R&B duo Men at Large arrived during the tail-end of the new jack swing era with strong
support and creative input from fellow Clevelander Gerald Levert. Expressive vocalists
Dave Tolliver and Jason Champion began with Atlantic subsidiary EastWest and released
two albums for the label: Men at Large (1992) and the relatively mellow One Size Fits All
(1994). They reached Billboard’s R&B chart with seven singles from those titles, including
the Top Ten hits “Use Me” and “So Alone,” the latter of which was a ballad addressed to
Tolliver’s mother, who had recently passed. Third and fourth Men at Large albums were
issued through independent labels during the late ’90s and 2000s. After the duo split,
Champion recorded contemporary gospel material and was featured on high-profile
albums by A-listers Kirk Franklin and Deitrick Haddon. Tolliver popped up on tracks by
Rome and 8Ball & MJG and released solo albums in 2009 and 2015. In 2016, with Edgar
“Gemini” Porter in place of Champion, Tolliver reactivated Men at Large through the
single “Date Night.” ~ Andy Kellman
