Songoftheday 7/6/14 - Thought I heard your voice yesterday when I turned around to say that I loved you...

Klymaxx - "I Miss You"
from the album Meeting In The Ladies Room (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #5 (four weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 17

Today's Song of the Day comes from the female R&B band Klymaxx, who came together in Los Angeles in the early 80's behind singer and drummer Bernadette Cooper. Recording for Solar Records (who had Shalamar and Midnight Star on their roster), they released their first album, Never Underestimate The Power Of A Woman, and the title track became their first minor R&B hit in 1981, peaking at #74. After a second album didn't do much better, they left for Constellation, and recorded their third effort Meeting In The Ladies Room, which was released in 1984. The first single from that set, "The Men All Pause", was a big success, going top-10 on both the R&B and Dance chart, and almost made the pop chart, "bubbling under" at #105. Next up came the title track, which went a notch higher on the R&B list at #4, while becoming their first time in the Hot 100 at #59. By this time their Prince-like sound caught on with funk/R&B radio, but was still eluding mainstream success. Their "hat trick" to solve that was the third release, "I Miss You", a straight-up pop ballad written by the band's keyboardist, Lynn Malsby, and the request from lonely teen girls came pouring in...

"I Miss You" went all the way to the top-5 on the U.S. pop chart in December of 1985, sticking around in the top-40 for 17 weeks, tieing "Careless Whisper" for the longest stay there for a single peaking that year. The single also went to #3 on the adult contemporary (easy listening) and #11 on the R&B radio charts in Billboard. Internationally, the song went to #1 in Canada, #2 in New Zealand, and top-40 in Belgium and the Netherlands, while surprisingly stiffing in England at #89.

The success of the song would turn other funk-based groups like Atlantic Starr to record MOR ballads for pop success.

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Twenty year later, Boyz II Men covered "I Miss You" for their covers album...

Up tomorrow: The Other Three of the Fab Five get ready to vote.