TRESTON IRBY

Q. Tell Everyone who you are and what you do.

A. My name is Treston Irby, onefifth of the nineties R&B Platinum Group Hi-Five.

Q. What’s your most memorable moment you’ve had from being in the group?

A. My memorable moment was having Prince walk by me at the awards ceremony at Soul Train. That’s one I want to say. Another one is being on Arsenio Hall. That’ another one. I know a lot of people don’t really know about Arsenio Hall, a lot of the younger crowd. But Arsenio Hall, that was late-night TV. You made it there, you were on his show, you were there. We did that

about three times. Besides that, it’s pretty much just performing, period. Just performing for all the fans. Everyone is memorable.

Q. What was the formation of Hi-Five?

A. Well, before I got there, they were doing talent shows. And a guy by the name of William Bolton, who’s in another group, knew about Tony and knew about the manager who was managing them at the time. He brought Tony’s name up, and then they did a demo, went over the jive, and that’s pretty much how the story went when it comes to putting Hi-Five together.

Q. Let’s talk about your book “Hiatus” and the motivation behind the book.

A. The book is called “Hiatus”. And I talk about that a lot and how I felt being in that particular moment, looking at all these big heads ... Jasmine Guy and all that right in the front. But to be able to perform in front of your peers like that, the energy is a little different. And that was my first show. And let’s just say the show didn’t go as planned either, but you got to read the book to hear about that. Hiatus is an autobiography. I’ve written the book by myself for myself. And then I said, you know what? I think people need to hear this. I could be able to help somebody with my message or whoever reads the book could probably get a message from it. I pray that people that read the book will receive something from it and know that don’t take God’s grace and mercy for granted.

So, it’s definitely that type of book where it is jaw-dropping. I believe it would catch a lot of people off guard when it comes to me. And also, I wanted to have my own identity too, separate from Hi-Five. I’m always pumping Hi-Five, the Spirit told me I got to start pumping Treston Irby, and do other things, like acting and writing books, and creating opportunities for other people to live their dream.

Q. What was some of the challenges you’ve had in your career?

A. There was a lot. Just being on certain tours, living out your suitcases, living in hotels and tour buses. Being young and living out of your suitcase and being on the tour bus, and not spending much time with your family.

Q. What else can we expect from you this year?

A. High-Five is in the studio right now. We’ve got some dope collaborations that were working on. We have a show in West Virginia. Next month were going to be with Boyz II Men up at Thunder Valley. So, were staying busy. Were blessed and highly favorite as a group.

Q. What advice can you give to our readers right now?

A. I would just tell everyone to keep good people around you. And also, do something that you love to do. Don’t try to do it just for the money because now you’re not your slave to the money. But if you do it because you love it, the money will come, but the product could be even better, and you get to enjoy the road to it. Put God first too. And pray on everything. Be patient. Sometimes God not going to answer you right there on the spot. We got to give him a couple of days because there are so many people he got to talk to. Sometimes you got to wait on hold on the prayer line.

Q. If you could go back into time, what year would you go back to and what would you do differently?

A. 1991. I would have paid more attention to my contract.

Q. Where Can the readers follow you?

A. Instagram @trestonirbyhifive, trestonhifive.com, bxmostwanted. com.