Songoftheday 12/30/17 - First day we met my heart stood still, I never had a man like you and I doubt I ever will...
from the album Someone To Love Me (1990)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #40
Weeks in the Top-40: 1
Today's song of the day comes from the dance music act Jomanda, who hail from New Jersey, and got together in the late 1980's. Members Cheri Williams and Joanne Thomas were childhood friends, and then hooked up with Renee Washington to form the trio. Their first single, "Make My Body Rock", was a decent club hit, reaching #6 on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart in the States in 1989 and almost making the top-40 in the UK at #44. That was followed by "Don't You Want My Love", which also landed in the Dance Club top ten at #10 (and #67 in Britain). The next year, a third single release, "Share", also hit the Dance chart at #25, and led to the recording of their debut album Someone To Love Me. A front to back house music jam, the album featured their biggest success, the dancefloor classic "Got A Love For You". Written by Williams with the production team Ruffneck (Derek Jenkins, Dwayne Richardson, and Joel Washington) along with dance artist Cassio Ware from Newark, the pulsating bassline and vocal gymnastics of the group that were chopped up nicely on the breaks resulted in one of the most iconic singles of the genre...
"Got A Love For You" became Jomanda's sole top-40 pop hit, spending a week at the bottom rung in August of 1991. The song also climbed to #66 on Billboard's R&B chart, while the remixes on the 12" vinyl/CD single helped it spend a week at #1 on their Dance Club Play list. Internationally, the record went to #43 in the UK. A fifth release from the album, "The True Meaning Of Love", scored Jomanda a fourth top ten club hit at #7.
In 1992, British DJ/producer Felix reworked "Don't You Want My Love" into a new track, "Don't You Want Me", and took it and Jomanda again to #1 on the Dance Club Play chart in the U.S. It also was a huge international hit, reaching the top ten in Britain and all over Europe, and almost made the American pop chart, "bubbling under" at #110. And by transforming the song into a trance/rave anthem, gave a whole new audience for the group. With this momentum, the trio released a second album, Nubia Soul, in 1993. However, they went in a more R&B direction like the likes of SWV and Jade, and though the first single, a remake of Debarge's "I Like It", was their biggest R&B hit at #45, it stalled down at #83 on the pop Hot 100 (it did climb to #29 on the club chart). A second offering, "Back To You", slipped onto the R&B chart at #96 for a week, while another track from the album, a return to deep house music with "Never", became their sole top-40 hit in the UK at #40. Lastly, the single "I Cried The Tears", remixed by house music legend Ralphi Rosario, climbed up to #15 on the American dance chart in 1993.
They wouldn't release another album after that, but in 1995 the producers, along with Jomanda member Joanne Thomas (now renamed Yavahn), scored a #1 dance club hit with "Everybody Be Somebody". Then, their "Move Your Body" single hit #2 on that list for a week. Sadly, Thomas passed from cancer in 2003.
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
Here's the extended remix done by the house music great Steve "Silk" Hurley...
And the aptly-titled "Smoove Underground Mix" from the 12" single...
And finally, a really cool rare clip of Jomanda performing live in a club with their hits "Don't You Want My Love" and "Got A Love For You"...
Up tomorrow: We end the year with a Canadian singer (with some princely assistance) prays for romance.
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