Today in the music industry, few celebrities try to keep a private life. Fame seems to depend on celebrities constantly spilling all the details about dating, family, and fall outs. None of that, however, has been Ralph Tresvant’s style. But after years and years of keeping plenty of things to himself, the New Edition lead singer has finally opened up. Recently, Ralph sat down with streaming platform UMC to share his story from the beginning. His is the first part of a longer docu-series called “A Closer Look,” which chronicles the stories of iconic black musicians.
On Wednesday November 4th, we showed an early peek at “A Closer Look with Ralph Tresvant” and got a chance to talk to Ralph himself! You know we had questions! He shared quite a few gems while being interviewed by radio personality and host Kendra G.
Something very rare that we got to see in the episode were all of Ralph’s kids!
“I don’t think I’ve seen all of your kids participate in something,” said Kendra G.
Kendra G.
Ralph laughed and shared:
“My kids are very private for me. I wanted them to just love dad. They barely knew about me in New Edition. They knew I must have done something because we were living well.”
Ralph Tresvant
He went on to say that they knew something was up when people would approach their dad to ask for photos and signatures. Ralph considers the relationships created with his kids as the true prized accomplishments.
“I raised them to totally understand me and feel me for what I am as opposed to me, this artist or successful singer.”
Ralph Tresvant
In the episode, we get a chance to see that Ralph’s kids are really grounded, which can be difficult to pull off when a parent is well off. And if he isn’t judged on anything else but his kids, then he’s okay with that. In his words:
“The reflection of me will come through them… You’ll see who I am through them.”
Ralph Tresvant
Considering how personal fame has been made to be, we found there is a reason why Ralph is so low-key.
“For the most part I’m brutally honest. And that’s another reason why I don’t have microphones in my face all the time. I might say the wrong thing at the wrong time and kill everybody’s career in New Edition,” he said laughing. “I speak when I need to speak. I appreciate where it is. I respect where it is.”
Ralph Tresvant
Watch the full episode on UMC | The subscription streaming platform has established itself as the first and largest service where all content is either created, written or directed by a person of color! You can stream UMC online, on Apple TV, Apple TV Channels, YouTube TV, Amazon Prime Channels, Comcast’s Xfinity On Demand, Cox, Roku, Amazon Fire TV & Fire TV Stick and everywhere else streaming services are found.
