Author: zachary.hoskins@gmail.com

  • Jheri Curl June: Samantha Fox’s “Naughty Girls Need Love Too”

    Samantha Fox began her career as a glamour model in 1983, but by the mid-’80s had made the natural transition to pop music. After the success of her debut album, 1985’s Touch Me, Fox returned to the studio to record her self-titled sophomore album, which further expands on her bad girl image. Fox enlisted the help…

  • Jheri Curl June: Starpoint’s “Object of My Desire”

    I’ll be the first to admit: when it comes to jheri curl music’s holy trinity of “Star” groups (Midnight Star, Starpoint, and Atlantic Starr, in case you had to ask), Starpoint is probably my least favorite. But now that I live in the D.C./Maryland/Virginia metro area, I feel that it’s important to give them some love–if only…

  • Jheri Curl June: Tina Turner’s “Better Be Good to Me”

    After four solo albums–two after her split with musical partner and husband Ike Turner–1984’s Private Dancer would solidify Tina Turner as a solo act and superstar. It also proved to be the debut of the fright wig that would become a signature style for Ms. Turner through the rest of the 1980s. Tina’s cover of the short-lived New York City-based group Spider’s…

  • Jheri Curl June: Patrice Rushen’s “Breakout!”

    Like several of the other artists we’ve been discussing this year, vocalist and keyboardist Patrice Rushen had a significant career before jheri curl (B.J.C.). She recorded three well-regarded albums for jazz imprint Prestige Records in the 1970s before switching over to R&B with 1978’s Patrice—a move that, perhaps understandably, alienated much of her existing fanbase. That same…

  • Jheri Curl June: René & Angela’s “I’ll Be Good”

    Musical duo René Moore and Angela Winbush had released three albums before they finally reached commercial success with 1985’s A Street Called Desire, which contained the hit single “I’ll Be Good.” Sadly, René and Angela were not good to each other, and ended their nine-year musical partnership in a mess of legal battles and physical abuse less than a…

  • Jheri Curl June: The Isley Brothers’ “Between the Sheets”

    Yesterday we talked about the O.G. Bootsy Collins‘ dabble in Jheri Curl. Today we’re looking at yet another Ohio group with a decades-spanning career, the Isley Brothers. Formed in 1954 as a gospel group, the Isley Brothers had been making hits since the ’60s, successfully adapting their sound to suit the changing musical scenes. By the ’80s, it…

  • Jheri Curl June: Bootsy’s Rubber Band’s “Body Slam”

    When it comes to jheri curl music, Bootsy Collins probably isn’t the first name that comes to anyone’s mind. In fact, he and the rest of the Parliament–Funkadelic cohort were practically the antithesis of the Jheri-Curl ethos: their aesthetic was gritty, not glossy; psychedelic posters and underground comix, not neon and Patrick Nagel; weed and…

  • Our New Sister Site: dance / music / sex / romance

    Just a brief interruption of the Jheri Curl June festivities to note that I’ve launched a new sister site for Dystopian Dance Party on its own domain (princesongs.org). The blog is called dance / music / sex / romance, and is a chronological, song-by-song exploration of the music of Prince: sort of like a much, much…

  • Jheri Curl June Special: L.A. Reid

    If you’re a regular Jheri Curl June reader, then you should already know that the first week of June holds special signifance in jheri curl music history. As we noted back in our very first Jheri Curl June Special of 2014, Prince’s birthday falls at the end of the week, on June 7. Just a…

  • Jheri Curl June: Lakeside’s “Turn the Music Up”

    Best known for their 1980 pop-funk hit “Fantastic Voyage,” Dayton, Ohio’s Lakeside were full-blown Jheri Curl by the release of 1983’s Untouchables, which included the single “Turn the Music Up.” There was even a music video expanding on the theme of the album artwork: members of Lakeside as 1920s Chicago gangsters, complete with tommy guns, in a speakeasy/disco…