On September 24, Dick Griffey, the founder of Solar Records, passed away. The influential soul/disco label he founded (an acronym for Sound of Los Angeles Records) brought us unforgettable tunes from Shalamar, The Whispers, Lakeside, Midnight Star, and Klymaxx. Also getting their start thanks to Griffey were Antonio “L.A.” Reid and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, first as members of R&B band The Deele (which Griffey managed), and then branching out behind the scenes for acts on the Solar roster.
Writing and producing “Rock Steady” for The Whispers, the pair handed them their second R&B #1 (the veteran vocal group’s first since 1980’s “And The Beat Goes On”). With a hard-hitting programmed drum beat, the song was an early entry in the nascent new jack swing genre, in which L.A. and Babyface would both be major players (alongside fellow producer Teddy Riley and Andre Harrell of Uptown Records). Besides being embraced by R&B fans, “Rock Steady” was also The Whispers’ highest-charting pop single, reaching #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 29, 1987.
Klymaxx was an all-girl band that released two albums on Solar before moving to Constellation, another Dick Griffey imprint, in 1984. The ladies exerted more control over their career and sound on their next release, and Meeting In The Ladies Room gave Klymaxx the breakthrough success that had previously eluded them.
While everyone knows the ballad “I Miss You” and likely the title track too, it was “The Men All Pause” that was picked as the lead single. Produced by Klymaxx’s Midnight Star labelmates Reggie and Vincent Calloway and Bo Watson, the song remains a fave. It’s also historically signficant to me because my sister brought home the 12″ single for “The Men All Pause,” giving me my first exposure to the format and opening up a whole new world of extended versions and remixes (and yet another obsession). My dad, always ready with a joke, enjoyed singing the title as “Men-o-pause.”
In its edited form, “The Men All Pause” only charted as high as #80 on the Hot 100, but brimming with extra sass, the extended version got more attention from the dance floor, giving the fierce sisters a #9 showing on the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Mix chart (and probably enough cash for every member of Klymaxx to fill her closet with her choice of Kenneth Cole shoes). Hear here:
If you’ve never seen the Saturday Night Live sketch about Klymaxx, which popped up decades after the group was ever popular, try to track it down. Halle Berry plays the group’s vocalist/drummer, Bernadette Cooper, and the bit was one of the show’s left-field genius moments that’s all too rare.
Purchase Klymaxx – “The Men All Pause” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.
