The Isle Of Deserted Pop Stars

Jannetta - Breathless (1988) & Mark On My Heart (1991) DOUBLE POST!!

2012-01-20T11:55:00.009-05:00

Well, the shut-down of Megaupload is a bummer, but I'm not going to let that get me down. So I'm doing another post already! I realized when posting the last post that the amazing Tobysheldonla also sent me two albums by Jannetta some time ago, and I totally forgot to share them on here! Thanks again T! I featured Jannetta's single "Mark On My Heart" on Lost Pop Treasures in 2010, but only linked to her bio there. In more detail, Patti Jannetta grew up in Toronto, where she became part of the touring cast of Jesus Christ Superstar. From that experience she released a self-titled album (using her full name Patti Jannetta) in 1981 on a small label, Janta (that album is almost impossible to get ahold of now). A couple singles were released to moderate success in her hometown. She toured the world to promote the album, to little success, and then fell into the background. It wasn't until 1988 that she re-emerged on the music scene simply as Jannetta, reinventing herself as a dance-pop diva. She released the album Breathless on the better known Trilogy label, and two singles, "Name Of The Game" and "Party Girl", the second of which became a minor club hit in Canada and for which she was nominated for a Juno. I mentioned on Lost Pop Treasures that her performance of the track on the local dance show Electric Circus is forever burned into my memory, as at the time anyone from off of the street was allowed to dance on the show, and the dancers surrounding her were simply hilarious. I have that performance on a videotape somewhere and one day hope to upload it to Youtube. Anyway, she again toured around the world and this time got a lot more love. After extensive touring, she managed to record a second album for Trilogy in 1991. Three singles were released, including the mid-tempo "I Know You'll Wait" and the ballad "Even Though You're Gone". The title track, "Mark On My Heart" was a club hit a couple years after the album's release. She toured with previous Isle postee Manee throughout Europe and Manee's native Thailand, and apparently a documentary on Manee entitled Superstar was filmed, with Jannetta appearing in it. She also did backing vocals on Manee's album. In 1993 she co-wrote the song "Tell Me You Love Me" for another Isle postee, Carol Medina, and was presented a Canadian Diamond record for one million units sold. Since then she has put her music career on the backburner, becoming a steadfast volunteer for various causes and holding several different positions in the music industry. She has been Director of Canadian Music Week, President of The Canadian Association for the Advancement of Music and the Arts, and Artistic Director of The Mississauga Waterfront Festival. She also still occasionally performs with The Patti Jannetta Band and as a guest vocalist for legendary Canadian country artist Ronnie Hawkins.

Download Breathless

1		Name Of The Game
2		Mirror Of The Heart
3		Secrets In Your Room
4		Party Girl
5		California Night
6		Movin' To The Beat
7		Fire In Your Eyes
8		Just Another Heartbeat
9		Trust Someone

Download Mark On My Heart

1		Sunday Gone
2		Even Though You're Gone
3		Dancin'
4		I've Got News For You
5		Back In Time
6		Mark On My Heart
7		Star Crossed
8		I Know You'll Wait
9		Storm Warning
10		Something Foolish

Sonia/Sonya Papp - Destiny (1990), Time (1993) & Love Me Tonight (1999) TRIPLE POST!!!

2012-01-19T10:47:00.023-05:00

Thanks to the magic of my friend from Discogs Tobysheldonla, I now have Sonia Papp's Destiny in digital form, the final third of my Sonia Papp album trilogy, and I can finally share her work with you all in my first ever triple post! I previously featured Sonia's first single, "Undercover Lover", on Lost Pop Treasures last year. Unfortunately I've been unable to find any more info on her since then. It's amazing to me that someone who released three albums over a decade has no internet presence whatsoever! The only thing I can say for sure is that she is from Quebec. The hi-NRG "Undercover Lover" was a club hit in Canada in 1988. It took two more years before her debut album was released, and it featured a housier remix of the track. For the album she changed the spelling of her first name from Sonia with an 'I' to Sonya with a 'Y' for some unknown reason. The majority of the album was straight up dance-pop, all produced by John Farley of Canadian disco group Hydro. Nothing more was heard from her until three years later when she released the single "The Mexican", a remake of the 1972 Babe Ruth classic, which was remade into a dance hit by John "Jellybean" Benitez in 1984 and to which Sonya's version is most similar. This was followed by the album Time. Though the album was this time produced by drummer Denis Lavigne of Canadian pop-rock group Paradox, it still contained mostly dance-pop tunes. The album also included a version of "Hasta La Vista", which previous postee Chantal recorded with the group Collage a couple of years earlier. While "The Mexican" saw some local success, the housey title track was the next single and it went unnoticed. I had thought that that was the end of Sonya's recording career until one day, over a decade later, I went into a second-hand CD store and found Love Me Tonight, which was released in 1999, clearly with no fanfare. She reverted back to Sonia with an 'I' for this album, perhaps to signal a reinvention of her sound. While I was surprised to find another album by Sonia, I was even more surprised to hear her new direction, full on rock-pop. It was the first album produced by Matthew Gerrard of Canadian rock group Regatta, who later on went to produce teen pop acts like Nick Carter, Hilary Duff, Raven-Symoné, Jo Jo and 'Hannah Montana'. It also features previous postee Sheree Jeacocke on backing vocals. Alas, this new direction proved no more successful than her previous work and Sonia once again disappeared from the spotlight. Which leaves us here, 13 years later, wondering where this Canadian treasure remains hidden. At least now we can all enjoy her music, and, as always, any info as to her current whereabouts would be greatly appreciated! :)

Download Destiny

1		Jamie
2		Destiny
3		Fire Of Love
4		Nobody's Fool
5		Undercover Lover
6		Rescue Me
7		I'll Make You Love Me
8		Heart To Heart
9		Show Me A Sign

Download Time

1		Time
2		The Mexican
3		Dance Yes, Talk No
4		Hasta La Vista
5		Chemistry
6		You've Got The World
7		Talk About It
8		My Heart Stands Alone
9		I've Been Waiting For This Chance
10		Heart Beat
11		Play The Field
12		The Mexican (Chico Mix)

Download Love Me Tonight

1		Take Me Down
2		Tell Me Why
3		Love Me Tonight
4		Heart To Heart
5		Dirty Old Sam
6		Without Your Love
7		Let Me Be Your Angel
8		Find A Way To Your Heart
9		My Heart Stands Alone
10		Fire Of Love

No Secrets - No Secrets (2002)

2012-01-03T15:59:00.013-05:00

Happy New Year, everyone! Hope you all had an amazing holiday! Sorry for my lack of posts yet again, but it was a very busy month for me. Since I happen to have a few moments free, I thought I'd do a quick post to satiate you all for a bit. ;) No Secrets was a teen girl group formed in 2000 in Los Angeles. Carly Lewis was the step-daughter of British musician Adrian Gurvitz, who helped her realize her dream of pop stardom by recruiting the rest of the girls: Hawaiian cousins Jade Ryusaki and Erin Tanner, and friends Angel Faith and Jessica Fried. The teen pop boom that spawned several other groups featured on the Isle (such as Innosense, Nobody's Angel, Sugar Jones, Boy-N-Girlz United and Velvet Empire) was still in full swing, and they were signed to the label that had the most success with teen pop, Jive. They made their first appearance in the Aaron Carter video "Oh Aaron" in 2001 and also did backing vocals on his album of the same name. Then they released their version of Kim Wilde's 80's classic "Kids In America", which appeared on the Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius soundtrack. A year later they released their self-titled album and the single "That's What Girls Do", which also ended up on The Hot Chick soundtrack. The song was not a hit, though the album managed to hit #136 on the Billboard Album chart. The same year they also did a remake of The Little Mermaid's "Kiss The Girl" for the Disneymania series and their track "Little Angel Of Mine" appeared on the soundtrack for Stuart Little 2. But apparently there were disagreements within the group, and the other girls recorded a version of Atomic Kitten's "Whole Again" in 2003 without Angel Faith, prompting her to leave the group. The remaining girls released one last video the same year, for the song "Once Upon Another Dream" which appeared both on Disneymania 2 and the Sleeping Beauty DVD release, and then split up, no doubt foreseeing the imminent end of the teen pop craze. While Carly Lewis and Jade Ryusaki appear to have left the entertainment industry for a more 'normal life', the three other members have carried on singing. Angel Faith went on to release a solo album in 2004 as simply Angel, entitled Believe In Angels...Believe In Me, and released several singles including "Just The Way I Am" and the dance hit "How Can I Lie". Jessica Fried renamed herself Jessi Malay and has released several singles including "Booty Bangs" in 2007, "Cinematic" in 2008, and "Like You" and "Role Play" in 2011. And Erin Tanner renamed herself Nicki Foxx and recorded some independent singles like "Wild & Stupid" in 2008, but has mostly been working as a 'glamour' model since.

Video for Kids In America

Performance of I Know What I Want

Performance of It's Alright

Download No Secrets

1		That's What Girls Do
2		On The Floor
3		Skin Deep
4		Kids In America
5		It's Alright
6		I'll Remember You
7		Here I Am
8		Hot
9		I Know What I Want
10		What Are You Waiting For?
11		No Secrets

Belinda Metz - The Minx (1982)

2011-11-14T15:22:00.012-05:00

Luckily our system is down today at work so I finally have a moment to add another post! Last week I found a rarity that I've been looking for for some time, Belinda Metz's debut LP The Minx, and I managed to rip it (while doing extensive housecleaning) for your listening pleasure. Belinda was born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1960. Though she began her career in the entertainment industry as a dancer, she soon moved on to music and signed a deal with Toronto label Quantum Records. Working with local producers she created a very rock-oriented debut album and released the single "Trouble (At The End Of The Line)". She toured the album extensively across Canada over the next couple of years, generating local buzz. Then in 1985 she entered Talent Quest '85, a talent competition sponsored by cigarette company Craven "A" that was designed to find young talent that would appeal to their desired demographic of 18 to 24 year-olds, and whose music and tours Craven "A" could sponsor and thus advertise through. Belinda was one of two acts chosen and she signed a deal with popular Canadian label Attic Records. She was fortunate enough to be teamed up with with respected Canadian producer David Tyson, who is best known for later producing Alannah Myles and Amanda Marshall. Like fellow Canadian singers and Isle postees Cindy Valentine and Sheree Jeacocke, she softened her rock edge for her second album and recorded songs that were much more pop, hoping to appeal to a wider audience. And she did, with her first single "What About Me" becoming a huge radio hit in Canada and earning her award nominations. Her album Electric Splash was released soon after (and you can download it at my affiliate blog The Music Spectrum or on iTunes). She released a second single, "Subway Dances", but soon after was involved in a near fatal car accident, which derailed her promising pop music career. She slowly healed through intensive physiotherapy and when she reemerged in the entertainment industry, she chose to focus on acting, which she had already casually dabbled in, and voice work. She has since been a familiar voice in Canadian television commercials and a familiar face on Canadian television, with her highest profile acting gigs being a four year stint in the mid-1990s on Kung Fu: The Legend Continues and a two year stint from 1999 to 2001 on Disney Channel's So Weird. She has continued to appear on television and has also finally revisited her love of music, independently recording a ton of new tracks in several different genres. Feel free to take a listen at her Myspace pag e.

Download The Minx

1		Trouble (At The End Of The Line)
2		Bad Little Baby Boy
3		Saturday Night
4		Anything Less Than Love
5		Midnight Cruiser
6		Niteclub Sanitarium
7		Cold-Blooded Red Hot Love
8		Give Me A Home
9		Baby, It's Love

Boston Dawn - Something Serious (1991)

2011-10-22T18:03:00.013-04:00

Here is another album recommended by Seth. He was going to send me a link to download, but once I got a listen to Boston Dawn, I knew I had to have the CD itself and ordered it immediately! Thanks for the recommendation Seth! And for the first time in awhile, I'm featuring an artist who has next to no info available on the internet. I do know that her full name is Dawn Deegan, and I can only assume that she was from Boston. LOL Other than that, I have no idea how her career began and what happened after this album failed to ignite the charts. I can tell you that she is now, like a few other Isle postees, a real estate agent in Florida. At some point she got a record deal with California indie label Outpost Entertainment Company. She released her first single, "We Can Have It All", under her real name in 1988. Though it had little impact on the charts, she managed to release a second single the following year, "I Hope She Breaks Your Heart", using the catchier name Boston Dawn (oddly the song was her only single not included on her album. You can download it HERE). Both songs were freestyle, and the second single had a bit more chart impact locally. For her third single she released "Playtoy". The song was more R&B flavoured, and oddly was recorded by another artist the same year for the same label and with the same production crew and musicians. Mexican singer Carmin had a minor hit with "Playtoy" on the Billboard R&B charts and was the first Mexican woman to do so. Boston Dawn's version went unnoticed, but she released yet another single in 1990, "Something Serious", which was much more mainstream dance-pop. Finally an album was released the following year on another Californian indie label, American Sound Recordings. Only one further single was released, a slowed down remake of the Shirelles' "Soldier Boy", which was a tribute to the soldiers fighting the Gulf War. After that it appears Boston Dawn gave up on the pursuit of a career in music, wisely moving to an occupation that was much more profitable.

