Songoftheday 11/25/15 - To believe or not to believe, that is the question it just takes a street degree...

"Girlfriend" - Pebbles
from the album Pebbles (1987)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #5 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 12

Today's song of the day comes from R&B/dance singer Perri "Pebbles" Reid, who went from being a back-up singer for funk collective Confunkshun to a solo deal in the mid-80s. Her song "Love/Hate" was added to the soundtrack to Beverly Hills Cop II, and reached the dance chart at #34 in 1987.  She released her debut album the same year, and the first single was written and produced by the duo of "Babyface" Edmonds and "L.A." Reid, who were members of the R&B group the Deele. "Girlfriend" was a sugary slice of dance-pop with a heap of soul sass that would lead to a score of Paula Abduls by the end of the decade...

"Girlfriend" became Pebbles' first top-10 pop hit in April of 1988. The song climbed all the way to #1 on Billboard's R&B chart for a couple weeks in February, while the extended version made it to #24 on their Dance Club Play list. Internationally, the record reached the top ten in the UK (#8) and Ireland (#9), and in Canada, it peaked at #17.

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Here's Pebbles appearing on Soul Train, along with the Deele, including future husband L.A. Reid...

There were two versions made for the video clip for "Girlfriend", one seemingly more tuned for pop/MTV play. Here's a side by side of them both...

Finally, a year after "Girlfriend"'s success, British alt-rock band the Beautiful South covered the song for their debut album, and it's rather glorious...

Up tomorrow: A legendary bandmember recalls the good ol' days.