IQ (girl group)

IQ was an American teenage pop and hip hop girl group. The group consisted of sisters Sadiea and Nyla Williams, Gicelle Valerio and Lauren Mafera, all from Lunenburg, Massachusetts. Mikayla Campbell is from Fitchburg, Massachusetts left the group in 2007, Mafera as her replacement. The group split in 2008 to pursue other projects.

Members

• Nyla Williams (born 1990) was Miss Massachusetts of the National American Miss Massachusetts Junior Teen beauty pageant of 2005 and 2006.^[1] She is also a poet and dancer with aspirations of modeling and fashion designing. Both she and her sister, Sadiea, are of African-American, Scottish, Pakistani and American Indian descent. She was a rapper and vocalist for IQ.
• Gicelle Valerio (born 1989) is Hispanic-American. She is of Bolivian, Dominican, Spanish, and Italian descent. Valerio was a vocalist and rapper for IQ as well as the choreographer. She was accepted to Fitchburg State College to major in nursing and her aspirations is to become a graduate student to major in business as well. Her interests includes fashion, dancing, gymnastics and modeling.
• Sadiea Williams (born 1989) was a rapper and vocalist for IQ. She is an athlete who is interested in basketball, cross-country and track & field. She was an all-star basketball player at Lunenburg High School.^[2] She has been accepted to an Ivy League School Brown University to pursue basketball.
• Lauren Mafera (born 1989) was the main vocalist for the band and replacement for Mikayla Campbell after she quit IQ to work on Broadway. She is a photographer, singer, and dancer. Her interests include drawing, fashion, photography, and singing. Her aspirations are to pursue college with a Business degree and continuing photography.
• Mikayla Campbell (born 1990) was a vocalist for IQ until she left the band in 2007 to pursue a career on Broadway. Her aspirations are to perform in Broadway plays. Her true passion is to pursue her musical career as a Broadway performer. Campbell attended a performing arts school at Walnut Hill in Natick, MA. She has since gone on to become an actress and graduated from Royal School of Speech and Drama in London, England.

History

IQ first formulated through a school talent show. Sisters Sadiea and Nyla, asked their father, Mark, to compose songs for their performances.^[3] The girls performed the song "School" (a later song on their debut album). The overall response from young people was outstanding. Campbell and Valerio joined the group later to make the group four. In the group, the Williams sisters and Valerio both rapped and performed back-up singing vocals. Mafera was the main vocalist (The group's former main vocalist, Campbell left IQ in 2007).

IQ performed in Boston, New York and Hollywood to promote the release of their EP, It's Like That, initially released on Apple iTunes in May 2005. On New Year's Eve of 2005, they performed at the Disney Jingle Jam in Boston with B5, Everlife and Jada. In 2006, they released a re-make of the Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons song "Big Girls Don't Cry" as their first single on Radio Disney^[4]

IQ continued to perform shows with Radio Disney and obtained the prestige of becoming a Radio Disney Incubator artist. In July 2006, their debut album, Roll Call in July, distributed by WPE Music, LLC through Bungalo/Universal.

In February 2008, the group worked on a sophomore album titled Crush Bungalo Records/Universal Music but it was left unreleased. The debut single from the unreleased album was "Crush on U" and a remixed version which includes artists such as Mighty Mystic; a Jamaican musician, Baby Boy Da Prince, CL Smooth and J. R. Writer from Dipset.

Campbell departed from the group to pursue a career on Broadway in 2007. Lauren Mafera replaced Campbell during the girls final year as a band. In 2008, the group split up when all the members went to different colleges.

Discography

• It's Like That EP (2005)
• Roll Call (2006)
• Crush (2008)

References

External links

• IQ at Allmusic
• IQ at MySpace