Download Something Serious

1		Something Serious
2		Soldier Boy
3		Playtoy
4		Guardian Angel
5		You Kill Me
6		City Soul
7		We Can Have It All
8		I Freak For You
9		I Like Music
10		Something Serious (Edit)

Natasha - Russian Revolution (1993)

2011-10-12T15:35:00.009-04:00

Thanks to the generousity of yet another Isle admirer, Seth, I have another item from my wantlist that I can finally share with you. (He has shared some more gems with me that will likely see themselves on here in the future. Thank you SO much again Seth!) Clearly I still haven't found much time to post lately but I just had to take a moment to share Natasha's only album. I have the cassette but bought it many years after I had switched over to CDs so I have only listened to it once or twice. At the time I wasn't impressed, but hearing it again now I think it's a trashy delight! I did some poking around yesterday to update her page on Discogs, and I found out a few things. Her full name is Natasha Alexandrovna, and she was born in Russia in 1966. After becoming a member of the Olympic swimming team at 15, she moved from Russia to Italy and then commuted to New York thanks to a contract with the John Casablancas modeling agency. After some success as a model, she decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue a singing career, and in 1987/88 recorded a couple singles for French-Canadian Hi-NRG/Freestyle label Sizzle Records, the same label responsible for Shari's "Sugar Sugar", Hi-Tyme's "Fly Robin Fly" and Yasmine's "Toda La Vida", which have all been posted on Lost Pop Treasures. Like those tracks, the singles "Be Gentle With My Heart" and "You Give Me New Vibrations" were produced by Teneen Ali. "Be Gentle With My Heart" became a minor freestyle hit. The second single didn't get near as much attention and that seemed the end of Natasha. But five years later she hooked up with Canadian label Ha! Ha! Productions and released her only album. (There has been debate as to whether the Natasha that sang "Be Gentle With My Heart" is the same Natasha, but if you compare the vocals on that single to this album, there is no doubt that it is the same woman. Also, the teams that worked on both projects had several people in common and originated in Quebec, and the labels were also Quebec based.) On the album she hooked up with producer Joe La Greca, a well known figure on the Canadian dance music scene and a colleague of Teneen Ali's (and also the producer of the album by previous Isle postee Pobi, who was also on the same label). Several songs were co-written by Canadian disco legends Cussy Nicodemo, of Fussy Cussy, and Denis Lepage, of Lime. The album is pure pop dance, utilizing Latin, freestyle and house elements (and a few of the songs were recycled from the album Je T'aime by Boy Girl, which was released on the label a couple years earlier and was also produced by La Greca. I'd love to get my hands on it!). Though a couple of singles were released - "Dark Eyes", a dance remake of the traditional Russian song "Ochi Chornya", and "Lust In Love-U-ssion" - their success was minimal. Despite a media push in the US, where she was dubbed the "Russian Madonna" and was also a spokesmodel for a Russian vodka, her music was overshadowed by her provocative image and photo shoots, and she was dropped. She did manage to release one more non-album single in 1994, however, the euro-house "Peace In Da World". After that it appears that she stayed in Los Angeles and stuck with modeling and acting for awhile, and eventually became the Marketing Director for La Coupe Lintermans Hair Salon in Beverly Hills, where she likely now remains.

Download Russian Revolution

1		Dark Eyes
2		Stop Messing Around
3		Dancin' All Through The Night
4		I'm Falling Apart
5		My Mind Is Set On You
6		Can't Live Without Your Love
7		Lust In Love-U-ssion
8		Turn Me On
9		What Can I Do

Pretty In Pink - Wake Up (1991)

2011-09-15T11:37:00.005-04:00

Thanks to a request on The Music Spectrum, I decided to finally do a post on Pretty In Pink. They were a teenage girl R&B girl group signed to Motown in the early 1990s, their moniker obviously inspired by the late 80s movie of the same name. Their signing likely had to do with the clout of the mom of one of their members, main singer and songwriter Indira Milini Khan, whose mother was soul diva Chaka Khan. The other members were Maurissa Tancharoen, Taniya Robinson, Tameika Chaney and Shey Sperry. The girls sound was primarily new jack swing, though some tracks hearkened back to late 80s pop-funk. Their first single was "All About You", and it managed to just squeak into the Billboard Hot 100 at #96. They toured with Chaka, who assisted in promoting them on shows like The Arsenio Hall Show. But in spite of Chaka's help, Motown did little to promote them and their second single, "Dreams", had little impact. The group disbanded soon after, and most of the members seem to have left the industry. However, Indira continued to write songs and record, doing back up vocals and appearing as a featured vocalist on Phil Good's "Bring Me Up" in 2007. She's also toured extensively, most notably with the Daughters Of Soul, an internationally touring collective of successful female soul singers that includes soul royalty like Nona Hendryx, Deniece Williams, Caron Wheeler and Joyce Kennedy, as well as other daughters of soul icons such as Lalah Hathaway and Syleena Johnson. And while Maurissa recorded little else other than the Lance De Sardi single "Waterslide" in 2002, she did go on to great success as a screenwriter and actress. She married the brother of prolific TV director and writer Joss Whedon and wrote and appeared in some of his television shows, most notably Dollhouse. She also co-wrote the internet musical sensation Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and recently co-wrote for the television series Spartacus: Gods Of The Arena, a prequel to Spartacus: Blood And Sand, which went on hiatus when it's star Andy Whitfield was diagnosed with cancer. Unfortunately he died this week on September 11, leaving the series' future in question.

Video for All About You

Download Wake Up

1		Boys Do Lie
2		All About You
3		Girls Night Out
4		I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend
5		Kiss And Tell
6		Two Hearts, One Love
7		Home By Midnight
8		Boy Is Mine
9		Dreams
10		Wake Up Everybody
11		All About You (House Version)
12		Testin' My Love

Girls Can't Help It - Pure Wild (1983)

2011-08-26T11:44:00.007-04:00

Here we have another treat from Robert, who noticed this on my want list and was gracious enough to send it my way. Thanks so much! This is not a proper album, as it only has five tracks, but I know that you all will love it so I had to share! It is the oldest entry on the Isle so far, dating way back to 1983. But the sound is timeless! Girl's Can't Help It were a British trio formed by producers Colin Campsie and George McFarlane. What makes this especially interesting, and perfect for the Isle, is that these producers make up the duo of Giant Steps, whose album was featured here some time ago! The group originally consisted of aspiring model/actresses Belinda (Billie) Adams, Katy Lynne and American Peggy Sue Fender (who at the time of formation was married to Pretenders guitarist James Honeyman-Scott, who would die the same year). They released the single "Baby Doll" on Virgin in 1982 and it was a minor dance hit internationally. This led to a deal with Sire Records for a mini-album. Katy Lynne and Peggy Sue left before the album was released and were replaced with aspiring model/actresses Jacqueline Bucknell and Samantha Spencer-Lane, who was formerly one of Hill's Angels on The Benny Hill Show. She was also part of pop trio Casablanca, who released one single, also in 1983, called "With Love". The album contained very funky synth-pop, much more similar to the sound of funk girl groups of the time like Mary Jane Girls and Vanity 6 than pop groups like Bananarama or The Belle Stars, which is what people expected them to sound like, being white British girls and all. Though the mini-album was well received by critics. the second single, "Rhythm Of The Jungle", went unnoticed and the girls were dropped and disbanded before making a full album. Samantha returned to The Benny Hill Show for a few episodes and continued acting in television and film. Jacqueline went on to be a 'hostess' on the British version of the game show The Price Is Right from 1984 to 1986. She also kept acting in television and film and in 2003 married British soap star Brian Capron, with whom she owns and operates a corporate entertainment company. As is often the case for artists on here, the whereabouts of Billie and Katy Lynne remain unknown. On an interesting side-note, in 1985 Campsie & McFarlane worked with British singer Haywoode and she recorded her own version (which they also produced) of the album track "Jelly Baby" for her album Arrival. ;)

Download Pure Wild

1		Rhythm Of The Jungle
2		Jelly Baby
3		X Marks The Spot
4		Girls Can't Help It
5		Baby Doll

Around The Way - Smooth Is The Way (1993)

2011-08-19T11:31:00.005-04:00

Thanks to the always helpful Robert, another release from my wantlist has been satisfied!! Thanks Robert! This is yet another album I only had on cassette and was curious to hear again. There isn't much info on the history of Around The Way before or after their formation. The members of the group were singer Ileana "Lena" Fraticelli, singer Kashu "Kash" Myles (aka Cashew Miles) and rapper Michael Anthony Bertot. Ileana had previously been part of the freestyle trio Solid, who released one single, "Loving You", in 1988. Kashu had been part of the ska group The Toasters as lead vocalist for a couple of albums. Somehow the three got together in New York and hooked up with a bunch of freestyle music's heaviest hitters, including Tony Moran (previously of freestyle group The Latin Rascals), Kenny Diaz, Little Louie Vega and Frankie Cutlass, all of whom produced tracks on their album. It seems they were involved in the same scene as rapper K7 (formerly known as Kayel from freestyle group TKA), who'd had great success with his single "Come Baby Come" (and which Kashu did backing vocals on). Kayel was a hip hop artist who had strong roots in freestyle music, and Around The Way were likely eager to capitalize on his success by mining similar territory. They were an R&B/hip hop group consisting of primarily freestyle artists and producers. It wasn't a huge stretch, as freestyle had strong elements of hip hop, thus its often being coined as 'Latin hip-hop'. Around The Way were far from freestyle, however, and were more new jack swing, though with a far poppier element than most of their contemporaries in the genre. They signed a deal with Atlantic Records and their first single, "Really Into You", managed to hit #89 on the Billboard Hot 100. Their second single, "Way Back When", failed to chart, and it seems likely they were dropped by Atlantic due to their lack of mass success. Since then Ileana has done backing vocals, Michael has written and guested on some freestyle tracks (check out his Youtube channel), and Kashu has had some acting gigs. Their current activities are unknown. Though I have spent some time searching, unfortunately I don't have hours to scour the internet to find out any more details on their current goings on, so as always, if anyone knows anything, please let us know!

Download Smooth Is The Way

1		Really Into You
2		September
3		Groove Me
4		Let It Be You
5		Check One, Check Two
6		Way Back When
7		You
8		Smooth Is The Way
9		The Truth
10		Give It Up

Carrie McDowell - Carrie McDowell (1987)

2011-08-12T10:32:00.011-04:00

After much effort and perseverance, Adriana has provided us with an item that has been on my wantlist for some time, Carrie McDowell's debut album! This is another album that I only had on cassette and wanted desperately to feature on the Isle, but the CD was not easy to find, as Adriana can attest. ;) But she makes wishes come true! Thanks a ton Adriana! (And thanks to Robert as well, who coincidentally sent me this album the same day, but from the vinyl. I appreciate the effort, Robert!) Carrie was born in Iowa in the 1960s. She first showed off her vocal talents at the age of 8 on the local talent show 'Bill Riley's Talent Sprouts'. She then toured with an all-kid band, Love Train. This led to an appearance on 'The Tonight Show', which led to appearances with entertainment legends like George Burns, Danny Thomas and Jerry Lewis. With a new band, she also opened for the likes of Stevie Wonder and Liberace. In 1976, at the age of 13, she released a single with her versions of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" and "Sing, Sing, Sing". Despite her success, her mother wanted her to concentrate on her education and pulled her from the spotlight to attend school. She wouldn't return to the music scene until she was 18, moving to New York and then Los Angeles, where her powerful demo got her signed to Motown Records. This was quite a coup, as there were very few white artists signed to Motown up to that point. Her album was primarily produced by legendary Motown artist and producer Willie Hutch, with assistance from other popular Motown producers. It was part funk/dance tracks and part ballads, which adequately featured her strong vocals. The first single release was "Casual Sex". Though the title was suggestive, the song failed to attract much attention. It was promptly remixed with a dancier vibe by Bruce Forest and retitled "Uh Uh, No No Casual Sex" (though the song was against promiscuity, the original title made it seem it was promoting it). The song became a minor Billboard Dance and R&B hit. (To download the original version and the B-side of the single, "Prove It", go to Lost Pop Treasures HERE.) Though another song, the ballad "When A Woman Loves A Man", was released as a promo single, the lack of proper promotion and the failure of her first single to cross over to the pop charts, which was Motown's hope, led to Carrie being dropped from the label. During her time with Motown Carrie had met guitarist Michael Hodge, and the two married in 1989. They moved to Nashville in 1991 and began recording as Two Hearts. They released two country-laced gospel albums, Stand Your Ground in 1992 and Give 'Em The Word in 1993. They continued to tour the world, often performing at charity events, and in 2008 the couple released a Christmas album as Michael & Carrie Hodge. Carrie finally released another solo album as Carrie Hodge in 2010 titled Never Forget, but the album consisted of tracks taken from the Two Hearts records. Since then, Carrie has been said to be working on new gospel and R&B records as well as an autobiography, so expect to hear more from her soon.

