Category: jheri curl june

  • Jheri Curl June: Aurra’s “Make Up Your Mind”

    Dayton, Ohio’s Aurra began life as an offshoot of Jheri Curl June Class of 2015 and 2017 members Slave, led by multi-instrumentalist Steve Washington with guitarist and singer Curt Jones, singer Starleana Young, and arranger/multi-instrumentalist Charles Carter all in tow. By their third album, 1982’s A Little Love, Carter had departed (replaced by a whole mess of synthesizers)…

  • Jheri Curl June: Mandrill’s “Get It While It’s Hot”

    We begin our fifth year of Jheri Curl June with Mandrill: a group from Brooklyn, New York that had existed for over a decade before embracing the slick, seductive sound of Jheri Curl Music. Like Jheri Curl June veterans Kool & The Gang, Mandrill began as a large funk outfit with latin and jazz influences.…

  • Podcast: Jheri Curl June 2K18

    This year marks our fifth annual Jheri Curl June, and we’re going to make it a thing or die trying. Join us as we define the Jheri Curl Music genre and share our picks for the most essential tracks; then, starting Monday, we’ll formally kick off the month-long celebration of wet, silky ’80s R&B. Oh,…

  • Jheri Curl June: El DeBarge’s “Real Love”

    The last week of Jheri Curl June is always a story of decline, and this year’s is no exception: like yesterday’s song by After 7, today’s closing track is more New Jack Swing with a residual curl than it is JCM proper. Hell, El DeBarge even appeared on the cover of its parent album, Gemini, with…

  • Jheri Curl June: After 7’s “In the Heat of the Moment”

    After 7 were formed in 1988, just in time to partake in Jheri Curl Music’s swan song before the genre gave way to the emerging New Jack Swing style. The group consisted of Kevon and Melvin Edmonds–brothers of singer, songwriter, and Jheri Curl June inductee Babyface–as well as Keith Mitchell, who was (incorrectly) rumored to be…

  • Jheri Curl June: R.J.’s Latest Arrival’s “Off the Hook (With Your Love)”

    The first time I encountered a record by R.J.’s Latest Arrival, it was in a bargain bin at 2nd & Charles in Woodbridge, Virginia. The moment I saw their 1986 album Hold On, with its mid-’80s barbershop’s assortment of jheri curls on the back cover, I knew I had to have it (it helped that it cost…

  • Jheri Curl June: Terence Trent D’Arby’s “Let’s Go Forward”

    The fact that Sananda Maitreya, the artist formerly known as Terence Trent D’Arby, was not considered for Jheri Curl June until our fourth year is surprising. Of course, his music isn’t Jheri Curl proper–few artists were, by the end of the ’80s–but the influence of Michael Jackson and Prince is particularly obvious. Introducing the Hardline According to Terence…

  • Jheri Curl June: Jermaine Stewart’s “Jody”

    This month is of course not only the holiest month on the Dystopian Dance Party calendar, but also Pride Month for the LGBT community, commemorating the Stonewall uprisings of June 1969. So I thought today was as good a time as any to talk about one of our favorite LGBT Jheri Curl artists (LGBTJC?), Jermaine Stewart. Stewart…

  • Jheri Curl June: Exposé’s “Point of No Return”

    Formed by Miami D.J. Lewis Martinée, Exposé originally released their first single, “Point of No Return,” in 1984. However, during the recording of their debut album, Exposure, the group’s lineup completely changed. Thus, “Point of No Return” was re-recorded and re-released in 1987. Although Exposé exemplified Miami freestyle, “Point of No Return” stands out as particularly Jheri Curl–most…

  • Jheri Curl June: The Jets’ “Crush on You”

    This Jheri Curl June, we’ve unsurprisingly talked a fair amount about artists from Minneapolis; but most of those artists–again, unsurprisingly–had a direct connection to the artist from Minneapolis, Prince. The Jets are a rare example of a Twin Cities R&B group from the mid-’80s that didn’t have the Purple One pulling the strings from behind the scenes.…