Category: jheri curl june

  • Jheri Curl June: Carrie Lucas’ “Men”

    Carrie Lucas began her career as a backup singer for the Whispers before signing to SOLAR Records. While she didn’t have any breakout hits during her solo career, 1982’s Still in Love is a Jheri Curl classic which includes a song produced by Nicholas Caldwell of the Whispers, as well as today’s Jheri Curl June…

  • Jheri Curl June: Sinnamon’s “Thanks to You”

    Each June, we set aside a week to celebrate the women of Jheri Curl Music. This year, we’re kicking off Jheri Curl June Ladies’ Week with not one, but three women: Melissa Bell, Marsha Carter, and Barbara Fowler, who together comprised the vocal trio Sinnamon. Sinnamon’s 1982 single, “Thanks to You,” is a certified Jheri…

  • Jheri Curl June: Ashford & Simpson’s “Outta the World”

    It’s honestly shocking to me that in the six-year run of Jheri Curl June, we’ve never covered Ashford & Simpson, the ultimate soul music couple. Ashford & Simpson are what Jheri Curl June inductees René & Angela aspired to look like: a powerhouse singer-songwriter married couple. Beginning their careers as successful songwriters, Nickolas Ashford and Valerie…

  • Jheri Curl June: J.M. Black’s “Lipstick (Shout!)”

    For this penultimate post in Week 2 of Jheri Curl June VIbe, I thought I’d highlight another piece of International Jheri Curl. This time, our world tour takes us to France: a country with a vibrant post-disco and boogie scene documented by Born Bad Records’ excellent Chébran compilations. One of the highlights of Chébran Volume…

  • Jheri Curl June: James Ingram’s “Party Animal”

    Earlier this year when we lost James Ingram, I took that as an opportunity to delve deeper into his music. Although I was aware that he was an accomplished singer and songwriter, I was mainly familiar with “Yah Mo B There” and the fact that he helped turn “P.Y.T.” by Michael Jackson into the undisputed…

  • Jheri Curl June: DeBarge’s “Be My Lady”

    We at Dystopian Dance Party are, to put it mildly, super fucking hyped about the Bobby DeBarge biopic premiering later this month on TVOne: it’s basically the equivalent of Avengers: Endgame for fans of bad music movies, Jheri Curl Cinema, and/or Party City wigs. Since the movie is airing during the High Holy Month of…

  • Jheri Curl June: Michael Wycoff’s “On the Line”

    Today’s Jheri Curl June inductee, Michael Wycoff, was a backup singer on Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, as well as a contributor to some of 7th Wonder’s and Natalie Cole’s albums. In 1980 he began releasing solo albums, but it wasn’t until 1983’s On the Line that he fully embraced the Jheri.…

  • Jheri Curl June: Hitomi Tohyama’s “Wanna Kiss”

    Every year for Jheri Curl June, we go a little further out into the roots and branches of the genre. This year, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at some of the more far-flung examples of Jheri Curl Music from around the world: International Jheri Curl, if you will. One such…

  • Jheri Curl June: Larry Graham’s “Sooner or Later”

    Listen, I have been sitting on this Jheri Jam for a whole year, sustaining multiple burns on my ass from trying to contain this hot track. But, before we get into that, LOOK AT THAT ALBUM COVER. Larry Graham peeks out from a hot pink, palm-leafed environment, popping his collar and looking like Magnum motherfuckin’…

  • Jheri Curl June: Cameo’s “Flirt”

    It’s a testament to the depth and breadth of Jheri Curl Music that in five Jheri Curl Junes, only two bands have been featured repeatedly: Slave (with 2015’s “Watching You” and 2017’s “Turn You Out”) and the Gap Band (who kicked off 2015 with “You Dropped a Bomb on Me,” followed by last year’s “Disrespect”).…