UPDATE: Adriana pointed out that in 1989 Carrie had two more upbeat funk/dance songs on a compilation called Arcade, "New Start" and "Why Did He Break My Heart". You can download the songs off of iTunes HERE. And DJ Digital found a page that includes a new pic of Carrie along with some streaming songs: "Almost Like Being In Love", "I'm Afraid the Masquerade Is Over" and "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" (I don't think it is the version she recorded as a child, but I could be wrong). Visit the page HERE. Thanks guys!

Video for Uh Uh, No No Casual Sex

Download Carrie McDowell

1		Uh Uh, No No Casual Sex (Part 1)
2		Secret Fire
3		When A Woman Loves A Man
4		Just Dance
5		It's The Power Of Your Love (Growing On Me)
6		Fly (White Bird Fly)
7		The Tracks Of My Tears
8		I'm Here For You
9		Up The Down Side Of Love

FMT Featuring Camilla - So Into You (1992)

2011-07-29T11:33:00.006-04:00

Thanks to the extreme generousity of Isle fan Robert G., I can offer you another album off of my want list. This is another gem I had only on cassette and had trouble locating the CD for, but Robert just bought and ripped it for me and I had to share with you immediately. Thanks a million, Robert! FMT was essentially Frank Meyer-Thurn, a German songwriter, musician and producer, and his wife, singer and songwriter Camilla Hüther. After working in the band McScrooge in the late 1970s, Meyer-Thurn met Camilla in Mannheim and they formed the new wave group Camilla Motor (originally known as Camilla Motor & Die Sexzylinder). They released two German albums, Camilla Motor in 1981 and Ein Neues Glück in 1982. They married in 1984, and carried on working together throughout the 1980s, writing, producing and performing with and as part of European dance acts such as Rewind, Crack Express, Amati and Private Blue. These were all single releases on smaller labels but they soon got a deal with a major label, EMI Electrola. As FMT, they mellowed out their sound, which had been primarily HiNRG and italo-disco, and explored house, hip hop, 70s psychedelic rock and soul. The closest comparison to their sound would be DNA's hit remix of Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner", which was clearly an influence. In fact, their first single was a remake of Leonard Cohen's moody "Suzanne", an obvious tribute to the singer. The single was successful in Europe and was followed by a remake of Paul Simon's "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover". The success of both singles caught the eye of Capitol Records in North America, and an album was issued. The lead-off single was a remake of Atlanta Rhythm Section's "So Into You". While also a hit in Europe, it failed to generate interest in North America. The FMT project was dropped, with none of their original tracks having been released, including a tribute to Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. But the two carried on, producing, writing, remixing and performing throughout the 1990's and 2000's under different aliases - Camilla as Jean Bronte, and Frank as FMT Posse, John Ritt, and Zed Lovedust, among others. Unfortunately Frank died in January 2009, and Camilla (who is not the woman pictured on the cover, BTW) is missing in action...

Download So Into You

1		50 Ways To Leave Your Lover
2		Jimi & Janis (A Tribute!)
3		Oasis
4		I Want U, Baby
5		No Better Lover
6		Suzanne
7		So Into You
8		Crank It Up
9		U Can Touch Me Anywhere
10		I Want U, Baby (Humpty Dumpty Remix)

Burrell - Burrell (1988)

2011-07-22T13:31:00.003-04:00

Here is another album that I only had on vinyl until last week, when I realized that I needed the CD. I first heard of Burrell back in the 80s when I saw the video to their song "I Really Like". I instantly fell in love, but heard nothing else from them and forgot about them until I saw the vinyl of their album many years ago. Luckily there were more great house songs on it. Rheji & Rhano (aka Ronald) Burrell are identical twin brothers who were born and raised in New Jersey. In their early teens they were part of a gospel group, Inner Spirit. Their local success with this group, as well as their burgeoning technical skills, led to a recording contract with Virgin. They wrote and produced most of their debut, along with some help from R&B and house artist and producer Terry Burrus. The album was a mix of uptempo house songs and R&B ballads. Their first single was the awesome "I Really Like", an upbeat house track. It had some dance club success and was followed up by the more R&B flavoured "I'll Wait For You (Take Your Time)". But it was the third single, "Put Your Trust In The Music", released the following year, that is likely their best known and loved track. It too is a pumping house track. At the same time, Ronald was getting into producing and produced the first two singles by previous Isle postees Bas Noir. Those tracks, "My Love Is Magic" and "I'm Glad You Came To Me", were also house tracks and were far bigger hits than the Burrell singles. This in part led to the Burrell brothers turning their backs on being artists and focusing more on production. With their associates Frank and Karen Mendez they even started a label, Nu Groove, to release Burrell material. Over the next few years, the brothers, especially Ronald, were behind most of the label's output, which was primarily deep house. Ronald also produced some tracks for previous Isle postee Ceybil Jefferies. They also released a few tracks as artists again, under the names B.M.E. (Burrell Music Enterprises), BME Project, and A.B.T. (A Burrell Thang). In the late 90s Rheji got more involved in production, but while Ronald was mostly a house producer, Rheji concentrated on R&B and produced acts like Aaliyah, Total, Monifah and Yvette Michelle. They have remained active in the music scene, writing, producing and remixing mostly for indie artists, and run Burrell Brothers Entertainment. (And on a side note, they should not be confused with the boxing Burrell Brothers, who are also identical twins born in New York State. ;)

Video for I Really Like

Download Burrell

1		Trust In The Music
2		I'll Wait For You (Take Your Time)
3		I Really Like
4		Gonna Make You Dance
5		Dominate Me
6		Sunshine
7		Let Me Love You Tonight
8		No Greater Love
9		Calling
10		One And Only Lady

A.N.G. - Outta Bounds (1994)

2011-07-20T15:58:00.008-04:00

So I thought I'd post a quick one this time as I have a little time and don't want to keep ya'll waiting for something new for too long. This is the only album by A.N.G., which stands for "Aint No Gains". There is so little info in the CD booklet to determine anything about this artist. It appears A.N.G. was a solo female rapper (she calls herself 'Angie ANG' on some tracks), and from the obscured image in the booklet I can't determine her exact race. It was released on the indie label Wall Street Records, which was based in Detroit (and is still based in Michigan), so I assume that's where A.N.G. is from as well. Given the cover with A.N.G. surrounded by a gang on a dark city street, you'd assume this album was gangsta rap, but not at all. (Likely the obscured and misleading album art didn't help the album's success.) It's totally pop-rap, reminiscent of Monie Love or The Real Roxanne's first album. There is even hip-house and the song "I Got What It Takes" samples the Mary Jane Girls classic "In My House". The tracks "Hello Baby" and "Rufless Hoe" were released as singles, but I think it's safe to say they failed to hit anywhere, except maybe locally. And that's all I have on A.N.G.. If anyone else knows anything, please do let us know. For now, enjoy the album, which I admit I only listened to once before, eons ago when I first bought it from a $1 bin - listening to it again, it is actually much better and a lot more fun than I remember.

Download Outta Bounds

1		Outta Bounds / That Played Out Trip
2		Havin A Baby
3		Life Goes On
4		Political Trippin Intro
5		Political Trippin
6		Outta Bounds / Keep Em Rollin
7		I Got What It Takes
8		Outta Bounds / Turn Up Da Bass Base
9		Jack Jam
10		Rufless Hoe
11		Outta Bounds / Do You Lof Me
12		London Bridge
13		Hello Baby

Good 2 Go - Good 2 Go (1992)

2011-07-14T12:33:00.007-04:00

I apologize for the lack of posts, but the summer has been really busy so far! And since I like to research the acts I post and not just post album links, it takes a bit more time to put together posts. But I will when I can, and to tide you over here is another often requested group that is also in keeping with the 'new Jill swing' vibe of the last couple posts. Good 2 Go were brought together in Los Angeles by manager Hiriam Hicks and consisted of Kathy Webb, Melissa Miller, Missy Newman, Natalie Fernie and Cindy Shows. Hicks had a deal with Giant Records to create a female group, and clearly the idea was to create a female version of Giant Records' biggest act at the time, Color Me Badd, the all-male and mostly all-white new jack swing group (and, according to Natalie, a rival for the Good Girls). The majority of the album was produced by Dr. Freeze, who was behind CMB's biggest hit "I Wanna Sex You Up" and Bell Biv Devoe's "Poison", another act that Hicks managed. The other tracks were produced by a variety of lesser-known R&B producers that had also worked with those bands. The girls' first single, "Never Satisfied", reached #64 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became a top ten R&B hit, thanks to the fact that, like I mentioned with previous postees Rainbow Girls, the single was initially released without their picture on the cover. Black audiences just assumed that they were black artists, which was the label's intent. Once the audience made the song popular, the video was released to reveal that it was a bunch of white girls. A second single, "He Thinks He's All That", was released soon after and failed to make a similar impact, likely due in part to the label's refusal to make a video, though perhaps the fact that the ladies were revealed to be white worked against them. Giant wanted the group to be a major pop crossover success, and when that didn't happen they dropped them. The girls broke up and went their own ways, though some still keep in touch and work sporadically in the music world. To hear a great interview with Natalie Fernie from a few years ago about the group's career, go HERE.

Video for Never Satisfied

Download Good 2 Go

1		Good 2 Go
2		Go With The Flow
3		Notice Me
4		Money Can't Buy Love
5		White House
6		Never Satisfied
7		He Thinks He's All That
8		Don't Want To Change You
9		Romance You
10		Oooooo Song

On Edge - On Edge (1994)

2011-06-15T14:49:00.006-04:00

Keeping with the new 'jill' swing theme, here is another of the lesser known girl groups that embodied the sound. On Edge consisted of Tha Rhythum, ShaBop and Jasz, whose real names were Charlotte Crooms, Amica Johnson and Schveka Brown. They apparently came from Michigan and were lucky enough to be signed to Motown. Their sound ventured more to the soul and slow jam side of the new jack swing sound, thanks to production mostly from Kayo, who had worked with other R&B stars like Pebbles, The Boys, After 7, Johnny Gill, Damian Dame and TLC. They released the ballad "Edge Of My Bed", but it didn't hit anywhere other than the lower ends of the R&B charts. As a result, like Times 3, they seemed to get lost in the sea of R&B girl groups, which, especially during On Edge's time, were popping up every week. A promo was released for their more upbeat remake of Stevie Wonder's "Maybe Your Baby", but nothing came of it. It's likely they were dropped soon after. They disappeared until Tha Rhythum (Charlotte Crooms), who was the rapper of the group, appeared again in 1998 on the indie hip hop label Benz, which was headed by rap legend MC Shy D. Shy D also produced and appeared on her album, Against The Odds, but despite several singles being released, her solo work failed to make an impression. Since then it's anyone's guess what all three ladies have been up to, though very recently Schveka Brown appeared on Sam Sneed's song "Uncle Sam", so clearly they all haven't given up on the music scene. (She is also on Facebook as Schveka Cooper Stroman should you be interested in seeking her out and asking her what's up. ;)

Download On Edge

1		Edge Of My Bed
2		My Mind Is Naked
3		Don't Go Ho
4		Would You Lie To Me
5		Vibe
6		Black Berry Juice (Interlude)
7		Life On The Edge
8		Maybe Your Baby
9		Anythang U Want
10		69 Ways
11		Black Berry Juice (Outrolude)

Times 3 - Times 3 (1991)

2011-06-09T15:33:00.008-04:00

So here we have a request from Micky G (which also helps fulfill the requests for more new jack swing here). I had the Times 3 album on cassette and remembered quite enjoying it, so when he asked I found the CD on Amazon and ordered away. It is deeply entrenched in the new jack swing sound, though to my ear it is a bit poppier in parts. The group itself is yet another of those for which no information exists on the internet (yet). All I can tell you is that it consisted of LaShana Denoy (who is said to be a former choreographer for MC Hammer), Keesha Hollier (who is indicated as a former "NWA rapper", though I find that hard to believe) and Stephanie Bell. They were on the Solar label, and were produced by relative unknowns. Their song "Typical Relationship" appeared on the soundtrack to the movie Deep Cover and became their best known track, though it didn't exactly set the charts on fire. They also released their cover of the Emotions disco hit "Best Of My Love" as a single, though it too wasn't a hit. Vocally they had all of the right elements, and the album was a good mix of ballads and upbeat numbers, including quite a bit of rap and even a hip-house track. The sampledelic song "Time To Get Loose" even includes a sample from my fave song ever, Sweet Sensation's "Take It While It's Hot"! But the ladies came out at a time when there were many female "new jill swing" groups, and they just didn't possess an angle to make them stand out. Also, it likely didn't help that their label Solar was nearing the end of it's success, and promotion was minimal. So once again I ask, what became of these ladies? If anyone out there knows, please share. Until then, enjoy a curio from the glory days of new jack swing.

