thank everybody.”

To find out more on One Chance or to download their single, check out their Web page at www.onechancemusic.com.