Voyceboxing - Voyceboxing (1991)

And here is another all-girl R&B group from the early 90s, though at the time I wondered if it was indeed all girls. I'd seen this album around when it was released, but since I'd never heard anything by them, I didn't buy it. But I was always intrigued by the cover, as one of the members looked to me like a drag queen and I wondered what kind of music this could be. Well, I finally found the album used and bought it, only to discover that it was no drag queen, but an actual woman! That woman was Tina Harris (forgive me Tina! LOL), not to be confused with the Tina Harris from previous Isle postee Sweetbox. Tina moved with her parents to Los Angeles from England. She desperately wanted to be a singer, and when she was 19 she stole the phone numbers of some music industry bigwigs from her hairdresser's phone book! She cold-called them and managed to get interest from Lenny White, a legendary drummer and producer. He helped her to hone her demo and she ended up signing an EP deal with Shenachie Records in 1985. The funky EP had the cheeky title 'I Must Not Be Kinky' (download it at the awesome Recordo Obscura blog) and while it wasn't a huge hit, it got the underground buzzing. Lenny liked her speaking voice so much that he asked her to record the lead vocal for the track "Perfect Match" by Tech & The EFFX, which appeared on the School Daze soundtrack in 1988. Tina and Lenny kept their writing partnership alive as well, and their track "Paris" was instantly snapped up by previous Isle postee Nicki Richards for her debut album. Their relationship was so fruitful that they decided to form Voyceboxing, with Lenny producing. They chose two session singers, Candy Bell and Jean McClain, to join Tina in the group. For the album they were also lucky enough to recruit a then unknown Me'Shell Ndegeocello to play bass on the album, and they also recorded a track she wrote, "Talk To Me", which she herself would reinterpret on her debut album in 1993 as "Outside Your Door". They released only one single, "Pain", which only reached #54 on the Billboard R&B/Hip Hop Singles chart. Soon after they disbanded. Tina carried on as a songwriter, moving to New York and eventually Europe, where she hit her stride as an in- demand international pop songwriter (with a break as a copywriter in between). She has written songs for the likes of Jamelia, Koda Kumi, Sertab, Tarkan, Lemar and Christophe Willem, winner of the French Pop Idol, as well as the single "89 Lines" by previous Isle postee Terri Nunn. Jean McClain, meanwhile, went back to session singing, finding herself also in demand to back tracks by superstars such as Whitney Houston and Celine Dion. But it was when she reinvented herself in 1995 as 'Pepper Mashay' that she finally stole the spotlight. She has since had a lengthy string of dance club hits and is considered a premiere diva of the gay club scene. As for Candy Bell, if you're out there, girl, let us know what's been going on and where you're at! :)

Video for Pain

Download Voyceboxing

1		And Then The Earth Moved
2		Things Change
3		Pain
4		Sassy
5		Talk To Me
6		Kalifornyablu
7		Voice Boxing
8		Invitation 2 Dance
9		No Comment
10		The Little Black Dress
11		Same Cafe
12		Perfect Match (Reprise)

The Rainbow Girls - Girl's Life (1990)

Keeping with the theme of early 90s pop/R&B girl groups that I began with Oscar, I offer you up the only album by The Rainbow Girls. This was another awesome gift from Adriana, and I know she would be thrilled to share it with you all. I have to confess, I have never heard of this group and can find absolutely nothing about them, other than that the lead singer, Anishja, is also known as Lisa McLean. She co-wrote almost all of the songs on the album, and if you ask me, this project was basically a showcase for her. Even the backing vocals sound like she did them all herself. It's debatable if the other girls, whose names remain a mystery, had anything to do with the recording. Likely 'Anishja' thought that her music would get more attention if it came from a girl group versus a solo artist. And at the time, as I mentioned with Oscar, girl groups of this type were popping up everywhere. Though they had the gimmick of being an all-white girl group singing R&B flavoured songs, it appears that they may have tried to hide this fact initially, as the album's cover image attests - the same sort of trick Madonna played at the beginning of her career, so as not to have the audience biased against her. Whatever the case, their first single "Make Your Move 4 Love" didn't go anywhere, so when they released the album's title track as their next single, they revealed themselves in the video. This didn't seem to generate much interest either. They were signed to minor label Quality Records, the same label as previous Isle postee Angelica, and likely the label didn't have the funds to give it a major push. It is a fun album, however, and reminds me a lot of previous Isle postee Ms. Adventures (one of that group's members, Amy Morriss, even co-wrote the track "It's Been Too Long"), but with a bit more soul. A couple of years later the all-white R&B girl group Good 2 Go mined similar territory to about equal success (and they will be featured here in the future, no worries. ;) If anyone has any more info on The Rainbow Girls, please hit me up and fill us all in, won't you?