Video for Typical Relationship

Download Times 3

1		3 Bad Sistas
2		Best Of My Love
3		Typical Relationship
4		Shine
5		Don't Give Up
6		Love Will Find Its Way
7		Time To Get Loose
8		Dance, Do You Wanna
9		Good Lovin'
10		Make Up Your Mind
11		Until You
12		Hip House (Everybody's Movin')
13		Gentle Love
14		Stay
15		Only You

Saché - Are You Attracted To Me (1987)

2011-05-17T11:56:00.005-04:00

Thanks to the magical Lumel, I can now share with you the only album by girl group Saché. I originally bought this cassette for $1 when on a trip to the US based on the group name and cover alone. As I had just received my first CD player and had also bought numerous cheap CDs while on this trip, I barely gave this cassette a listen since I was slowly converting my cassettes to CDs and the cassettes were being relegated to boxes in the back of my closet. The only song I remember really liking off of this album was the poppy, freestylish "All Over", but even that was soon forgotten. I had heard nothing about this group before or after I bought the cassette. So I didn't have much hope locating MP3s of the album until Lumel spotted the album on my 'wanted' list and sent it to me! I have no idea where he finds this stuff but I am grateful he does. And you will be too, as the album is far better than I originally gave it credit. Thanks to the production, mainly by Keg Johnson and Wilmer Raglin, who had also worked with 80s funk acts like The Sylvers, Krystol, Levert and Body, the album is a funky dance-pop joy. The ladies released two singles - the title track, which is a ballad, and the mid-tempo "Help Me To Get Over The Hurt". If you ask me, they would have done much better releasing one of the more upbeat numbers. Whatever the case, they came and went without a trace. All I know about them is that their names were Tamara, Brooke and Cathy. Anyone else out there able to help with the details? :)

Download Are You Attracted To Me

1		Are You Attracted To Me
2		Help Me To Get Over The Hurt
3		Just One Little Kiss
4		All Over Again
5		Boys Will Be Boys
6		Constant Motion
7		Lover Boy
8		Nice Girls
9		Something Crazy Like That

Raiana Paige - One Girl's Story (1994)

2011-05-12T15:22:00.008-04:00

Recently I was looking for the latest album by KHZ, a Latin hard rock/industrial band fronted by Raiana Paige, a lovely half-Puerto Rican, half-Italian singer. (Yes, I do like that kind of music. I love a bit of everything. ;) I knew that Raiana had a history in freestyle music, but I didn't know that in the mid-90s she released a solo album on an indie label. Of course, once I learned this I had to have it, and I immediately ordered it off of eBay, with the intention of posting it here for you all. And here it is! Raiana was born in Puerto Rico and raised in the Bronx. Though the details regarding the beginning of her music career remain vague, it is clear that she did get the attention of Sleeping Bag Records, who, along with Cutting, were probably the most successful freestyle label by the late 1980s. In 1988 she released her first freestyle single, "Open Up Your Heart", produced by none other than Andy "Panda" Tripoli, who'd had huge club success with The Cover Girls, Sa-Fire and Nayobe, among others. The song reached #10 on the Billboard Dance Chart and led to a follow-up single in 1990, "Rescue Me", also on Sleeping Bag. Despite being produced by Albert Cabrera, another popular freestyle producer who also worked with Sa-Fire and The Cover Girls, the song didn't manage to do as well and only reached #27 on the dance chart. This ended Raiana's run with the label, and it took three more years for her to release another single. "You're My Only Man" was released on London Records in 1993, and was produced by yet another freestyle producer extraordinaire, Carlos Berrios, famous for his "new freestyle" hits with Corina and Lisette Melendez. The song failed to chart at all, however, likely due to the fact that freestyle music had fallen out of public favour and was taking it's last gasp. It appears that Raiana was also over the freestyle sound, as a year later she released her only solo album, and it was pure rock. This was probably the type of music she wanted to sing in the first place, as she sites The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd as influences in the liner notes. Their influence is obvious in the music, which is mostly atmospheric downtempo rock, and the album features her vocals much better than her freestyle tracks did. The album's producer Eddie Frenté had done some mixing and production on "You're The Only Man", but he clearly also appreciated the rock direction Raiana wanted to go, so much so that the two formed the group KHZ in New York soon after. KHZ's first EP appeared in 1996, and they have released four albums since. The musical direction went even further into the rock genre, embracing heavy metal and industrial, with touches of trip hop. Raiana's vocals are much more powerful and she often breaks into guttural wails. (Her stylistic trajectory is actually quite similar to Tairrie B, former member of previous postees Bardeux.) KHZ have remained quite successful within their genre and are still active. They just released a DVD of their videos and will soon release a double album of rarities. (For more info go to their website.) So as you can see, Raiana is proof that you can't judge a failed "pop tart" by her cover, as she may surprise you with something completely different and actually find success with it.

Download One Girl's Story

1		Running Waters
2		One Girl's Story
3		Love & Emotion
4		Love & Emotion (Pt. II)
5		The Clown (Gonna' Need A Little Love)
6		I'll Be There
7		Tomorrow Never Happened
8		Scattered Thoughts
9		No Toys To Take Away
10		End Of Innocence
11		One Girl's Story (Pt. II)

Jomanda - Someone To Love Me (1990) & Nubia Soul (1993) DOUBLE POST!!

2011-05-05T15:21:00.016-04:00

Sorry, April was a very busy month for me, so I haven't been able to post anything for awhile (BTW, saw Kylie and she was SPECTACULAR!) But Lumel requested Jomanda, and since I mentioned them in the previous post, I'm finding a moment to post this. Luckily I already did my research for them when I did the write-up for their Lastfm page, so I have the info ready. ;) Jomanda was formed in New Jersey and consisted of Joanne Thomas, Cheri Williams and Renee Washington. They had all worked solo with the production trio of Derek A. Jenkins, Dwayne Spen Richardson & Cassio Ware, also known as Backroom Productions, who brought the ladies together. They debuted in 1986 with the independently released house song “On Top (Of The Groove)” and followed it up with "I'll Give It To You (Come Get It)" in 1987 and "Drifting" in 1988, both on the Quark label. While these singles generated interest, it was their next track, “Make My Body Rock”, which became their first genuine hit, partly due to their being signed to the Big Beat label. It hit #5 of the Billboard Dance Chart and made them genuine house divas. The track was also heavily sampled the following year by previous Isle postees The 28th Street Crew on their dance hit "I Need A Rhythm". (Incidentally, they also did backing vocals on previous Isle postee Jamie J. Morgan's track "She's On It" around this time.) Their next single, "Don't You Want My Love", also hit the Billboard Dance Charts, and they soon had an album deal with Big Beat. It was their next single, however, that would make them, temporarily, a household name. "Got A Love For You" reached #40 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1991 and took them from the clubs to living rooms everywhere thanks to radio and the flashy video. The album included all of their Big Beat singles as well as follow up singles "The True Meaning (Of Love)", which also hit the dance charts, and "Share", which didn't, likely because it was much more downtempo and not the house sound fans expected. The failure of this track didn't deter them from changing their sound on their follow-up album, however. Though their house fans were kept happy the following year with Felix's progressive house hit "Don't You Want Me", which relied on a sample from "Don't You Want My Love", when Jomanda emerged in 1993 with their new album, their sound had almost totally transformed. Instead of the exciting garage house jams fans had come to love and expect, the lades instead focused on new jack swing and soul, thus the title Nubia Soul. It was much more downtempo and only contained two house tracks. They also brought in a host of other producers. The first single, a remake of DeBarge's "I Like It", managed to hit the bottom end of the Billboard Hot 100 and the dance chart. But the follow up, "Back To You" barely dented the R&B charts. There were a number of new jack swing girl groups at the time who specialized in the sound, and since Jomanda began in a much different genre, they go lost in the fray. In an attempt to get back their original fan base, they released the non-album house track "Never" the same year, to minimal success. In 1994, one of the two album house tracks, "I Cried The Tears", was released and hit the top 20 of the Billboard Dance Charts, but it was too little too late and the ladies soon broke up. Since then the whereabouts of Renee Washington and Cheri Williams remain unknown. Joanne Thomas, however, rejoined her old producers in 1995 and they revived a group they began in the late 80s called Ruffneck. Joanne took on the moniker Yavahn and took lead, releasing two albums and many singles with Ruffneck, including the huge dance chart hit "Everybody Be Somebody". Sadly, in 2000 Joanne learned that she had colon cancer, and three years later she succumbed to the disease. Though we can never have a full Jomanda reunion, it would be awesome if the other two ladies could get together once again as a tribute to their former bandmate and friend. Jomanda are one of my fave acts of the 90s and I would love to hear something from them again.

Video for Make My Body Rock

Video for Got A Love For You

Download Someone To Love Me

1		Make My Body Rock 1990
2		Someone To Love Me
3		Share
4		Don't You Want My Love
5		What's The Deal?
6		You Knew, Boy
7		Dance
8		Got A Love For You
9		It Ain't No Big Thing
10		When Love Hurts
11		The True Meaning (Of Love)
12		I Will Always Be There For You
13		Without You
14		Make My Body Rock (Basic Mix)

Video for I Like It

Download Nubia Soul

1		Don't Deny
2		Just A Little More Time
3		I Like It
4		I Cried The Tears
5		Back To You
6		When You Come Home
7		Tell Me (Whatcha Gonna Do)
8		Don't Fight The Feeling
9		Ez'A Said Than Done
10		Life
11		Gotta Be With You
12		After All This Love
13		Tonight's The Night
14		Kiss You
15		I Like It (Kenny Smoove Remix)

Bas Noir - Ah...Bas Noir (1992)

2011-04-13T14:04:00.006-04:00

Bas Noir was an American house music duo who were one of the many dance acts signed to Atlantic Records in the early 1990s when the label was in a dance music signing frenzy. Alas, like so many other dance acts signed to the label at that time, they failed to make a big enough impact to warrant a second album. It's not that they didn't have the goods, however. Not much is known about their origins, but it's assumed that Mary Ridley and Morie Bivins teamed up as Bas Noir in the late 1980s, choosing a group name meaning 'black stockings' for some reason. They teamed up with the Burrell brothers Rheji and Rhano, who as Burrell released an album in 1988 and had some house hits, most notably "I Really Like" (I have the album and might feature it here in the future. ;). The Burrell brothers applied their smooth house sound to the ladies' first single, "My Love Is Magic". The song was released on the small Nu Groove label and became an underground club hit in the US. Ten Records picked the song up for the UK the following year and it reached the lower end of the UK pop charts. They followed it up with "I'm Glad You Came To Me", which made an even bigger splash on the dance charts. This attracted the attention of Atlantic in the US, who commissioned an entire album, with the Burrell brothers producing most of the tracks. They also brought in Kerri Chandler and Dee Dee Brave, whose album has already been featured on the Isle. However, for the first single from the album they chose the song "Superficial Love", the only track not to be produced by either team. It was produced by a couple of relatively unknown R&B producers, and was definitely a much more R&B track. This was likely released to attract a wider audience for the duo, but instead it seemed to alienate their existing fan base, who were hoping for another house stomper. (This fate befell another Atlantic house act, Jomanda, though Jomanda managed to have a few big hits before they turned to R&B and effectively ruined their career.) The Kerri Chandler remixes housed it up and the song managed to reach the dance charts, but it was too late for the album. Subsequent singles "Shoe-B-Doo" and "Addicted 2 U" had diminishing returns. They were dropped from Atlantic (along with a slew of other dance acts) and it seemed the end for the duo. However, in 1995, the song "What's My Name" by Native Sol was attributed to the ladies, and it appeared that they were forging on together in a new direction, this time getting much more soulful and exploring acid jazz. Nothing else was heard from Native Sol, however, and nothing much can be found about either lady since. There is talk on Youtube of their still being in the music biz, among other less savory exploits, but no one seems to know for sure.

