Robbed Hit of the Week 1/26/15 - Gwen Guthrie's "Ain't Nothin' Goin' On But The Rent"...

"Ain't Nothin' Goin' On But The Rent" - Gwen Guthrie
from the album Good To Go Lover (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #42

This week's "robbed hit" comes from a disco legend, Gwen Guthrie, who got her start as a backup singer and soul songwriter before getting a solo deal of her own. Releasing her self-titled debut in 1982, she scored a top-40 R&B hit with "It Should Have Been You", which also peaked right under the dance chart top tier at #11. With dance club DJ king Larry Levan, she became the "house singer" for the Paradise Garage, one of the biggest post-disco dance bastions in the US in the early 80s. Two years later, she sang co-lead on "Say Yeah" from the Dutch act the Limit, which climbed into the dance chart in America at #7, and reached the top-20 on the British singles chart at #17. That same year her own single "Love In Moderation", a mid-tempo soul record, made it to #17 on the R&B chart. 1985 saw Guthrie back ruling the clubs with her cult classic "Padlock", which came two rungs from making the Hot 100, while peaking at a deceptively low #13 on the club list.

The percussive intro to "Padlock" would rear its head with her next release, the sassy "Ain't Nothin' Goin' On But The Rent". Written and produced by the artist, it differed from most of the heartbreaking big-girl diva dance music of the time, asserting herself and with lyrics predating TLC's "No Scrubs" by a generation, proclaimed that there was "no romance without finance" for this "fly girl"...

While "Ain't Nothin' Goin' On..." topped both the R&B and dance charts in the summer of 1986, the single stalled out right under the pop top-40 at #42 in September. Internationally, the single did much better, reaching the top-5 in the UK and #1 in New Zealand.

But it would be Gwen's last big hit. On R&B radio, as new jack swing took over, she managed a few minor hits, with "Sweet Bitter Love" in 1991 her final appearance. Meanwhile, in the clubs, she last reached the chart with "Miss My Love" in 1990. Sadly, Gwen died at 48 in 1999 from cancer.

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This was such a big hit in Chicago (where I lived at the time), and I bought both the 12" single and the album. Here's the Berry/Prendatt vocal club mix...