Robbed Hit of the Week 7/7/14 - Rene & Angela's "I'll Be Good"...

Rene & Angela - "I'll Be Good"
from the album A Street Called Desire (1985)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #47

This week's "robbed hit" comes from the R&B singing/songwriting/producing duo of Rene (Moore) and Angela (Winbush), who released their self-titled debut album at the beginning of the 80's. While their first single, "Do You Really Love Me", stalled right under the R&B top-40 at #43, the follow-up, "Everything We Do", cleared that bar at #39. Their sophomore effort, Wall To Wall, came a year later, and not only was it their first album to make the charts, the first single "I Love You More", climbed to #14 on the R&B chart and crossed over to the dance club play list at #31. The next record, Rise, sent its third single "My First Love" to #12 on the R&B chart (and in the 2000s would be remade into a top-40 pop hit by Avant), but their sound was competent but not too, too memorable.

That all changed with their fourth and what would be their final album together, A Street Called Desire. Produced by the duo with Quincy Jones' engineer Bruce Swedien, the album had eight tight single-worthy tracks that ended up placing six of those on the American and British charts. The first, "Save Your Love For #1", featuring a then-groundbreaking rap break by Kurtis Blow, topped the R&B chart and almost made the pop chart, "bubbling under" at #101. The second was a classic post-disco groove in the tradition of the S.O.S Band and Atlantic Starr, "I'll Be Good"....

While "I'll Be Good" was good to go to the top-ten on the R&B (#3) and Dance (#7) charts, it topped out at about the halfway mark on the American pop chart. However the song was big overseas, reaching #22 in England and #21 in Holland.

They would continue releasing singles from the album into 1986, the latest being the #29 R&B hit "No How No Way", but turmoil between the two caused them to separate and start solo careers. Winbush, who went on to marry Ronald Isley for a bit, had the more prominent recording career, sending five singles into the R&B top-10, while Moore would be more noticable behind the decks, producing for artists like Michael Jackson.

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Here's the dance remix of "I'll Be Good" that made the top-10 on the dance club chart...