Video for Superficial Love

Download Ah...Bas Noir

1		Superficial Love
2		Shoe-B-Doo
3		Patiently
4		Addicted 2 Luv
5		Get U Back
6		Love High
7		Out In The Rain
8		I'm Glad You Came To Me
9		We'll Find Love
10		If I
11		Yearn'n

Bandera - Bandera (1989)

2011-04-01T12:11:00.012-04:00

I have had the one and only album by Bandera (not to be confused with previous postee Banderas) for a very long time but never gave it a proper listen for some reason. So when I was ripping the Warren Mills album I decided to throw it on. It is a much better album than I gave it credit for! (Given that it's a vinyl rip and has a couple slight glitches due to wear, I suggest that you pick up a CD copy if you like what you hear, as there are many cheaply available on Amazon. ;) The group, originally known as Uno Mundo, consisted of singer Lagaylia Frazier, singer and guitarist Rosco Martinez and pianist Paquito Hechavarria. They came together in Miami, Florida, emerging from a scene that also spawned Gloria Estefan and The Miami Sound Machine. Lagaylia and Rosco were fresh young talent, while Paquito had long been established as a respected musician in his native Cuba. The threesome were signed to Island Records and worked with many of the people behind the eventual pop success of Miami Sound Machine, most notably producers The Jerks (Joe Galdo, Rafael Vigil and Lawrence Dermer). Indeed, their sound is very similar to MSM - dance pop with heavy doses of funk, jazz and especially Latin flavour. They released four singles: "I Wanna Know", "The Tease", "Voodoo" and "Cruisin' Down Collins", which is likely their best known song. While the songs were all local hits, they failed to generate much interest outside of Florida. Unfortunately the band was soon dropped from Island Records along with a number of other acts when the company was taken over by Polygram. The group split and everyone went their own way. Rosco pursued a solo career and had even greater success, reaching #57 on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Neon Moonlight" in 1994. He released two albums that year, one self-titled English pop album and Aqui Estoy, a purely Latin pop album. Under just his first name, he released his second Latin pop album Bendita la Fe in 1998 , which was produced by Desmond Child, along with the single "Señorita (No Me Dejes Solo)". He has remained in music since, mainly touring with his bands Havana Mojo and The Rosco Martinez Band. Lagaylia has also remained very active in music. Her first major success as a solo artist was in 1994 with the song "Shower Me With Love" from the movie The Specialist, which reached #2 on the Billboard Dance chart. She also formed her own band and performed around Florida, but in 2001 she decided to move to Sweden. In Sweden she has had even greater success, performing frequently on television and twice submitting successful entries in the Eurovision song contest, "It's In The Stars" in 2004 and "Nothing At All" in 2005. She released an album independently in 2007 called Lagaylia Uncovered, and won the Baltic Song Contest with the song "Over And Over Again" in 2008. Also in 2008, she became a Swedish citizen. As for Paquito, he has kept busy appearing on stage and on albums by artists such as Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, David Byrne and Christina Aguilera. He has also released solo albums such as Piano in 1995 and Frankly in 2009, his proper debut as a solo artist at the tender age of 74!

Download Bandera

1		Lola
2		The Tease
3		I Wanna Know
4		Don't Know What You Got
5		Voodoo
6		Cruisin' Down Collins
7		Eye For An Eye
8		Watusi
9		Me & You
10		Eh-Oh! (Brazilian Tune)

Warren Mills - Warren Mills (1985)

2011-03-30T18:19:00.011-04:00

Warren Mills is an artist whose music I've heard mentioned in various places, but that I'd never actually heard. Then I saw the LP in a used record store and figured, since the price was right, it was time to explore his work, as it was said to be quite funky. Well, I was definitely not disappointed when I finally put it on. It is an awesome electro-funk album that still sounds fresh today, IMO. There is very little info on Warren on the internet, but I managed to find out some details. He was born in Zambia, and someone claims on Youtube that his real name is Warren Milstead. He was signed to Jive Records as a preteen, and was compared to a young Michael Jackson. Certainly he had the vocal chops. He is the nephew of singer Alton Edwards, who had a hit single in 1982 in the UK with "I Just Wanna (Spend Some Time With You)". And, according to different sources, he is either the brother or cousin of singer Rozalla, who had a huge hit in the early 1990's with "Everybody's Free". (I asked Rozalla about this on her Facebook page, but she not only didn't answer but deleted my post!) Whatever the case, in 1984 he released a remake of Smokey Robinson and The Miracles' "Mickey's Monkey" which made a minor dent in the UK charts but did not appear on the album. His next single, "Sunshine", would be his biggest success, climbing to #74 in UK charts. He released three other singles: "Don't Tell Me 'Bout Your Boyfriend", "Tell Me What You Want" and "Flame In The Fire", which he performed in the 1985 movie Rappin'. But none of these hit in the UK or anywhere else and Warren faded from view. (ProMills has pointed out that Aaron Carter did a remake of "Tell Me What You Want" in 2000.) It's very unfortunate, as he was a talented singer and the songs were extremely catchy. The album reminds me of Shanice Wilson's debut, Discovery, very funky and danceable. It helps that he had a host of Jive's top producers on hand, many of whom also worked with Samantha Fox, which gives it a pop edge. Billy Ocean also produced a couple of tracks. It all comes together nicely, and Warren really should have been bigger. He is now married with three daughters and living again in Zambia, and reportedly also still dabbles in music. Should you be interested, you can try to 'friend' him on Facebook, although it seems he may no longer be interested in discussing his early music career, though he really should be proud of it.

Video for Sunshine

Video clip from Rappin' of Warren performing Flame In The Fire

Download Warren Mills

1		Sunshine
2		Tell Me What You Want
3		Choosey Girl
4		Don't Tell Me 'Bout Your Boyfriend
5		Flame In The Fire
6		Biochemistry
7		You Thrill Me (I Like It Like This)
8		It's Peculiar
9		I Turn To You

Debra Torré - Step It Out (1991)

2011-03-25T11:58:00.007-04:00

You have Adriana to thank once again for this one! Debra Torré is a little known Latin singer (I had never heard of her until Adriana sent me this!) who should have been bigger, IMO. She is so little-known that there is no info on the internet available on her, unless she's changed her name. Which makes her perfect for this blog, of course. What I can tell you is that she seemed the muse of songwriter/producer Michael Gavin and his brother Nathan. Michael wrote songs recorded by such diverse artists as George Benson, Sister Sledge, Reba McEntire, Cher and Steps, but his biggest success was as co-writer, with previous postee Maria Christensen, of the song "Waiting For Tonight", which was first recorded by Maria's group 3rd Party and then became a hit for Jennifer Lopez. His production credits weren't nearly as grand, but his work with Debra shows his production talent. Together, as simply Torré, they released the freestyle song "Is It Too Late For Tomorrow" on the tiny Blue Chip label in 1986. Then,, in 1990 Debra's single "Conceal Your Love" was released to minor dance club success on Esquire Records. The album soon followed and the single "Fast Lane" was released (the song reminds me a lot of previous postee Veronique). Of course all of this went mostly unnoticed by the public, likely due to the inability of the small label to properly promote it. To my ears it is just as good as any of the other dance pop records that were released around the time, with lots of freestyle elements, and should have got more attention. I wish I had of discovered it then! The title track was even written by another Isle postee, Regina Richards, who recorded it herself but never released it. It also includes two fun and funky remakes, Prince's "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and Steve Arrington's "(Dancing In The) Key Of Life". All in all a really fun album that I have on repeat. Thanks Adriana for unearthing a true lost treasure!

Download Step It Out

1		Conceal Your Love
2		Words
3		World's Greatest Lover
4		Up All Night
5		Step It Out
6		I Wanna Be Your Lover
7		(Dancing In The) Key Of Life
8		Fast Lane

Louisa Florio - Louisa Florio (1987) & Instant Reaction (1989) DOUBLE POST!!

2011-03-15T14:16:00.011-04:00

So, after many attempts at acquiring her albums to share, here finally are the two Canadian albums released by Louisa Florio. Ever since I posted her single "Love Attack" on Lost Pop Treasures, I have had more requests for her albums than for anyone else's. Though she is little known outside of Canada (or even within Canada, for that matter), it appears that Miss Florio still has a rabid audience. I must first thank the always resourceful Adriana for providing me with Instant Reaction. And I also profusely thank Toby for providing me with her hard to find debut, as well as other gems that I'll feature in the future. Even more awesome, Toby added her very first single "The Effect" and it's B-side "Blast The Music", which were not on any album. Thanks SO much guys! As I mentioned on LPT, I believe that Louisa hails from Toronto, and her first album was produced by Harry Hinde, a disco producer who had worked with Shania Twain on her pre-fame demo tapes. She had released a one-off single in 1985 called "The Effect", and then "Deeper In Debt" a year later on the Tembo label. That single appeared on her debut album and several more singles from the album were released by Tembo, likely as a test to see which would possibly hit, but only "Love Attack" got any attention. On an interesting side-note, Louisa's version of "Tell It To My Heart" was not released as a single, but it was the first known version of the song recorded and was the version Taylor Dayne heard before deciding to record it herself. Tembo brought Louisa back into the studio for a second album, this time with producer Gerald O'Brien, a popular Canadian songwriter and former member of rock group Wrabit. The album kept the dance-pop vibe of her debut, and the single "Oh Boy (Can't Go On Loving Like This)" was released as a promo single, as was a video for "Crazy Love". Despite the contribution of several well-known Canadian songwriters, the album went unnoticed. From here Louisa's career is hard to trace, though she did appear on the Swedish show Top Gear on April 20, 1990 singing two songs, "Come 2 Gether" and "Body Talk", perhaps from a new album? Another single, "Best Of My Love", was released in 1993 on Swedish label Nouveaux Records. Then, in 1995 the single "I Want", credited to 'Venus', appeared on Nouveaux and featured Louisa. One other single on Nouveaux appeared in 1999, "Gotta Get Up", credited to 'Luiza'. And that's the last bit of info I can find on her. Given the number of requests for her work, surely someone out there knows something about her whereabouts today?

Download Louisa Florio

1		Love Attack
2		Tell It To My Heart
3		Mr. Wrong
4		Deeper In Debt
5		Made For Each Other
6		Woman
7		Living Dangerously
8		Today I Met The Boy I'm Gonna Marry
9		Left Alone
10		Gonna Stay In Love
11		Back For More
12		The Effect
13		Blast The Music

Video for Crazy Love

Download Instant Reaction

1		'Til The Real Thing Came Along
2		Oh Boy (I Can't Go On Loving Like This)
3		Crazy Love
4		The Right To Live
5		What Can I Do To Make You Change Your Mind
6		Instant Reaction
7		Intimate Strangers
8		Love On A Look
9		Something I Can Do Without
10		My Heart Has A Price

Ricca - Ricca (1994)

2011-03-09T13:09:00.003-05:00

Recently I was perusing my dear friend Joe's blog Milk Carton Pop Stars and was reminded that I never did listen to or get my hands on the only album by Ricca. Well, a quick search on eBay and problem solved! Since Joe did the research and found out what he could about the ladies, and some comments on his post filled in some of the missing pieces, I'll do only a quick summary. Ricca were American sisters Natalie & Elisa Soltren and Teresa Rodrigues. They managed to get a deal with Epic Records and worked with a wide array of producers, including Joyce Irby from Klymaxx and people who produced 80s acts like DeBarge, Tracie Spencer, Sybil and Martika, as well as Isle postees like Lisa Taylo r and Louie Louie. In fact, this was one of the last major projects from most of the producers involved. The girls released their first single, "Such A Rush," in 1992 and followed it up with "Any Love" (which features a rap from Monica Payne from one-album-wonders The Gyrlz and Terri & Monica) in 1993. Despite the fact that neither song was a hit, they released their album the following year. As Joe mentions, it was unusual for a Latina act to record R&B, 'new jack swing' style music, which was obviously their selling point. It's really more R&B-lite with a lot of pop elements thrown in, similar to other late 80s/early 90s R&B, which is likely due to their producers. Unfortunately their music didn't appeal to a large audience, and there were rumours of label issues, so they were let go. The ladies have all been active since, and you can find updates both on Milk Carton Pop Stars and Rare And Obscure Music. I agree with Joe that it's shame the album didn't do better, and that I didn't pick it up when it was released, as I would have loved it and perhaps would have helped them have a little more success. Oh well, better late than never. :)

