TKA

American freestyle music band

TKA
TKA circa 1990 (Tony, Kayel, and Angel)
Background information
Origin	Upper Manhattan, New York City
Genres	Latin freestyle, house
Years active	1984–1991; 2001–present
Labels	Tommy Boy/Warner Bros. Records

Members	K7 Tre Aby Cruz (AKtual)

Past members	La India Spyder (deceased) Los (retired) Tony Ortiz (former) Angel "A-Love" Vasquez (former)

TKA is an American freestyle/house music group who were most prominent in the 1980s and early 1990s, particularly in New York City, Philadelphia, and Miami. The acronym TKA represents their collective initials, and it was said for a time that it also stood for "Total Knowledge in Action." All of TKA's members are of Puerto Rican descent. Many freestyle fans consider them the kings of that genre, although Kayel seemingly downplayed this label, having jokingly stated, "There are no kings in freestyle. TKA is the best-selling and widely considered the most prominent and successful Latin freestyle band in recorded history.

History

Hailing from Upper Manhattan, TKA would sing at local sweet sixteen parties in East Harlem neighborhood in 1984. Kayel ran across the offices of Tommy Boy records and met and invited Record producer and manager Joey Gardner, to attend a performance at st Francis de Sales , Gardner was impressed with the trio, and helped them to get signed with Tommy Boy Records. Its members originally were Louis "Kayel" Sharpe, Tony Ortiz, Ray Spider Rivera Linda La India Caballero and Ralph "Aby"Cruz—the original lead singer. During their Early success Spider was asked to leave, La India left to pursue a solo dance music & salsa career and eventually Aby as well, the latter was later replaced by Angel "Love" Vasquez, which allowed Kayel to assume the lead vocals. after the release of the single "Tears May Fall." Although not widely known, India was a member of the group in its earliest days, as well, billed as Linda Caballero. The group's first single was "One Way Love," a major hit in the Latin club communities in the New York metropolitan area, Philadelphia, and Miami, which was followed by "Come Get My Love." An album was then recorded, titled Scars of Love, which included the first two singles. The title track was then released as a single, followed by "Tears May Fall," "X-Ray Vision," and "Don't Be Afraid." In 1989, the soundtrack of the film Lean on Me featured the single "You Are the One", which hit #91 on the Billboard Hot 100.[1].^[1]

The album Louder Than Love was released in 1990, accompanied by its first single, "I Won't Give Up on You", a slick contemporary R&B groove that was quite a departure from their earlier material, stylistically. 1991 saw even more diversity of sound with the release of the singles "Crash (Have Some Fun)", a house music hit that featured a rap vocal by Michelle Visage of the group Seduction; "Give Your Love to Me," produced by Frankie Cutlass, and "Louder Than Love."

That same year the trio also performed the song "Are You for Real" on the popular syndicated television program It's Showtime at the Apollo.

As a result of Freestyle's waning popularity as a new age of music dawned and internal group discourse, the trio stopped recording soon after the single "Louder Than Love" was released. A greatest hits package was released in 1992, with a new track, "Maria", which was released as a single.

Following the split, the members of TKA went on to pursue independent interests. Kayel recorded under the name K7 and had a hit hip-hop album called Swing, Batta, Swing, which contained the hit singles "Zunga Zeng," produced by Frankie Cutlass (which interpolated and was loosely based on Reggae legend Yellowman's 1983 early Dancehall hit "Zungguzungguguzungguzeng"); "Come, Baby, Come;" and the Cab Calloway-influenced "Hi De Ho." Tony established a production company in New York, and Angel formed the contemporary R&B group Goodfellaz.

The trio reunited in 2001 and recorded the album Forever, which was released by Tommy Boy shortly before that company ended its joint venture with Warner Bros. Records. For the first time in the history of TKA, the release featured Tony's lead vocal on one track, "In a Manner of Speaking."

Tony, Aby, and Angel performed together as the Original members of TKA, while K7 performed with Tre and Los from The Swing Kids as TKA/K7

In 2020, Aby reunited with K7 and the lineup of TKA featuring K7, Tre and Los, performing for the first time in over 30 years. For the shows, Aby was billed as a solo artist while performing some songs with the group as AKTual Voices of TKA. This was later shortened to simply AKtual. K7 and Aby (as AKtual) released a single in August 2021 titled "Don't Forsake Me." In 2023 another single was released as Aby featuring Aktual titled "You Didn't Love Me". Los retired from performing at the end of 2023.

Between 2017 and 2022, TKA released a flurry of singles on streaming platforms including “Slipping Through My Hands” (2020) and “Spanish Lullaby” (2022).