UPDATE: Thanks to an anonymous commenter, I found out that the Australian girl group Girlfriend covered the track "Girl's Life" for their debut album Make It Come True in 1992. They released it as their first single. See the video HERE and download the album HERE. ;)

ANOTHER UPDATE!: Lisa McLean/Anishja/Shay McLean herself just wrote and gave us all the details we need! Fascinating stuff! Thanks so much for filling us in, Shay! We're all huge fans. :) Here is her response:

"Okay, been awhile. I must have forgotten that I posted something here - oops! ;) Anyway, I am Anishja (well, formerly) it was a stage name. My real name is Lisa McLean and I go by Shay McLean now (not legally though ;) And no, I don't have multiple personality disorder lol, although I could understand if someone thought that!

Okay it started when I met up with Ricky Timas, the producer of all the songs we co-wrote. I was doing a demo in James Gadsden's studio in L.A. with Denzil Miller for an upcoming movie and met some people there. I can't remember the gal's name but she gave me a card and said Ricky was looking for a female singer to do some demos. I ended up calling him and setting up a meeting and we hit it off. Originally, I was signed as a solo artist, but they wanted to put a girl's group together, something I did not want, really. But we did it anyway. We put out the first single, "Make Your Move (4 Love)" and it did fairly well, #2 on some stations in L.A., #1 in Hawaii, Philadelphia, etc. But we didn't make the Billboard charts and that's what matters. Also, that song was doing really well but the company (Quality Records) didn't get the CD in the stores on time - which was disastrous. You just can't have a song out with no way for people to buy it! So, that didn't fly, eventually, they just decided to cut their losses. I decided I just wanted to forget the whole mess. I don't know what any of the other girls are up to. Jessica, (blonde in front) got married I think and she did some acting work. Denise (Top Left) was an incredible dancer but I don't know what she's up to and I never heard anything about Susan since. The business is rough!

We had fun but it was hard. The company didn't seem to know what they were doing, which didn't help. But I remember most of the time fondly. Daily rehearsals, traveling (that I loved) and working in the studio.

However, I've been toying with the idea of doing my own album now. Feel free to follow me on Twitter @ReallyShay - you'll find some interesting info there. ;)

It's going to be a blues/funk-type of sound. ;) Thanks for all the posts.

P.S. - I remember the Magic Mountain incident! Fun!"

Download Girl's Life

1		Special One
2		Make Your Move 4 Love
3		Sugar Baby
4		It's Been Too Long
5		Time 2 Find Another Lover
6		Take Me On
7		My Only Lover
8		Girl's Life
9		Always There 4 Me
10		Love Is All It Takes

Oscar - Spotlight (1992)

Oscar was a multi-racial girl group based in the US and brought together by production duo Charles Farrar and Troy Taylor, better known as The Characters. While The Characters had had some success the previous couple of years with producing some R&B hits, this was their first real foray into conceiving and managing an act and producing an entire album. They were part of the first wave that utilized the 'New Jack Swing' sound, and with other similar girl groups like TLC and SWV debuting that same year, the term 'New Jill Swing' emerged. The Characters obviously realized that they needed a different angle to make their group stand out of the pack, and the multi-racial aspect was indeed different. They enlisted Sally Ries, Debbie Lewis, Hiromi Kuroiwa and Kia Jeffries to realize their vision. The single "I'm Calling You (Do-Po-Liddle-La-Le-Yeah)" did get some attention, perhaps because of the multi-racial angle, and was a minor R&B hit. But the follow up, the ballad "Keep Touching Me", didn't get more than a promo release and the group was lost in the sea of girl groups. The gimmick obviously didn't pay off. If you ask me, they should have released the song "Give A Little More" as their next single, as it's house-ish vibe was refreshing and different. The Characters would go on to greater success producing hits for acts like Johnny Gill, Brandy, Brownstone, Eternal and even SWV. As for the girls, I can find nothing on any of them but Kia Jeffries. Kia returned to what she had been doing before joining Oscar, session work, most notably as the featured vocalist on rapper Akinyele's naughty "Put It In Your Mouth" in 1996. Two years later she was the driving force behind another girl group, 4Kast, but they too failed to make it big and only released one album. She continued doing session work and writing songs, and eventually was signed as a songwriter to producer/songwriter (Monifah's "Touch It") Jack Knight's company. She now goes by the name Babydoll and is finally pursuing a solo singing career. Go to her Facebook page should you desire to know more. As for the rest of the ladies, we can only hope that they found greater success elsewhere.