Download Ricca

1		Any Love
2		Such A Rush
3		Time Of My Life
4		Not Wishing
5		I Need Time
6		Do I Dare
7		Hear It Come From You
8		My Way
9		Sunshine & Rain
10		You Can't Love Me (If You Don't Respect Me)
11		Don't Waste My Time
12		Any Love (Spyder's Sound)

The 28th St. Crew - I Need A Rhythm (1989)

2011-02-25T13:01:00.005-05:00

Sometimes I enjoy featuring an album that I don't have to do much research on, as it can take hours to compile info on some of the artists featured here! Though you may not be familiar with the name The 28th St. Crew, you definitely know the men behind the group: Robert Clivillés and David Cole. Before they formed C+C Music Factory, they were known as very sought after producers and remixers, but not as artists in their own right. They did release a couple of singles as part of '2 Puerto Ricans, A Blackman & A Dominican', with David Morales and Chep Nuñez, most notably "Do It Properly". But they soon decided to create their own 'group' The 28th St. Crew, named after the New York street that they were based from. They were credited as 'The Done Properly Posse!' on production, named after their previous hit. Their first single as The 28th St. Crew was "I Need A Rhythm". It was essentially a combination of three popular house songs of the time: Jomanda's "Make My Body Rock", Maurice's "This Is Acid" and Adeva's version of the Aretha Franklin classic "Respect". The song was so popular, as was their work with girl group Seduction, that they recorded an entire album for Vendetta Records. The album followed the single's lead and was a house trip all the way, utilizing many samples and various vocalists. No other single was issued from the album, but this was likely due to the fact that they had formed C+C Music Factory and were prepping material for that album. The styles that they would utilize for their C+C sound emerged on this album but were polished to a poppier gloss for that act. And of course we all know how successful their work as C+C Music Factory was. They did release another single, "O", using The 28th Street Crew moniker in 1994, but unfortunately David Cole passed away soon after due to spinal meningitis, and the name died with him. Robert Clivillés continued the C+C Music Factory for one more album after that and then retired that as well. He remains active in the music industry, and you can follow his goings on and get more info on his history on his Myspace page as well as the page for C+C Music Factory.

Download I Need A Rhythm

1		I Need A Rhythm
2		Inch By Inch
3		Steppin' Out
4		Get It Up
5		Where's The Party
6		It's In The Groove (No Games)
7		Pump It Up (Let's Groove)
8		Sex On The Dance Floor (LP Version)

Ariél - Ariél (1995)

2011-02-18T14:41:00.008-05:00

Here is another little-known 90's gem for you, in response to a request to feature more 90s R&B girl groups. Ariél were an R&B trio consisting of Zwehla Taylor, Simone Harrison and Alana Wilson. From what little info I can gather, the group was formed by multi-talented jazz trombonist Gregory Royal (not to be confused with hip hop producer Greg 'Ski' Royal), who was also their producer. At least one member, Simone, attended the 'Fame'd LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts in New York. The other two members were perhaps Canadian, as Royal's Wikipedia entry claims that the group was Canadian and charted in Canada with two songs, "Can't Let Love" and "Trust The Love You See". I find this unlikely as I am from Canada and I had never heard of them until I picked this up for $1 several years ago. Whatever the case, Royal constructed a 'new jack swing' sound for the girls, which was popular at the time. He also added plenty of jazz flourishes, as is evident on tracks like "Jazz Horn Players", "Ariél's In The House" and "Traffic Cop", which utilizes an unreleased track by Duke Ellington, whom Greg Royal worked with extensively. There is also some rap and spoken word courtesy of Zwelha. The first single was "Do The Boodiewop", which was one of the most straight-forward 'new jack swing' tracks on the album. The song was not a hit, and it would seem that no other singles were released, despite the claims of the Wikipedia entry. The group likely broke up soon after. What Zwehla and Alana got up to remains to be seen, but I did find out that Simone is working as an adviser with The Artist's Playground Theatre in her hometown of Brooklyn and also does voice work. She has also kept busy as an actress and apparently works behind the scenes on the TV show 30 Rock. She also released an independent solo album, Spoken Emotions, in 2002. As for Greg Royal, he has kept busy in many different areas, as a musician, author and even a football player. And, surprisingly, he has kept the music of Ariél alive. His off-Broadway musical play, It's A Hardbop Life , which debuted in 2004 and still continues to run in New York City, utilizes seven tracks that first appeared on Ariel's album. Royal has also been in the news recently for an odd lawsuit against Sarah Palin, claiming that she failed to issue a proclamation in Alaska in 2007 for a celebration commemorating the freeing of U.S. slaves! I truly never know what to expect when researching for this blog! LOL

Download Ariél

1		Can't Let Love
2		Jazz Horn Players
3		Poem Of Love
4		Afrika
5		Do The Boodiewop
6		Traffic Cops Oops
7		Ariel's In The House
8		I'll Hold On To The End
9		If I Had The Chance
10		Work Me!
11		Feel The Beat Rock The Beat
12		Trust The Love You See
13		Traffic Cop
14		Wonderland
15		Can't Let Love (Smooth Mix)

Roonie G. - Beyond The Looking Glass (1994)

2011-02-11T15:28:00.005-05:00

I've been posting so many 80s albums lately, it's time to step back into the 90s. Here is a CD I picked up in a dollar bin somewhere that remains an interesting sidenote to the career of an artist who has flourished in a different aspect of music - as a DJ. Roongsak Griffeth was born in Thailand but traveled the world from a young age due to his father's station in the army. He eventually settled in Georgia in the US and began DJing as a teen. He eventually attended college and obtained an electrical engineering degree, but stayed employed as a DJ. His specialty was old R&B music, and he ended up getting a residency at an Ohio bar where he remained for 10 years. After honing his remixing skills, in 1989 he was hired to remix many songs for the popular club remixing service Ultimix, where he remixed songs for the likes of Janet Jackson, Naughty By Nature, and Salt 'N' Pepa. His specialty was hip hop and electro, and this led to more work with another DJ service, X-Mix, where he remixed songs by artists like Aaliyah and Chingy. Along the way, it was only natural for him to explore making his own music, and he decided to release an album that would feature his considerable mixing skills. He released the album on his own label. It is very electro-influenced, with a ton of samples and Roonie rapping on most tracks. It also uses heavy doses of freestyle and Miami bass elements, and features female vocals and child voices. At times it's even reminiscent of Snap!. Though he released two singles, the double-sided "Change The Beat/Dirty Mind" and "Voice Of A Nu Generation (The Baby Song)", the album went unnoticed and Roonie returned to DJing. To be honest, with the over-abundance of samples and Roonie's sub-par rapping, it is an acquired taste. But he did carry on very successfully as a DJ, DJing several Superbowl and NBA parties, and he still tours the world, as his website will attest. He also got a reputation as a pioneer of video DJing, mixing sounds and visuals together for a show that goes beyond just music, indeed beyond the looking glass. ;) It is interesting that most of the biographical info available on him doesn't mention his one album as an artist, but it's definitely a rare curio that you should give a spin.

Download Beyond The Looking Glass

1		Intro
2		The Future
3		Merri Go Round
4		Thro' Your Hands In Da Air
5		Beyond The Looking Glass
6		Change The Beat
7		Rush
8		Voice Of A Nu Generation (The Baby Song)
9		Dirty Mind
10		April Fools
11		Girl, U Turn Me On
12		Deeper
13		The G-Spot
14		Worth The Wait
15		Forgive Me Girl

The Fetish - The Fetish (1992)

2011-02-04T15:21:00.005-05:00

Here is an oddity that is definitely an acquired taste, but these ladies seem to have quite a cult following considering the requests I've had for their music. I already featured their 1989 12" single (released as Stiletto Fetish) containing the tracks "I Think I Love You" and "Broke On Coke" on Lost Pop Treasures. To repeat what I wrote there: "Stiletto Fetish were a sassy Canadian female duo who had a small underground cult following in the late 80s/early 90s. Kim Jacobson and Liane Alliston specialized in provocative rap rock with a goth edge. This was their first self-released single, a remake of the Partridge Family hit along with an original track "Broke On Coke". The video got a lot of play back in the day. They later changed their name to just The Fetish and released one self-titled mini-album in 1992... According to Kim (on another website) they were signed to Warner UK (but never released anything on it), and she is now a flight attendant and Liane is apparently married to a rich man." This self-titled mini-album, released three years after their debut single, was recorded mostly in England. According to the ladies in the interview I also posted a link to on LPT, famed producer Zeus B. Held, who has worked with acts like Dead Or Alive, Nina Hagen, Transvision Vamp, Men Without Hats and Isle postee Annabella, called them up and told them he had heard their single and liked what he heard. He asked them to go to London and said he'd help finance their new music. They managed to record six tracks that were published in part through Warner, but for some reason a major label deal didn't materialize. They ended up releasing the resulting music independently, though after changing their name to just The Fetish, it's likely people didn't realize that the ladies behind "I Think I Love You" had new music. After that they went their separate ways. To be fair, it's not likely that their music would have appealed to a large audience, as its mix of hard rock, hip hop, synths, off-key vocals and strange white girl raps are certainly not for everyone. But the album is a very rare and interesting reminder of an underground duo who may have been on the edge of 'stardom', and have somehow maintained a cult following since.

Download The Fetish

1		Vampire Love
2		Sex Time
3		Crosstown Traffic
4		Black & Blue
5		Psychotic Sympathy
6		Sex Time Extended
7		Black Tears

Curtie And The Boombox - Black Kisses (1985)

2011-01-27T13:16:00.013-05:00

I have had this album on cassette and vinyl forever, but aside from the first single, "Let's Talk It Over In The Ladies' Room", I never gave it much of a listen. I decided to rip the vinyl for ya'll, and I was amazed at just how fun and danceable the rest of the album is. It's now one of my faves! From what I can gather from the bit of info available on the web (most not in English), the act was formed by Dutch producer Peter Koelewijn. After he met Curtie Fortune, who came from a small island in the Caribbean, he decided to form a group around her, obviously enchanted by her Caribbean accent. He enlisted fellow Caribbeans Judith Landry and "the Wilson sisters" to be 'the Boombox' (essentially her back-up singers), a name he saw on a small recording device in the studio. Along with Dutch engineer Albert Boekholt he produced their first single, "Let's Talk It Over In The Ladies' Room", released on RCA in 1984. It was an upbeat, Caribbean flavoured pop song similar in style to groups like Boney M. or Luv'. It was a small hit in the Netherlands and the success led to the recording of their next single, "Black Kisses (Never Make You Blue)", a more italo disco flavoured track released in 1985. The song made it into the top 20 in the Netherlands, and it soon got attention worldwide, with it's biggest claim to fame being that it made it into the US Billboard Hot 100, reaching #81. This created a demand for an album, which had already been in the works for the past year and a half. By the time the song hit in the US the Wilson sisters had left and were replaced by Dutch singers Patricia Balrak and Denise van der Hek, who was previously the lead singer for another Dutch girl group, Risqué. Though Curtie was still the main lead singer, each of the other ladies was given a song apiece on which to sing lead. The album contained other songs with the Caribbean vibe, like the single "A Bachelor's Bed (Is A Dangerous Place)", but also incorporated songs with Hi NRG and italo disco elements similar to The Flirts or Fun Fun. Overall it's a surprisingly diverse album and a lot of fun, but neither of the other two singles, the aforementioned "A Bachelor's Bed..." and "Chinchilla", caught on with audiences in the US or anywhere else, for that matter. Curtie soon left the group, along with producer Koelewijn. The remaining three ladies made one last attempt and released the new single "Killing Love", as simply Boom Box, on the Injection Disco Dance label, but the song went unnoticed and they split. All of the ladies apparently kept busy as session singers after that, and Denise was briefly one half of pop duo Chess. Patricia Balrak has continued to sing, but now primarily in gospel music, as her Myspace page will attest. No sign of what Denise van der Hek and Judith Landry have been up to recently, but I did find unfortunate news about Curtie Fortune: she passed away on March 5, 2003. A tribute page has been set up for her by Peter Koelewijn. But perhaps the best tribute to her is listening to this wonderful, upbeat 'lost' pop gem that she was the focus of.

