Songoftheday 12/26/17 - Honey I'll stay up late for you and wait for your call, buzz me up at 5 AM and I don't mind at all...
from the album Natural Selection (1991)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 19
Today's song of the day comes from Natural Selection, who came together in the late 1980s in Minneapolis. Led by musician/producer Elliot Erickson and singer Frederick Thomas, the act was a local success until they released their self-titled debut album in 1991. The first single from the record, "Do Anything", was a slinkly mid-tempo dance-pop confection written by Erickson and Thomas, who did a passable Prince by way of Ready For The World impersonation. Originally, it was Ingrid Chavez cooing verses in the background, lifted from the parts of Madonna's "Justify My Life" that got Ingrid writer's credit, but in the final record it was actually Madge's back-up singer Niki Haris that got recording credit for the single. Haris had previously reached the pop chart earlier in the year with a collaboration with another connection with Madonna - remixer Jellybean, whose "What's It Gonna Be" hit #90 on the pop chart at #2 on the Dance Club Play list...
"Do Anything" became Natural Selection's first and biggest pop hit, climbing all the way to #2 on the American Top-40 in October of 1991. Internationally, the record reached the top ten in Australia (#10) and New Zealand (#9), climbed to #21 in Sweden and #26 in Canada, and went to #69 in the UK.
While the band scored a second top-40 pop hit, Haris hasn't as yet returned. However, she's landed a handful of club hits, where her gay fan base is substantial (given her Madonna link, no duh). In 1993, Niki sang lead on "Exterminate!", the Dr. Who-themed single from German dance group Snap!, and reached #29 on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart. She re-appeared again as the featured vocalist on "Let Me Hear The Music" from L.E.X. in 2006, which went to #3 on the dance chart. Three years later, Haris topped the Dance Club list with the Perry Twins on "Bad, Bad Boy". That same year, she hit #5 with a remake of "This Time Baby" with Eddie X. Most recently, in 2014 Niki and DJ John LePage peaked at #21 with "Not Enough".
Up tomorrow: Pop diva returns with feelings.
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