I wasn't aware of Jody Watley growing up but I when I first saw her I remember thinking she looked like Whitney with a Janet aesthetic lmao. I forgot to add Karyn White to the list of divas, she released some great music around that time and actually married Terry Lewis.
Jody actually had been around longer than the rest of the pack as she was one of the vocalists in Shalamar in the late 70s/early 80s (The Second Time Around, A Night To Remember, etc...) and she even appeared on "Do They Know It's Christmas" as Shalamar were far more popular in the UK than US. Although like Janet found big success with Jam and Lewis, Jody owed a lot of her solo success to another former Prince associate, Andre Cymone (who had been in his band circa 1980-1981) who brought to her his own brand of Minneapolis. I liked Karyn too but she seemed to fade so much quicker (and she's still a few months away)
Jody did well until she and Andre made so many outlandish demands of MCA that they just gave up promoting or trying to work with them. I’ve heard this story from multiple label employees over the years so there must be some truth to it. It didn’t help that her third album came out right at the moment - Xmas 91 -where her type of dance pop fell out of favor with radio. The chart positions for all those girls - Taylor, Pebbles, Paula, Karyn, Expose, - all started tapering downward. All of them were dropped by majors by the close of 95. To this day Jody will call out any fan on Facebook who tries to diminish her accomplishments or tell her she didn’t do it first. Janet & Madonna lasted by pivoting to a more urban flavored sound for a few years.
The ego is still there. On her YouTube channel she referred to herself as Billboard's top female artist and top dance artist. WTF lmao
Not sure what "time hasn't been too kind to" means. I'll take Jody's best songs over anything Paula or Gloria did! I still dig the Watley hits!
I saw Watley live in early 2020 - my 2nd to last pre-COVID concert! I could see indications of an ego there. She put on a fairly fun show but she definitely had an attitude that smelled of diva!
Anything For You Pretty song. I liked Gloria Estefan but preferred her uptempo numbers. Still a nice ballad - Gloria has a excellent voice. Fun Fact: My wife and I have stayed at the Cardozo hotel on Miami Beach. And, we used to eat at Bongos Cuban restaurant every time we went to Disney World. Both are owned by Gloria Estefan. Sadly, Bongos closed a few years ago,
I love Shalamar and have their biggest albums. Don't forget that Howard Hewitt was also a member of Shalamar and stayed with it the longest.
Just wanted to give some recognition to the song that "Anything For You" and the next #1 prevented from reaching the top. It moved up to #2 during "Anything For You"'s 1st week at #1, dropped a notch to #3 the following week while still retaining its bullet, then moved back up to #2 for 2 more weeks whilst losing its bullet. I would have given this song 1 or maybe 2 weeks of the next #1's time at the top. Unfortunately, It didn't even get #1 status in Cashbox (#3) or Radio & Records (#2 for 2 weeks). It did, however, go to #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
Gloria honestly falls more into the AC side than the rest, even her upbeat songs were mostly safe enough for VH1 and soft rock stations. I like her but shes probably closer to Celine stylistically than Watley/Abdul/Pebbles
Shattered Dreams is a great song! Such a shame it didn’t reach the top spot. They were only around briefly, but Johnny Hates Jazz had a successful run there for a minute. This was a big hit here in 1987.
"I Don't Want To Be A Hero" scraped the lower part of the Top 40 in the US and "Turn Back The Clock", although released as a single and reaching #5 on the Adult Contemporary chart, failed to chart on the Hot 100 completely.
Wishing Well : Fantastic production on this one. Anything For You : It's nice for what it is and it had its audience. It just doesn't move me. That's all.
Shattered Dreams is one of the ultimate "sophistipop" songs I can think of. Was surprised they dropped off so quickly after the followup single only made the lower rung of the top 40, but I found out the lead singer had bailed to do a solo thing so the followup had a new singer and went nowhere (the debut album went to #1 in the UK, the second album didn't even chart). Looks like the original lineup mended fences and have done music in more recent years but looks mostly relegated to 80s nostalgia circuits
There were also two videos for Shattered Dreams, the black and white US version was made later and had the lead singer trying for a George Michael stubble thing compared to the original version.
Sophistipop acts like the clumsily named Curiosity Killed the Cat found a limited audience here. They were up against a tide of material we all currently malign, but the majority of the public interest favored hair metal, all things Jackson (even Jermaine managed a hit or two in our timeline), and divas - Whitney Houston, Madonna, Cher's racy new comeback. Occasionally, we'd get a number from Swing Out Sister or Johnny Hates Jazz (why did they all seem to incorporate complete sentences as their group identity???) with mass appeal, but it was people like me driving those sales Stateside. CKtC managed to send the single before this, "Misfit", to #42 in 1987, if I'm not mistaken. This song would fail to chart. It's the first time I've seen the video...which is very much of its time.
I wasn't a die-hard viewer of MTV, but music videos were inescapable as a 20-something in the late 80's. I THOUGHT I IMAGINED THAT! I liked the song and heard it come on, so I went into the living room at a party and saw the B&W video. I said, "They redid this. It used to be in color." Nobody believed me. I'd put it out of my mind until now, so thanks for that! Now...to track down the people from that 1988 kegger...
She was big for a little while on the AC Chart, but this song would go on to hit #1 on the R&B chart, her only chart topper there, I believe.
Sade's the type of artist who can drop a new album tomorrow and still go in #1 on the charts. They take an eternity between eras but the fans are always there
