Songoftheday 6/22/17 - The chills that you spill up my back keep me filled with satisfaction when we're done, satisfaction of what's to come...

"Groove Is In The Heart" - Deee-Lite
from the album World Clique (1990)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #4 (three weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 13

Today's song of the day comes from the alternative dance trio Deee-Lite, who came together in the late 1980's when married couple Pittburgh-raised American singer/DJ Lady Miss Kier and Russian-born DJ Dmitri, who performed together at first, took on Japanese DJ/producer Towa Tei in New York. The eclectic trio released their debut album, World Clique in 1990, with the first single being what would become a club classic, "Groove Is In The Heart". The funky retro-style booty-shaker was based on a foundation of a sample from jazz legend Herbie Hancock's "Bring Down The Birds", a less-than-two-minute track from a soundtrack to an obscure film...

Incorporating that with elements from Vernon Burch's "Get Up", along with other samples, the song sounded old and new at the same time, and clubgoers went nuts for the welcome change of pace from the frenetic beats of house music and laid-back chill of the Soul II Soul sound. The video featured Kier, Dmitri, and Towa in flower-power-style couture designed by Kier. Bootsy Collins, who played with James Brown and George Clinton, appears on the record and in the video, along with Brown player Maceo Parker and rapper Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest, all ending up arguably the best pop single of 1990...

"Groove Is In The Heart" became Deee-lite's first and only top-40 pop hit in the U.S. in November of 1990. The single also climbed to #28 on Billboard's R&B chart as well. Remixes of the song from the 12"/CD single helped it spend three weeks at #1 on their Dance Club Play list as a double-sided hit with "What Is Love?". Internationally, the single topped the chart in Australia, peaked at #2 in the UK (again with "What Is Love?") and New Zealand, and reached the top-10 in Ireland (#8), Finland (#9), and the Netherlands (#10).

The trio's next single, the house music jam "Power Of Love", also topped the dance chart in America, but stopped just short of the pop top-40 at #47, but did get to #25 in the UK. A third release, "E.S.P.", went to #7 on Billboard's dance chart, but then "Good Beat" returned Deee-Lite back to the top of that list. The World Clique album remains a must-have set for anybody interested in dance music in the 1990s.

In 1992, Kier, Dmitri, and Tei released their sophomore album, Infinity Within, which had more meatier lyrical content over the beats, with tracks like "Vote, Baby, Vote", and the safe-sex PSA "Rubber Lover". First single "Runaway" topped the dance chart, but nothing from the set got any attention on pop radio. While they broke up during the recording of their third effort, Dewdrops In The Garden, the resulting record scored a pair of #1 dance hits with "Bring Me Your Love" and "Call Me" in 1994-5. Since the act's dissolution, each of the members has gone on to prolific DJ'ng careers, but there's no sign of them ever coming back together as yet.

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On the dance chart and in England, the B-side "What Is Love?" was included in the listing, with club play in America and radio play in Britain for the track showing love...

Here's Deee-Lite appearing on the Arsenio Hall show to promote the single, and Q-Tip even came out to play...

...next up the band live in concert in Roskilde in 1991...

Bootsy Collins made an appearance with them at Rock In Rio in 1991...

Lastly, here's my fave: a performance in 1989 for a fundraiser before the single was even released...

Up tomorrow: Iconic pop duo are nearby.