Video for Black Kisses

Download Black Kisses

1		Black Kisses (Never Make You Blue)
2		Chinchilla
3		Shocking
4		My Book Of Love
5		Let's Talk It Over In The Ladies' Room
6		A Bachelor's Bed (Is A Dangerous Place)
7		Help Me To Help You
8		Hoochie Coochie Boogie
9		Slowstarter

Sheree Jeacocke - Feel It (1985) & Jeacocke (1995) DOUBLE POST!!

2011-01-21T13:23:00.008-05:00

The gorgeous Sheree Jeacocke is a Canadian institution. From the mid 80s to the late 90s she released a lot of music, in her homeland and abroad. I was fortunate enough a couple of weeks ago to locate her very first album, which is quite rare (though I'm sure one recent misinformed visitor to this blog would tend to disagree - wink wink) and can also feature her self-released EP from 10 years later. Born in Toronto in 1958, Sheree began touring with her band in the late 70s and eventually also joined Canadian disco/funk band Crack Of Daw n on tour, but her only recorded work was as a session vocalist for other singers and commercial jingles (her voice was everywhere on TV when I was a kid!). Then in 1985 the Canadian government organization FACTOR, which existed to fund fledgling artists, gave her money to record her own solo album. Feel It was released in 1985 by the Canadian Talent Library with very limited distribution. It featured dance-pop songs with an occasional rock or new wave slant, and showcased her versatile vocals. She released the single "You Get To Me", which garnered enough attention to get her a Juno nomination for Most Promising Female Vocalist and a deal with a major label, BMG. The label asked her to drop her last name and the album Sheree was released on BMG sublabel RCA in 1989, following a very similar formula to her first album. The first single, "Woman's Work", became a Canadian hit and also got her some international attention. The follow-ups, "Before We Fall", "Forever You Forever Me" and "Bang On", didn't do as well, though the housey "Bang On" was a minor club hit. Despite the failure of the follow-up singles, BMG kept her on and she released her next album, Miss My Love, in 1993, this time on BMG sublabel Arista and using her full name. Her sound on the album became more R&B and adult contemporary flavoured, as evidenced by the first single, "Miss My Love". It and the next two singles, "Serious" and "Everybody Needs A Love", managed to get radio play but were not hits. As a result, her association with the label soon ended. Not to be discouraged, Sheree recorded and released an EP on her own label in 1995 titled simply Jeacocke. The first single, "Mr. Big Stuff", a remake of the Jean Knight hit from 1971, became a Canadian club hit in it's remixed form. The EP itself went even further into a soul sound and included a remake of her own "Woman's Work". Perhaps encouraged by her dance club success, that same year she renamed herself J-Cock and appeared on the Pleasure Beat eurohouse hit "First Time", which I featured already on Lost Pop Treasures. The following year, again as J-Cock, she released an eurohouse remake of Alanis Morissette's "Hand In My Pocket" with Pleasure Beat, as well a solo single, a reggae-tinged remake of Stevie Wonder's "Sunshine Of My Life", which I also featured on Lost Pop Treasures. In 1997, the J-Cock eurohouse singles "All In All" (a Joyce Sims remake), "Sexuality" and "Come Together" were released as downloads only and didn't attract much of an audience. Since then, aside from a few vocal appearances here and there, Sheree has stayed away from the music scene and has instead concentrated on her career as a real estate agent, now going by the name of Sheree Cerqua. Still, I hold out hope that she will return to the music scene one day to grace us with her powerful voice once again.

For her Sheree and Miss My Love albums, my friend Rich has already featured these on his blog The Music Spectrum, so please go there to download. And for a site dedicated to Miss Jeacocke's discography, please visit Woman's Work: The Sheree Jeacocke Discography.

Download Feel It

1		I Wanna Be Your Girl
2		You Get To Me
3		Gimme Some Motion
4		It's Got To Be Love
5		Shakin In Stereo
6		Feel It
7		Slowly I Turn
8		Be My Boy
9		This Love Song
10		Can I Do It

Live performance of Mr. Big Stuff

Download Jeacocke

1		Mr. Big Stuff
2		So This Is Love
3		When In Rome
4		Midnight Train To Georgia
5		Womans Work

Maureen Steele - Nature Of The Beast (1985)

2011-01-13T11:48:00.006-05:00

Here is another 80s gem sent to me by Toby. Of all of the albums Toby sent, this is the one I like the most. It's a funky dance pop treat. Thanks Toby!! Maureen Steele is another pop enigma. Her track "Boys Will Be Boys" appeared on the soundtrack to the movie The Flamingo Kid in 1984. The soundtrack was released on Motown Records, and soon after, Maureen's debut was also released on Motown. This was notable due to the fact that very few white artists were signed to the label at that time (another exception was Isle postee Misa). "Boys Will Be Boys" was a minor Billboard dance hit, but the follow-up single, "Save The Night For Me", which Maureen wrote, was an even bigger success, reaching #77 on the Billboard Top 100. "Rock My Heart" was planned as her next single, but was only issued as a promo. Apparently the label dropped her and she faded into obscurity, her only other notable appearance being as a back-up vocalist on Apollonia's only album, also featured on the Isle. This was likely due to Maureen's connections with her album's producers, Steve Barri and Bobby Sandstrom, who worked with Apollonia as well as other white pop-soul acts such as Sam Harris, Times Two and Wild Orchid, and also appeared on the album Let's Get Busy by previous Isle postees Teen Dream. Since then the internet has been abuzz with people looking for info on Maureen, but so far nothing has been uncovered about this talented but elusive artist.

UPDATE: Well, that was quick! LOL Tommy wrote to tell me that Maureen now goes by Maureen Steele-Volante. She and her husband Mike own a real estate company in California. This apparently became her new passion after singing. Check out their website HERE.

Video for Boys Will Be Boys

Download Nature Of The Beast

1		Nature Of The Beast
2		Physical Therapy
3		Save The Night For Me
4		Sneak Preview
5		Rock My Heart
6		Bad Girls Do It Better
7		Sidetracked
8		Do You Like It When I Hurt You
9		My Shy Lover
10		Boys Will Be Boys

Chantal Condor - Chantal Condor (1986) & Chantal (1989) DOUBLE POST!!

2011-01-05T17:09:00.022-05:00

Happy new year, everyone!! So, I went out last week and bought a bunch of records that I wanted to feature on the blog. One was the self-titled album from Chantal and I was going to rip it, but I got a message the next day on another website from Toby, who offered me the MP3's of both that album and her first. What a coincidence, non? Anyway, thanks to Toby I can now offer you Chantal Condor's two pop albums in great quality! Thanks Toby!! Chantal was born in Alexandria, Egypt, but moved to Canada at five years of age and was raised in Montreal. Her first major step into the music world was as part of the disco duo Voggue with Angela Songui. They had a pretty big disco hit with "Dancin' The Night Away" in 1981, and released two albums and several more singles until they broke up in 1983. Chantal reemerged in 1985 with her first solo single on Columbia Records, "Hands Up", a remake of French Canadian duo Ottawan's 1981 disco hit. While the single wasn't a hit, it was notable enough to get her an album deal with the label. ("Hands Up" did become an even bigger hit in Canada two years later, when it was recorded by reggae/soul trio Sway.) Her first self-titled dance-pop album was released the following year. It was produced by Chantal and Vito Luprano, who would go on to work with Celine Dion. She released two singles: "Marinero", a remake of the italo-disco hit by Italian singer and actress Milva, and "Nightmare". Neither song got much of a reaction, but the label kept Chantal on. (The album also includes her version of Nicole's huge dance hit from the same year, "Don't You Want My Love".) It took Chantal four years, but she finally released her second album, dropping her last name and going by simply 'Chantal'. It was produced by British musician Peter Wood, and had an even poppier edge. Her look and sound were very similar to fellow Canadian and Isle postee Candi, who released her debut a year earlier. The first single, "A Little Lovin'", was a minor Canadian hit, and the video was in rotation on Muchmusic, as was the video for the follow up, "Angel In Your Eyes". The album also included remakes of the La Toya Jackson single "Imagination" from 1986 and the Menudo single "You've Got Potential" from 1988, which was also recorded the same year as Chantal by Isle postee Hiroko. The album failed to hit, and it seems the label dropped her. Chantal reemerged briefly as part of the French Canadian quartet Collage in 1991, who had a Canadian dance hit with "Hasta La Vista", but after the song hit she left the group and they re-released their album as a trio, with a different cover. This seemed the end of Chantal's career in popular music. However, in 2005, Chantal reappeared on the scene using her real name, Chantal Chamandy, working a very different look and sound. She released the Arabic flavoured track "You Want Me" on her own label, Ninemuse Entertainment. The song was then remixed by many hot remixers including Mark Anthony and Brian Rawling, and it became a worldwide dance hit. Her look and sound were almost unrecognizable as the Chantal from the 80s. She had matured as an artist and embraced her Egyptian, Greek and Lebanese heritage, incorporating it into her sound. Her voice was also vastly improved. She also proved a smart businesswoman, as she released her next single, "Feels Like Love", across Canada for $1 in Dollarama stores to great sales, and financed her own successful promotional campaign. Her album Love Needs You was released in 2006. She made international news in 2007 when, on September 7, she was the first artist ever permitted to perform at the foot of the Sphinx in Egypt (yes, before Kylie!). The event was filmed and shown on PBS in the US, entitled Beladi: A Night At The Pyramids. Chantal has kept busy since performing and recording, and will hopefully release new material soon. After achieving her greatest success sixteen years after everyone counted her out, Chantal is proof that you should never underestimate any 'deserted' pop star.

Download Chantal Condor

1		I Wasn't Good Enough
2		Tonight You're Mine
3		I Can't Stop Loving You
4		Second Hand Lover
5		Take The Days
6		Nightmare
7		Don't You Want My Love
8		You're Driving Me Insane
9		Under The Cover Of Night
10		Marinero

Video for Angel In Your Eyes

Download Chantal

1		A Little Lovin'
2		Angel In Your Eyes
3		Can't Dance Forever
4		Let Me Be The One
5		Sometimes Love Can Heal A Broken Heart
6		Imagination
7		You've Got Potential
8		Some Kind Of Magic
9		Ready Or Not?
10		Bells

NightCat - NightCat (1991)

2010-12-21T16:36:00.007-05:00

Last month I posted the maxi-single of the track "#1 House Rule" by NightCat on my sister blog Lost Pop Treasures. Until I did research on the song, I thought it was just another one-off pop-house track by some unknown pop tart. Well, while she may have remained relatively unknown, I discovered that NightCat had a very interesting story indeed. And that she had an album that I needed ASAP! Well thanks to blog fan Sarah, I now have it! And so do you! And it is better than I'd hoped, as I was mislead to believe that it was a rock album (partly due to the cover), but it's pure up dance pop, with traces of house and freestyle, a la artists like Pajama Party and Isle postee Jaya, who was on the same label as NightCat, Lefrak-Moelis. Anyway, since I don't have a lot of time to compose a proper new entry for this, I'm going to reprint some of my write up from Lost Pop Treasures:

"You just never know what you're going to find out about these artists! I thought this was just a random one off single by some pop tart, but instead Nightcat was a creation of Marvel Comics! Marvel creator Stan Lee wanted to develop a female superhero who crossed over into the real world. Like Dazzler, this hero was also a rock singer. So they released an issue of the Nightcat comic book and hired actress/singer Jacqueline Tavarez to embody Nightcat in real life. They recorded an entire album simply titled Nightcat. "#1 House Rule" was the only single. Both the comic and album bombed and Jacqueline was fired, she claims because she appeared in a music video by Long Island Lolita Amy Fisher's ex-lover Joey Buttafuoco!! She has since appeared nude in the film Tromeo And Juliet and that's about it. (UPDATE: Apparently she now goes by the name Jacqueline Love and poses on Naked. com. Thanks to DJAaron for this info!) For more on the Nightcat story, go HERE. I would have died for this had I known it existed back in the day, as I was both a music and comic book fiend!"

