Songoftheday 12/13/15 - I've got the room upstairs from you it's a room without a view, but all that could change if I just get through up to you...

"Strange But True" - Times Two
from the album X2 (1988)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #21 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 8

This year's final SOTD comes from the duo Times Two. Johnny Dollar and Shanti Jones hail from a northern California town just north of San Francisco, and they released their debut album X2 in 1988. Getting a prime spot opening for fellow teen-pop star Debbie Gibson on her debut tour, the pair's first single, "Strange But True", written by Jones with Gardner Cole, was a heavily-produced slice of hooks and beats disguised as a quirky love song...

"Strange But True" became Times Two's first and only top-40 pop hit in May of 1988. The extended version climbed to #12 on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart. They would follow it up with a bouncy take on Paul Simon's "Cecilia" (done by producer Jay King like Club Nouveau's "Lean On Me" remake), but petered out at #79. Two years later, they re-appeared with a more new-soul sound like Soul II Soul on the single "Set Me Free", which landed at #26 on the dance chart and popped on to the R&B list at #97. They split up shortly thereafter.

I hope everyone has a great New Year's Eve! I'll return on Saturday with a British journeyman needing another excuse.