The Weather Girls are an American musical duo. Formed in San Francisco, California in 1977 as Two Tons O' Fun, the duo, consisting of singers Izora Armstead and Martha Wash, originally served as Sylvester's backup singers. Later changing their name to The Two Tons and finally The Weather Girls, the duo reached their peak in popularity in 1982 with the international hit "It's Raining Men", which sold 6 over million copies worldwide and was included the following year in their album Success.
The duo disbanded in 1988; however, Armstead premiered a new version of The Weather Girls in 1990, together with her daughter Dynelle Rhodes. Following Armstead's death in 2004, the duo has no original members left. The group consist now of Dynelle Rhodes and Dorrey Lynn Lyles.
Video The Weather Girls
Career
The original members of the group were Martha Wash and Izora Rhodes (later known by her married name, Izora Armstead). Though the mainstream pop market considers the team a one-hit wonder for "It's Raining Men" (though the song did not make the Top 40 in the US, peaking at #46 on the Billboard Hot 100), they recorded three songs which peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart under the "Two Tons o' Fun" name: "Earth Can Be Just Like Heaven" (1980); "Just Us" (1980 and also made #29 on the US R&B chart); and the Hi-NRG song "I Got the Feeling" in 1981. They were brought together by Sylvester as his backing group (from 1977 to 1981), who also gave them the name 'Two Tons O' Fun.' They are best known for their 1982 #1 club and pop hit, "It's Raining Men", the recording of which music producer Paul Jabara supervised and from which the name "The Weather Girls" was derived. After the success of "It's Raining Men", other hits by the original line-up (which adopted the Weather Girls moniker permanently after the hit) included "Dear Santa (Bring Me a Man this Christmas)", for which, as with "It's Raining Men", an accompanying music video was made, and "No One Can Love You More Than Me." In total, Wash and Rhodes released 5 albums overall, 2 albums recorded as Two Tons (1980's Two Tons O' Fun and 1981's Backatcha) and a further 3 albums as The Weather Girls (the 1982 album Success, 1985's Big Girls Don't Cry and 1988's The Weather Girls.)
The group disbanded in 1988 following the release of their self-titled album, while Wash moved on to a solo career that continues into the present day. Wash sang uncredited lead vocals on the songs "Everybody, Everybody", "Strike It Up", "I Don't Know Anybody Else" and "Fantasy" for the group Black Box, and recorded with C+C Music Factory at the peak of that band's popularity in the early 1990s, including uncredited vocals on their #1 hit "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now!)". Martha Wash successfully sued the record labels behind Black Box and C+C Music Factory for the unlawful use of her voice, which was mimed in videos and "live" appearances by model Katrin Quinol and singer Zelma Davis respectively. Her legal action led to new legislation that requires all vocals contributions to be credited, while Wash released a self-titled solo album on RCA records in 1992 as part of that legal settlement, which included the club hits "Carry On" and "Give It To You". Wash also returned to C+C Music Factory for their 1994 album "Anything Goes", sharing credited vocals on the track (and video) "Do You Wanna Get Funky?" with Zelma Davis, as well as the tracks "Takin' Over", "Bounce To The Beat (Can U Dig It)" and the single-only b-side "I Found Love (C+C Club Mix)". A string of solo club singles also followed, including the 1996 single "Keep On Jumpin'" recorded with vocalist Jocelyn Brown and producer Todd Terry, and the singles "Catch The Light", "Come" and a re-make of "It's Raining Men" (featuring RuPaul) for her 1998 greatest hits album, "The Collection".
With Martha Wash pursuing a solo career, Izora Armstead moved to Germany in the early 1990s where she and her daughter Dynelle Rhodes re-formed The Weather Girls, releasing 3 albums - "Double Tons of Fun" (1993, featuring the singles "Party" and "We Shall All Be Free"), "Think Big!" (1995) and "Puttin' On The Hits" (1998), and touring extensively throughout Europe. Band Members 1998-2000: Joan Faukner, (Backing Vocals) Loomis Green,(Guitar) Steve Hooks, (Saxophone/Flute) Daryl Haynes, (Saxophone) Konrad Orlowski, (Keyboards) Daryl Taylor, (Bass) Dicarlo, (Drums)' In 2002, they joined the "Disco Brothers" for a participation in the German National Final for the Eurovision Song Contest, with their song "Get Up". In the end, the group only managed a 13th place out of 15. Their final single, the non-album track "Big Brown Girl", was released in 2004.
Izora Armstead died of heart failure on September 16, 2004, at age 62. The Weather Girls (now composed of Dynelle Rhodes and her cousin Ingrid Arthur) released a new album, Totally Wild, in late 2005. It scored an underground club hit with the single "Wild Thang."
Maps The Weather Girls
Discography
Albums
Singles
See also
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
References
External links
- The Weather Girls at AllMusic
- official homepage (www.the-weathergirls.de) (german)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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