And I am dying for it now! I know you'll all love this album, so download it and give thanks to Sarah for sharing it. You've made my day! :)

Download NightCat

1		#1 House Rule
2		Let Me Be Your Only Girl
3		If You Love Me
4		I've Finally Found Someone
5		Don't Change
6		Say You'll Be Mine
7		In The Night Time
8		Your Love Is All I Need
9		Hang On To Your Loving

Gigi On The Beach - Gigi On The Beach (1989)

2010-12-14T11:40:00.010-05:00

Sorry I've been so lax in posting lately, but I've been quite busy, especially now with Christmas on the horizon. But as an early Christmas gift to you all I just had to pop in and offer you this gem. I have never heard of Gigi On The Beach before, but I noticed a brief entry on them on the Rare And Obscure Music blog and fell in love with the cover alone! I HAD to have the CD, and magically the album was available on Amazon for 17 cents!! It just arrived yesterday and I had to take a moment out of my busy schedule to share it with y'all because I know you'll adore it. The only details that the CD itself offers is that it consists of three members: Terri Smith Young, Paula Gallo and Beth Barrett (the cover is misleading as it features two pics of each lady. ;) It was produced by brothers Ed and John Palermo, whose biggest claim to fame was co-producing and co-writing the minor 1984 dance hit "Summer In The Street" for Carrie Lucas (which Gigi On The Beach remake here, and was also one of Isle postee Kim Esty's bigger 'hits'.) Two singles were released from the album to little fanfare: the upbeat "Friday Night In The U.S.A." and the freestylish "Bitch Me Out". The rest of the album is pure dance pop and even includes a remake of the Beatles' "Please Please Me". Anyone who likes any of the other dance pop albums circa 1989 featured on this blog should love this! A search for this group on the internet yields next to nothing (like where that odd group name comes from!) and though there are various women with the same name as this group's members, it's hard to determine if they are indeed the same ladies. As D-Listed would say, this is a case for Detective La Toya! LOL!

UPDATE: Member Paula Gallo found this post and wrote! Here's what she had to say. Thanks for visiting and writing Paula! We're honoured and glad you approve!!!

"I happen to google my group "Gigi on the Beach" to see what would come up and I find this blog. I recently had the record framed for memories to hang on my wall. Yes, we do indeed exist. I am Paula Gallo, the one featured on top of the cover with the pink hat on. The name was thought of by John and Ed Palermo. No reason, but the funny thing is, Gigi was my Mother's nick name (Gloria Gallo). I dedicate that album to her memory. Thanks for bringing our Gigi on the Beach back for people to enjoy. Paula Gallo"

Download Gigi On The Beach

1		Friday Night In The U.S.A.
2		Bitch Me Out
3		Will You Marry Me?
4		Summer In The Street
5		Johnny
6		Please Please Me
7		You're My Kind
8		Modern Jitterbug
9		Treasured Love
10		Crying In The Rain

Voyceboxing - Voyceboxing (1991)

2010-11-12T13:36:00.008-05:00

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)

2010-11-12T12:12:00.010-05:00

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, so if you would like updates, just send me an email and I'll put you on the list. shay351@gmail.com

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!"

Video for Girl's Life

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)

2010-11-04T18:53:00.004-04:00

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!!

2010-11-02T11:49:00.016-04:00

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

S.H.E. - 3's A Charm (1997)

2010-10-22T14:51:00.011-04:00

Though it would take another 8 years, Tyren Perry, whom I featured in my last post, did reappear on a major music label, this time on Interscope sub-label T.W.IsM. Records, a vanity label for basketballer and rapper Shaquille O'Neal. She teamed up with sisters Jania and Jaimee Foxworth to form R&B trio S.H.E.. Tyren and Jania had previously sang together as backing vocalists on Quincy Jones' Back On The Block album in 1989, the same year Tyren released her only solo album, and both continued to take occasional acting and session singing gigs. With their sister Jaimee they had grown up singing three part harmonies, but Jamie soon found another calling, as an actress. Also in 1989, at ten years old, she was cast in the successful sitcom Family Matters as youngest daughter Judy Winslow. She was in the series for four seasons, but after requesting a pay increase which couldn't be justified by the producers, who didn't know what to do with her character anyway, she was let go. She managed to get another sitcom, Getting By, but it was short-lived. While she and her sisters continued to get bit work, she could not find another substantial role thanks to her association with her Family Matters character, a fate which befalls many a child actor. After putting so much into their daughters' stagnant careers, their family began to suffer financial difficulties. The sisters decided to band together as a group in another attempt at a music career. They were noticed by Shaquille O'Neal, who featured them on his second album, You Can't Stop The Reign, in 1996. He signed them to his label and they released their first single, "My Secret Is" the same year. Though the single got little attention, they still managed to release their album the next year. They also managed to get a track, "We Got Heart", on the soundtrack to the movie Steel, starring Shaq. The album was smooth pop/R&B, a less street version of the sound groups like SWV and Total were exploring. I'd compare them to the UK's Cleopatra, but with much better harmonies. Unfortunately the trio didn't stand out from the numerous other R&B girl groups of the time and they were dropped. They remained out of the spotlight after that, which put a strain on their family, and it was rumoured that their parents declared bankruptcy. Jaimee was affected the most and ended up battling substance abuse. In a desperate attempt to cash in on her childhood fame and make some money, she ended up in porn, taking the name Crave and starring in several porn movies. Meanwhile, Tyren and Jania continued to pursue music. Most recently Tyren was (is?) lead singer of the heavy metal group Kai's Army. You can watch live performances on her Myspace page. She also still dabbles in acting. Jania did backing vocals and choreography for Heather Headley, among others, and also continued to act. She had a dance hit in 2007 with The Perry Twins entitled "Activate My Body". You can catch up with her on her Myspace and Youtube pages. And Jaimee found herself back on television, this time as a patient in Dr. Drew's VH1 reality show, Celebrity Rehab. She has since had a son and apparently kicked her substance abuse, and is rumoured to be releasing an autobiography. I'll be first in line to get it!

Download 3's A Charm

1		S.H.E. (Interlude)
2		In The Middle
3		I Wouldn't Take Her Back
4		My Secret Is
5		24 Hours
6		I Can Do That (Interlude)
7		I'll Never Leave You
8		Player
9		Get Back With You
10		Summer Rain
11		Hi, Mommy, I Love You (Interlude)
12		Good Thing Going
13		Should I Tell Him?

Tyren Perry - Don't Rush It (1989)

2010-10-22T12:33:00.007-04:00

Back in the day I picked up a cassingle for 99 cents by a young American singer I had never heard of, Tyren Perry. The single was for the song "You Are My Everything", which was a pretty unspectacular ballad. But the b-side was a brilliant funk pop jam, "I Get Butterflies (In My Stomach)", in the vein of early Shanice Wilson or Janet Jackson. While I played the single repeatedly over the years, I never thought much more about Tyren. I knew that she had released an album, but at the time it wasn't released in Canada and US imports were hard to come by (thank God for the internet, non?). Anyway, in recent years I have really gotten back into that late 80s pop-funk sound and remembered Tyren. Well, many thanks once again to Adriana, I now have Tyren's album. And it's a solid pop-funk album with great vocals by Tyren that I'm sorry I missed all of these years. But that alone isn't what made me want to post it here. After doing research on Tyren I discovered some interesting details about her past and family. Before she was signed to Columbia Records, she did some acting, most notably a few episodes of Diff'rent Strokes and as a regular on the short-lived sitcom Bustin' Loose in 1987. In 1986 she joined Tonya Townsend as the duo Tahiti, and the two released a soundtrack album to the cartoon The Real Ghostbusters. This work led to Columbia Records signing the then 16 year old and hooking her up with established producer Ollie Brown (one half of disco duo Ollie & Jerry). Unfortunately none of the singles off of the album, which were "You Are My Everything", "I Get Butterflies (In My Stomach)" and "What's Up", had much of an impact, with only "What's Up" barely denting the R&B charts. After Tyren was dropped by the label, she managed to get a few more acting gigs but seemingly disappeared from the music scene...but she did not, as the next post will attest. ;)

Download Don't Rush It

1		I Get Butterflies (In My Stomach)
2		What's Up?
3		Do It
4		Hey Mister Postman
5		Don't Rush It
6		I'm Sure It's Love
7		You Are My Everything
8		Better Late Than Never

John James - Big Fat Soul (1989) & Mothers Of Hope (1993) DOUBLE POST!!

2010-10-19T15:03:00.023-04:00

Well, I just got back from London, England, this week and am sad to say that I didn't find any gems for the blog. But fear not, I still have tons to share. ;) Next up is Canadian John James. Unfortunately, due to his having such a common name, I can't really give you too much info on his bio and what he's been up to recently. I do know that his home base was Toronto. After signing to Attic Records, he first appeared on the dance music scene with his synth-pop song "She Bought Love". It was his next single, however, that got him the greatest attention. The housey "I Wanna Know" became a minor club hit. His debut album Big Fat Soul contained both of these singles as well as other house tracks, but focused mainly on funk and soul sounds, thus the title. This type of sound was an anomaly at the time from a white male artist, and that angle was likely what attracted the label. It would be many years before Jamiroquai would mine the same genre. Two more singles were released, the funky "Trust Me" and "(Still) The Beat Goes On", and then John soon disappeared from the music scene. Four years later he returned with Mothers Of Hope, preceded by the single "Jack Boogie", and he had moved his music even further into the funk/soul sound, with a heavy dose of acid jazz as well (this, incidentally, was the same year Jamiroquai released his first album, which featured a similar vibe). The next single "Supernatural" got some radio play, as did the single release of the title track, but once again John soon faded from the public eye. He continued to work behind the scenes in the late 90s, however, as a producer and remixer, teaming up with friend John Acquaviva, a respected DJ, producer and co-founder of Pulse 8 Records. They also released an EP as The James Gang that contained the jazzy house track "The Way We Feel" in 1998. Since then little has been heard from John. However, I do know that he still hangs out in Toronto occasionally, as many years ago I was at a friend's house and went tipsily looking for the washroom. I went the wrong way and ended up upstairs, barging into a bedroom, and who should be sitting there but none other than John James himself! It turns out that my friend was living with his mother! I simply excused myself, but had I of known that I'd be doing this blog one day, I would have drilled him for details on what he's been up to! LOL

Video for I Wanna Know

Download Big Fat Soul

1		I Wanna Know
2		Bobbie's Turn
3		Jet Black
4		Lime Light
5		You Really Got To Me
6		Trust Me
7		She Bought Love
8		That Man
9		Red Rover
10		(Still) The Beat Goes On

Video for Supernatural

Download Mothers Of Hope

1		Supernatural
2		Mothers Of Hope - Gospel Segue
3		Mothers Of Hope
4		Pride And Shame
5		Overview Of Madness
6		Blinding Rhythms - Segue
7		Feeling Twilight
8		Deep Inside
9		Jack Boogie
10		Please Do Not Read
11		Bob Had A Dollar
12		Horns Of Time - Segue
13		Close The Mouth
14		Mothers Of Hope - Gospel End

Liberty Silver - Private Property (1988)

2010-09-29T18:02:00.004-04:00

Thanks again to the indispensable Adriana, I have another rare gem for you that she gave me permission to share. I first posted Liberty Silver's double-sided single from this album on Lost Pop Treasures. Some people then requested the album, but I didn't hold out any hope of getting my hands on it until Adriana was kind of enough to send it to me. Liberty has had a very long career in Canada, about which you can read in detail from several sources on the internet, including her Myspace page. In brief, she was born in 1962 in Detroit, Michigan, but moved to Canada as a child. When she was just 12 she auditioned for a reggae band and was whisked away as part of the opening act for Bob Marley at Madison Square Garden. She remained in the Canadian music industry after that, and released many singles over the years, including several in 1980 on the independent Scorpio label, most of which were remakes, including two Blondie tunes. In 1985 she won two Juno Awards (Canada's Grammys) and was asked to be part of Canada's version of USA For Africa, Northern Lights, on the song "Tears Are Not Enough", where she sang a part with Loverboy's Mike Reno. This was my first introduction to Liberty, but I didn't hear anything more from her until her videos for "Private Property" and "I Do Love You" were aired on TV in 1988. There was virtually no R&B scene in Canada at the time (at least not known to the general public) and I am ashamed to say that I ignored Liberty for the most part as I was biased towards American R&B, even though I liked her two singles. That was my mistake, as the album is solid. I had never heard it in full until now. It's a funky pop album, very of the time, and a cut above a lot of similar albums released at the time. She released two more singles from the album, a remake of The Shirelles "Baby It's You" and the ballad "Let It Begin Tonight". Although following this she didn't stay in the pop spotlight, she remained a fixture in the Canadian music scene and has been nominated and won many awards since. She has also continued to release albums, focusing mostly on jazz. In 2005 she took a five year hiatus in which she dealt with family issues, but is now releasing an old school soul album. It's a welcome return from a very powerful vocalist who should be heard. Try her out!

Download Private Property

1		I Do Love You
2		Private Property
3		Let It Begin Tonight
4		Oh No
5		On My Way
6		Baby It's You
7		Can't Get Over You
8		It's You
9		Crazy Love For You
10		I Knew It Was You