Songoftheday 3/23/16 - I been watching your eyes looking for someone, time after time they met mine the chase is on...

"What You See Is What You Get" - Brenda K. Starr
from the album Brenda K. Starr (1987)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #24 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 7

Today's Song of the Day comes from singer Brenda K (for real surname Kaplan) Starr, who had her big mainstream radio break in the summer of 1988 with the ballad "I Still Believe" (which future superstar Mariah Carey sang back-up on). For the follow-up she re-released her top-ten club hit from 1986, "What You See Is What You Get". Written by producer Stephen Lunt and Arthur Stead, it bridged the gap between freestyle sass and bubbly dance-pop a la Madonna...

"What You See Is What You Get" became Brenda's second and so-far final top-40 pop hit in the U.S. in October of 1988. She released a second album that went unnoticed (as freestyle became overshadowed by adult-pop in the likes of former protege Mariah). Aside from a duet with singer George Lamond on "No Matter What" in 1991 that almost made the top-40, radio dropped interest, leaving her to leave music for a while.  Five years later, she appeared as a featured guest on reggae artist Mad Lion on his single "Double Trouble", which peaked at #69 on Billboard's R&B chart in 1996. In the late 90's she re-emerged in the Spanish-language music community, and she made her true comeback, going to #1 on the "Tropical" Songs chart with "Herida" in 1997. She repeated the feat in 2002 with "Por Ese Hombre", which was nominated for a Latin Grammy. Her most recent album was ten years ago with Atrévete a Olvidarme, with the title track reaching #21 on the tropical chart.

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Here's the club mix done by "Jellybean" Benitez that made the top ten on the dance chart long before it reached pop radio...

...and here she is making a TV appearance to promote the song...

Up tomorrow: This "mod" singer is timeless. Just don't tell those guys at South Park.