Poison (Bell Biv DeVoe song)
1990 single by Bell Biv DeVoe

"Poison" is the debut single of American vocal group Bell Biv DeVoe, released as the first single from their debut album of the same name. The song, in the style of new jack swing, a late-1980s/early-1990s hybrid of R&B, hip hop and swing, was the group's most successful.
Background and information
The song was written and produced by Elliot Straite (Dr. Freeze). Straite had originally planned to feature the song on his own album, but plans changed when the members of Bell Biv DeVoe heard his demo version. "When the guys heard it, they went nuts. I didn't think that record was going to be that big because it was a personal love letter to my ex-girlfriend at the time. It wasn't a song at first. It was a letter. When I wrote it as a song, I let a lot of my friends hear it, and they said it was weird.
“Poison (Bell Biv DeVoe song)” enters the record as 1990 single by Bell Biv DeVoe. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Poison, Bell and DeVoe can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Poison (Bell Biv DeVoe song)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Poison, Bell and DeVoe provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 24, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7208434. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Poison (Bell Biv DeVoe song)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Poison (Bell Biv DeVoe song) primary sources, Poison (Bell Biv DeVoe song) archive and Poison research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Poison (Bell Biv DeVoe song)”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Poison (Bell Biv DeVoe song)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.