Video for I'm Calling You (Do-Po-Liddle-Lo-Le-Yeah)

Download Spotlight

1		I'm Calling You (Do-Po-Liddle-Lo-Le-Yeah)
2		Give A Little More
3		Just For You
4		Slide
5		Let Me Make It Better
6		I'll Be There For You
7		Spotlight
8		Baby You
9		Keep Touching Me
10		Sukiyaki
11		How I Spend My Time
12		Give Me A Reason

Denise Lopez - Truth In Disguise (1988) & Every Dog Has Her Day!!! (1990) DOUBLE POST!!

Denise Lopez is an artist who is custom made for the Isle, but though I have had her albums forever, I never featured her because I assumed that she'd be back in the spotlight and on to bigger and better things. My dear friend Bomitoni did a post on her almost five years (!!!) ago on Milk Carton Pop Stars, and he could find little info about her. However, that was a long time ago and since then so many 'lost' artists have resurfaced on the internet, especially on Myspace and Facebook. Since Denise was a powerhouse vocalist and had three Billboard Top 100 'hits', I naturally assumed that she would reemerge and at least have her own Myspace page, especially given the glut of lesser freestyle divas popping up there as the years passed. (She does have a Myspace fan page and a Facebook fan page, however. And don't get her confused with the Swedish artist with the same name. ;) Then, in 2008 and out of nowhere, her last single, "Don't You Wanna Be Mine", was remixed by Bimbo Jones and released to become a huge dance hit. Though you would think that would bring Denise once again into the spotlight, nothing came of it. And she remains an enigma even still. The little info I can gather indicates that she was born in Queens, New York. She released a few dance singles on indie labels in the mid-80s, including the awesome electro track "Best Of Me", as Neecy Dee, and "Love Patrol", as part of an act of the same name. In 1987, with assistance from hot electro and HiNRG producers and remixers John Morales and Sergio Munzibai, she managed to get a HiNRG single released on RCA Victor, "If You Feel It". It was a club hit and got her an album deal with A&M Records. Her next single, the freestyle-ish "Sayin' Sorry (Don't Make It Right)" was a huge club smash and reached #31 on the Billboard Hot 100. Her next single was a rerelease of "If You Feel It", and though it managed to make it into the Hot 100 to #96 and almost made it to the top 20 on the dance charts, it was considered a disappointment. The third single, "Too Much Too Late", fared even worse. At the time I thought that this was where Denise's story ended. But years later I was trolling delete bins in Florida and delightedly came across her second album on A&M, which I never knew existed! I must say that I was a bit disappointed at first listen, however. Though John Morales was back on production, the freestyle and HiNRG elements that I loved on her first album were replaced with a much more pop/funk sound, thanks to assistance from producers (who have also worked with other Isle postees) Oliver Leiber (Stacy Earl, Alta Dustin, Bobby Z, Elisa Fiorillo) and David Z (also Bobby Z and Elisa Fiorillo, as well as Tyka Nelson and Terri Nunn). Over the years the album has grown on me, but I guess the slight change of sound didn't impress people at the time, as it didn't do very well. "Don't You Wanna Be Mine" did make it into the Hot 100, but no single followed. And then Denise truly did fade into obscurity. Until the rerelease of "Don't You Wanna Be Mine" in 2008, that is, which even updated the original music video. Apparently the Clivilles and Cole remix of the original was an underground hit in the UK in the early 1990s, and there were fans who demanded an update. But I remember at the time reading an article that claimed that Denise had nothing to do with the rerelease and was barely even made aware of it, and didn't make much, if anything, off of it. And clearly she wasn't interested in riding on the attention it got her. She apparently now either lives in New York or LA and continues to make musical appearances every now and again. Denise, we want you back! Yours is a voice that cannot be denied! We DO feel it!

Video for Sayin' Sorry (Don't Make It Right)

Download Truth In Disguise

1		Sayin' Sorry (Don't Make It Right)
2		Tell Me What It Is
3		Stop The Fight
4		I Wanna Fall In Love With You
5		Truth In Disguise
6		If You Feel It
7		Causa U
8		Too Much Too Late
9		Power Of Suggestion

Video for Don't You Wanna Be Mine

Video for 2008 rerelease of Don't You Wanna Be Mine

Download Every Dog Has Her Day!!!

1		Don't You Wanna Be Mine
2		Communicate
3		Causa U
4		Land Of The Living
5		Love Come Down
6		It's Just My Heart That's Breakin'
7		Loving You A To Z
8		I Want U 2 Know
9		Layin' Down The Law
10		Everlasting Love