702 in Concert
R&B girl group 702 was first discovered by the comedian Sinbad, whose ears perked up when he noticed sisters Irish, Orish, and LeMisha Grinstead singing in the lobby of Las Vegas' famed Caesars Palace. That led to an encounter with New Edition member — and R&B mogul — Michael Bivins, who named the group 702 after their hometown of Las Vegas' area code and signed them to his label Biv 10. With new vocalist Kameelah Williams on board, the group released their first album ‘No Doubt' in 1996; it spawned a slew of hits, including the strutting, Missy Elliott-assisted "Steelo" and the sweetly longing "All I Need," and won the 1997 Soul Train Lady of Soul Award for Best R&B/Soul Album of the Year. Elliott invited the trio to provide the hook for her skittering 1998 smash "Beep Me 911" and produced "Where My Girls At?," the R&B chart-topping lead single from their 1999 self-titled album. After a brief hiatus in the early 2000s, 702 returned with their third album, ‘Star,' which featured Clipse on the blippy title track and Pharrell Williams on the Neptunes-produced reconciliation track "I Still Love You," in 2003.
702 went on hiatus in 2007, with LeMisha Grinstead and Williams releasing solo singles in the years that followed; Williams also appeared on the 2013 season of TV One's ‘R&B Divas: Atlanta.' In 2017, Williams, Irish Grinstead, and LeMisha Grinstead attended the Soul Train Awards together — 702's first appearance as a group in more than a decade. The next year, they announced a reunion tour and were featured in an episode of TV One's ‘Unsung.' "We all have grown so much and we felt like the timing was right — and we really missed each other performing on stage together," the trio said in a statement announcing their reunion tour.
