For Real was a Grammy-nominated R&B / Soul quartet that formed in 1993, the band released their debut album It's a Natural Thang with production from Brian McKnight on A&M Records in 1994 and it became a critical success, including a rare four stars from Rolling Stone Magazine. Almost since its formation in 1993, the four female members of the R&B group For Real were caught up in a whirlwind of activity. Their first single "Easy To Love" peaked at No. 65 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, whilst the spawning album scored two more chart hits, that did better than the album's first - "You Don't Know Nothin'", which peaked at No. 27 and "You Don't Wanna Miss", which hit No. 28. The album sold over 1 million copies worldwide and peaked at No.80 on the Billboard 200. Before they scored chart success, For two and a half years, For Real tried to land a record deal but had no luck. When they finally did get signed, it happened by accident.

We were picking up our manager from the airport. So we decided to greet him with an acappella song'. Someone from A&M records just happened to be in the airport and heard them perform. Not long after, they were signed.

Freedom

In 1995, the band appeared in Italian Vogue, in whose pages they modeled men's suits; toured alongside Stevie Wonder; lent their voices to a Martin Scorsese project, the film Grace of My Heart; and they also became actresses for a time, with appearances in the film Shake, Rattle and Rock starring Renée Zellweger and Howie Mandel on Showtime. They also hit the Top 20 with the single "Freedom" featuring Aaliyah, TLC, En Vogue, BlackGirl, SWV, and Vanessa Williams from the movie Panther. Towards the end of year, the band recorded a duet with Stevie Wonder called "Stubborn Kind Of Fellow", which appeared on the Marvin Gaye tribute album Inner City Blues: The Music Of Marvin Gaye.

Waiting to Exhale

In 1995 and 1996, the quartet recorded songs for the films Waiting to Exhale and Fled respectively. The band also teamed up with Aaliyah, En Vogue, Mary J. Blige, TLC, Chantay Savage, Vanessa Williams, BlackGirl, and SWV for the single Freedom from the movie Panther. The single hit Top 40 single, reaching No.18.

Towards the end of 1996 they released the single "Like I Do" produced by Dallas Austin from their second album titled Free. The band thought it was their answer to what they called "counterfeit R&B" in an interview with Essence Magazine in 1996. "Like I Do" hit No.10 on the Billboard singles chart, the video also earned a Billboard nomination for Best R&B Clip, the album made the Top 100, and nearly 400,000 copies in the US, the album's last single "The Saddest Song I Ever Heard" hit No. 65 on the Top 100 singles chart. The band performed "Saddest Song" on the TV show All That. Free included production from top R&B/pop producers like Babyface, Mario Winans, and Jon B..

The band also recorded two songs ("I Do" and "Born to Love That Boy") and appeared in the critically acclaimed film Grace of My Heart. The films soundstrack won a Satellite Award in 1997.

In January 1997 the band won an American Music Award for their work on the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack, in Summer 1997, the group earned a Soul Train Award nomination for Album Of The Year (By A Group, Band Or Duo) for "Free".

Break Up

In 1999 Wendi Williams of For Real lent her voice to the Oscar nominated film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, with Halle Berry, in which Berry plays a singer but Wendi Williams is behind her singing voice.

In 2002, their song "Love Will Be Waiting At Home", appeared in the movie, Two Can Play That Game, that starred Vivica A. Fox & Morris Chestnut.

In 2006 an official MySpace page opened for the band.

In 2009 CoryLavel began to work with Josina Elder on her new album.