Category: jheri curl june
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Jheri Curl June: dáKRASH’s “Wasn’t I Good to Ya?”
In one of the first posts for Jheri Curl June this year, Callie talked about how the Minneapolis Sound sprawled out from its chief originator, Prince, to encompass all kinds of solo and side projects by his ex-associates. Today, we close our last full week of the month with one of those side projects: a little-known group called dáKRASH, assembled and…
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Jheri Curl Cinema: Moonwalker (1988)
Like most human measures of time, Jheri Curl June is intimately tied to the cycles of birth and death. The month opens with the birthdays of two of jheri curl music’s greatest architects, Prince and Jimmy Jam, and closes with the anniversary of the death of its most anointed practitioner, Michael Jackson. So, since we…
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Jheri Curl June: Billy Ocean’s “Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car”
Back on the second day of Jheri Curl June, we talked about Slave‘s romantic stalker anthem “Watching You.” Today, we revisit the theme of benign-sounding pop songs that, upon closer examination, are actually about harassing women, with Billy Ocean’s “Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car.” Now, before you start categorizing me as a…
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Jheri Curl June: Shalamar’s “Imaginary Love”
By 1987, Shalamar’s classic lineup of Howard Hewett, Jody Watley, and Jeffrey Daniel had disbanded. The lineup for Shalamar’s ninth studio album, Circumstantial Evidence, consisted of Sidney Justin, a former backup singer for the group who replaced Hewett when he left in 1985 to pursue his solo career; DeLisa Davis, who auditioned to replace Watley after her…
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Jheri Curl June: LeVert’s “Casanova”
Well, here we are: the last full week of Jheri Curl June. Since we try to go in rough chronological order, this is the week when things start to get a little tricky: as we went over last year, the latter half of the ’80s was a period of decline for jheri curl music, as…
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Jheri Curl June: Jody Watley’s “Still a Thrill”
One of my favorite things about researching and writing for Jheri Curl June is the complex web of connections between the various artists within the genre. Today’s selection, Chicago‘s Jody Watley, is no exception. Naturally, as with most things jheri curl, many roads lead back to Minneapolis: Watley’s 1987 solo debut was co-produced by Prince‘s…
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Jheri Curl June: Nu Shooz’ “I Can’t Wait”
Today’s installment of JCJ Ladies’ Week is also a story about the interesting cross-pollination of regional and global influences during the late jheri curl era. It begins in Portland, Oregon–a city better known at the time for its hardcore punk scene than for jheri curl music–where husband-and-wife team Valerie Day and John Smith formed Nu…
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Jheri Curl June: Grace Jones’ “I’m Not Perfect (But I’m Perfect for You)”
For our second day of JCJ Ladies’ Week, we’ll be looking at a mid-’80s track by Grace Jones. The Jamaican-born style icon is probably best known for her androgynous looks and outlandish behavior, but she is in fact a prolific model, actor, and musical artist. “I’m Not Perfect (But I’m Perfect for You),” from Jones’ 1986…
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Jheri Curl June: Teena Marie’s “Lovergirl”
Just like we did last year, we wanted to take a week out of Jheri Curl June to spotlight the important contributions made by women artists to the genre. And how better to kick off our second annual JCJ Ladies’ Week than with the Ivory Queen of Soul herself, Teena Marie? Initially a protégé of Jheri…