Full Force rose to prominence in the mid-’80s, writing and producing popular R&B hits for Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam before embarking on a moderately successful solo career that ultimately led them back to production work in the late ’90s. The six-man collective — featuring Paul Anthony, Bowlegged Lou, B-Fine, Baby Gerry, Shy Shy, and Curt-t-t — originated in Brooklyn, NY, where they originally met up with Steve Salem in the late ’70s, a business-savvy individual who functioned as their manager. With a manager in place and plenty of talent between the various group members, Full Force struggled throughout the early ’80s to find a label willing to sign them. Eventually they got a break when they wrote and produced fellow Brooklyn group U.T.F.O.’s “Roxanne Roxanne,” a rap song that would attain a certain level of fame thanks to a series of answer records. In early 1985, the single peaked at number ten on Billboard’s R&B charts, proving a substantial hit for both the rap group and the production team. From there, Full Force moved onto their next major success with Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, a dance-pop group led by a 16-year-old singer named Lisa Velez. Originally Velez had auditioned for the production team, who then went ahead and recorded “I Wonder if I Take You Home” with her, releasing the single under the moniker Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam With Full Force on an indie New York label, Personal. The song scored success initially overseas before eventually being released by Columbia in the U.S. after getting immense play in New York clubs as an import single. Almost overnight, the song topped Billboard’s dance chart and went on to peak at number six on the R&B chart by summer 1985. Thanks to the momentum surrounding the hit single, Full Force signed a deal with Columbia to release solo material. Though they scored some minor R&B hits on their own (“Temporary Love Thing,” “Unfaithful So Much,” “All in My Mind”), their biggest success continued to be as a production team for Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam (“All Cried Out,” “Head to Toe,” “Lost in Emotion”). In 1988, Full Force produced James Brown’s I’m Real, scoring a substantial hit for the struggling legend with the album’s title track, and worked with a number of late-’80s dance-pop stars: Jasmine Guy, Cheryl Pepsii Riley, and Samantha Fox, among others. Throughout the early and mid-’90s, the production team remained relatively quiet before again churning out a number of late-’90s R&B-flavored pop hits with Selena, Backstreet Boys, and LFO, among others.
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Dennis Taylor – Unconditional 2001 16 Jan 2011
Dennis Taylor (born in Brooklyn, New York) is a soul singer and performer, best-known in the UK. As a child, Dennis was singing as part of a church choir in Brooklyn at the age of 7, but later moved to Virginia, and signed up to the US Air Force at 18, with whom he served for six years. Taylor then returned to New [...]
Dazzle – Soul Sisters 1989 10 Jan 2011
Harlesden is an area of North West London that is synonymous with great, British black music. The Jet Star organisation that distributes reggae all around the UK is based there, the reggae label Hawkeye has a shop there too, and venues the Apollo and the Coliseum were two of the first in the UK to [...]
Various Artist – The Hits Of Sir Lloyd 1990 3 Jan 2011
From the reggae album titled The Hits Of Sir Lloyd 1990 comes the classic tune It May Be Winter Outside Feat. Alex Charles.
New Edition – All For Love 1985 18 Dec 2010
All for Love is third studio album from Grammy-nominated R&B/Pop quintet New Edition, released by MCA Records on November 8, 1985. This would be group member’s Bobby Brown last album with the group until their 1996 comeback album, Home Again. By spring 1985, New Edition were one of the biggest pop acts in the world after the success of their self-titled second album released the year before. [...]
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