HI-FIVE : They’ve Put Away the Bubble Gum

“When I met these guys they weren’t hip, they were real lame--real pitiful,” laughs Treston Irby, a native New Yorker and the only member of the R&B; vocal quintet Hi-Five not from Waco, Tex. “I’m from the big city, so I (figured I) could help them get hip. I was surprised that these well-known singers were such hicks.”

That was the least of their problems.

About 2 1/2 years ago, when Irby joined Hi-Five--which also consists of Tony Thompson, Marcus Sanders, Roderick Clark and Russell Neal--the group was saddled with a bubble-gum image.

“Things were all wrong,” says Irby, 19, of the group’s hit debut album, “Hi-Five.” “The music on the album was bubble gum. That album was for girls about 10 to 14. These guys had to grow up, change the image, move to the next level.

“Before I came along these guys didn’t have a say in anything they did,” he continues. “I’m not saying I led them out of the darkness all by myself--but I was a good influence.”

There was a revolution, with the group winding up with new management and a voice in creative decisions. The fact that the latest album, “Keep It Goin’ On,” is geared to females in their late teens and 20s indicates that Hi-Five has successfully made the transition.

Irby proudly notes: “Now people compare us to Boyz II Men, Jodeci and Color Me Badd--not the Jackson 5.”