Robbed hit of the week 10/12/15 - Shanice Wilson's "(Baby Tell Me) Can You Dance"...

"(Baby Tell Me) Can You Dance" - Shanice Wilson
from the album Discovery (1987)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #50

This week's "robbed hit" comes from singer Shanice Wilson, who landed a record deal as a young teen after television stints on Kids Incorporated and Star Search. Releasing her debut album Discovery at the age of 14, her record company (A&M) positioned her more as a dance-pop artist in the vein of labelmate Janet Jackson, with some of the superstar's affectations slipping into her first hit single "(Baby Tell Me) Can You Dance". Written by Bryan Loren from the funk outfit Fat Larry's Band, the song certainly went to the Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam school, and the release did fit neatly into a break in Janet's albums...

While "Can You Dance" climbed up to #6 on Billboard's R&B chart, the single stopped right at the halfway mark on the Hot 100 in December of 1987. The club mixes, one of which was done by Shep Pettibone, reached #16 on the Dance Club Play chart as well. She would leave A&M by the end of the decade, but with Motown behind her and dropping her surname, Shanice would find herself in the A-list of R&B/pop vocalists of the early 90s.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


Here's the Pettibone mix of "Can You Dance" that made the top-20 on the dance chart...

...and Shanice singing at the Apollo live to promote the single...