Songoftheday 10/14/17 - Cast your doubts about house music you've got the body, so why don't you use it? naturally swinging your thing to the song 'cause that's how we pump the dancefloor for the strong...
from the album Dreamland (1990)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #8 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 12
Today's song of the day comes from the Italo-house dance music act Black Box, who had already landed two big hits on the American pop chart with "I Don't Know Anybody Else" and the top ten single "Everybody Everybody". Meanwhile, in Europe, where they had already been massive, they returned to the top ten in Britain and elsewhere with their cover of Earth Wind & Fire's "Fantasy" (#5, UK). However, "fantasy" was a little on the nose, for while dance diva Martha Wash from the Weather Girls sang on all these records, the videos and "live" appearances of the group featured French model Katrin Quinol lipsynching for her life in a Milli-Vanilli-esque charade to "sell" the image of the group (though I'm positive those songs would've been just as huge with Martha as the frontwoman). A remix album even followed, Remixland, which sent their "Total Mix" megamix into the top 10 in Ireland and #12 in the UK. In the spring of 1991, the act released their third American single and sixth overseas. "Strike It Up", written by the band's Daniele Davoli, Mirko Limoni, and Valerio Semplici, was a great slice of dance music, again sung by Martha Wash, but portrayed in the video by Quinol. Martha ended up suing for label credit, which she finally received after the fact, although the rapper, Stepz, who actually carries the verse, got less so...
"Strike It Up" became Black Box's third and final top-40 pop hit in the U.S., reaching the top ten in June of 1991. The song also climbed to #16 on Billboard's R&B chart, while the remixes on the 12" single helped them land their third consecutive #1 Dance Club Play hit. Internationally, the record also reached the top ten in the Netherlands (#4) and Ireland (#8), and made the top-40 in Belgium (#13), the UK (#16), Australia (#20), France (#26), Germany (#26), Austria (#27), New Zealand (#29), and Canada (#35). Internationally, another single followed, "Open Your Eyes" (also sung by Wash), which climbed to #17 in their native Italy, and made the top 40 in Sweden (#32), while peaked at #48 in Britain.
Two years later, Black Box returned without the lipsynching pretense and hiring a proper singer in Charvoni Woodson. Their first single with Woodson, the techno/rave-inspired "Rockin' To The Music", reached #39 in the UK and #14 in Sweden. A second album, Positive Vibration finally arrived in 1995, with a follow-up single, "Not Anyone", reaching #31 in Britain. Then came the Diana Ross-sampling "I Got The Vibration", which was their biggest success under this incarnation of the act, peaking at #21 in Britain and #18 in Italy. Lastly, a cover of Odyssey's disco classic "Native New Yorker" climbed to #46 in the UK. Ever since, various remixes of their earlier work pop up from time to time in new remixes, while the band tours in retro shows.
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
Here's the DJ LeLewel (aka Davoli) Mix that topped the dance chart in America...
Lastly, here's a taste of Martha Wash performing "Strike It Up" live on stage...
Up tomorrow: British new wavers are testing your limits.
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