With their single "Let's Get Married,"

COLOR="#003163">Jagged Edge have carved out

a niche for themselves as hopeless romantics in a sea

of sex-obsessed soul men.

"We don't strive on the ordinary bump-and-grind

stuff," Richard

Wingo, a member of the four-man singing

ensemble, said from his Atlanta home. "We want our

songs to have some depth, to have some meat to them."

The group's unabashed romanticism is paying off.

"Let's Get Married" (

href="http://media.addict.com/music/Jagged_Edge/Lets_Get_Married.ram">RealAudio

excerpt) is at #6 on the Billboard

R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart, and its second album,

J.E. Heartbreak, has been creeping slowly

toward the R&B/Hip-Hop chart's top 10, landing at #11

this week.

The group came together in Atlanta, where Wingo and

the other members sang in church choirs and met at

frequent Sunday evening concerts. "All of us were born

and raised in the church," Wingo said. "I had to be at

church all day on Sunday, so I just got involved with

everything I could."

Jagged Edge's church training is reflected in their

tight harmonies and willingness to let go vocally, as

with Wingo's howls in the gentle ballad "What You

Tryin' to Do" (

href="http://media.addict.com/music/Jagged_Edge/What_You_Tryin_To_Do.ram">RealAudio

excerpt).

Wingo says there's no better place to work on your

vocal chops than in the choir. "You have to sing full

voice, just blow it out, all the time," he said.

"Plus, you've got two or three people alongside you,

singing another note, so it helps you stay on your

note."

The group signed with

COLOR="#003163">Jermaine Dupri's So So Def

label and released its first album, A Jagged

Era, in 1997. J.E. Heartbreak came out in

January and began a slow but steady climb up the

chart, led by the success of "Let's Get Married."

"After we released 'Gotta Be' on our first album,

people would come up to us and say, 'Man, I played

that song at my wedding,' " Wingo said. "We just

decided to simply say it, straight up, on this album."

Wingo says the group plans to keep up the romantic

vibe by releasing "What You Tryin' to Do" as the next

single.

He says many of Jagged Edge's peers are just lazy

lyricists. "Anybody can write about what they want to

do to somebody or how they want to do it," he said.

"It takes a little more thought to write something

about loving somebody forever, or about being a

family."

The group members — Wingo, Kyle Norman and

brothers Brian and Brandon Casey — have been

rehearsing for their summer gig opening for

COLOR="#003163">Mary J. Blige, who said she

picked Jagged Edge because they stand out from other

male R&B acts.

"I don't think that Jagged Edge is trying to be

Jodeci or any

other group," Blige said. "What I like about them is

that they have an individuality, and the boys can

sing."

While Jagged Edge have found success with their

ballads, J.E. Heartbreak has its share of dance

numbers, such as "Girl Is Mine," which features a rap

by Ja Rule.

"Everybody's trying to pigeonhole us into the category

of balladeers," Wingo said. "That's all right, but

we've got songs to make you want to get your party on,

too."

One such number is "You Can Always Go," which appears

on the soundtrack to the Martin Lawrence comedy "Big

Momma's House."

"We wanted to make sure that people know our music is

like two sides to the knife," Wingo said. "One side's

real smooth, but the other one is jagged."