DeVante Swing of the 80s R&B group Jodeci was arrested in California over the weekend for public drunkenness after he trashed a Subway restaurant.
A talented producer and songwriter, DeVante produced 2 Pac’s “No More Pain” off the 1996 album All Eyez on Me. DeVante was considered the heartthrob of the group, but he was plagued by drug addictions for most of his career.
“Gin & Juice” by Da Bassment featuring DeVante is a track off a mixtape, circa 1995. Da Bassment was a collective of artists from DeVante’s now defunct Swing Mob Records featuring Missy Elliott, her group Sugah, Tweet, Missy’s other girl group Sista, Timbaland, Magoo, Ginuwine, and others. The collective was sometimes referred to as “the supafriends”.
According to TMZ, DeVante, whose real name is Donald DeGrate Jr., was arrested after police received a call from a concerned citizen who said the singer was drunk and sloppily crashing into tables and falling on the floor at the restaurant.
The 41-year-old was arrested for being drunk in public and taken to a jail nearby.
DeVante was released around 11PM, after police determined he had sobered up. The police said the singer would not be charged with a crime.
Jodeci was a hit R&B band famous in the early-to-late ’90s and consisted of two pairs of brothers, the DeGrates — Donald ‘DeVante Swing’ DeGrate and Dalvin DeGrate and the Haileys — Cedric ‘K-Ci’ Hailey and Joel ‘Jo-Jo’ Hailey.
When Jodeci went on hiatus, the Hailey brothers continued to perform together under the name K-Ci & JoJo and found additional success; they are currently the subject of the reality show ‘K-Ci & JoJo … Come Clean.’
