Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. was an American soul and R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer. Throughout his career, he achieved eleven consecutive RIAA-certified platinum albums and sold over 40 million records worldwide. Known as the "Velvet Voice", Vandross has been recognized as one of the 200 greatest singers of all time (2023) by Rolling Stone, as well as one of the greatest R&B artists by Billboard. In addition, NPR named him one of the 50 Great Voices. He was the recipient of eight Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year in 2004 for a track recorded not long before his death, "Dance with My Father". In 2021, he was posthumously inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.
James Sclavunos is an American drummer, multi-instrumentalist musician, record producer, and writer. He is best known as a drummer, having been a member of two seminal no wave groups in the late 1970s. He is also noted for stints in Sonic Youth and the Cramps, and has been a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds since 1994. Sclavunos has led his own group the Vanity Set since 2000.
Walt Disney Records is an American record label of the Disney Music Group. The label releases soundtrack albums from The Walt Disney Company's motion picture studios, television series, theme parks, and traditional studio albums produced by its roster of pop, teen pop, and country artists.
David Stephen Koz is an American saxophonist, composer, record producer, and radio personality based in California.
Denise Katrina Matthews, known professionally as Vanity, was a Canadian singer, model, and actress. Known for her image as a sex symbol in the 1980s, she became an evangelist and renounced her career as Vanity in the 1990s.
United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B.
James Samuel "Jimmy Jam" Harris III and Terry Steven Lewis are an American R&B/pop songwriting and record production team. They have enjoyed great success since the 1980s with various artists, most intensively with Janet Jackson. They have written 31 top ten hits in the UK and 41 in the US. In 2022, the duo were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Musical Excellence category.
The Time, also known as Morris Day and the Time and The Original 7ven, is an American funk rock band founded in Minneapolis in 1981. They contributed to the development of the Minneapolis sound, an eclectic fusion of funk, R&B, new wave, synth-pop and dance. Led by singer-songwriter Morris Day, the band members are known for having been close associates of musician Prince, and are arguably the most successful artists who have worked with him, achieving success with singles such as "Get It Up", "The Bird", "Cool", "777-9311", "Jungle Love" and "Jerk Out".
The Jackson 5ive was a Saturday morning cartoon series that aired on ABC from September 11, 1971, to October 14, 1972. Produced by Rankin/Bass and Motown Productions, it is a fictionalized portrayal of the careers of Motown recording group the Jackson 5. The series was rebroadcast in syndication in 1984–85, during a period when Michael Jackson was riding a major wave of popularity as a solo artist. It also briefly re-aired in 1999 on TV Land as part of their "Super Retrovision Saturdaze" lineup. The series was animated mainly in London at the studios of Halas and Batchelor, and some animation done at Estudios Moro and Topcraft.
Action Jackson is a 1988 American action film directed by Craig R. Baxley, produced by Joel Silver, and starring Carl Weathers, Vanity, Sharon Stone and Craig T. Nelson. Weathers portrays the title role of Jericho "Action" Jackson, a Detroit Police detective investigation a corrupt auto magnate (Nelson). The musical score was composed by Herbie Hancock and Michael Kamen.
Dream Street is the second studio album by American musician Janet Jackson, released on October 23, 1984, by A&M Records. More pop than her debut album's "bubblegum soul" feel, the album was not the runaway success that Janet's father Joseph thought it would be, peaking at No. 147 on the Billboard 200 in 1984. The album did have one modest hit for Jackson, the Top 10 R&B single, "Don't Stand Another Chance", produced by brother Marlon. Also, the video for the song "Dream Street", her first music video, was shot during the shooting of the TV show Fame.
Garry George "Jellybean" Johnson is an American drummer, guitarist, songwriter, producer and musician based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. As the drummer for The Time, Johnson worked alongside famed producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and recorded with and/or produced many notable artists including Alexander O'Neal, Cherrelle, New Edition and Janet Jackson, with whom he had the 1990 #1 single, "Black Cat".
Jesse Harris is an American singer-songwriter, producer, and guitarist. He has worked with Norah Jones, Melody Gardot, Madeleine Peyroux, Nikki Yanofsky, and Lizz Wright.
Jesse Woods Johnson is an American musician best known as the guitarist in the original 1981 lineup of The Time.
Zinny J. Zan is a Swedish rock/glam metal singer who is the former lead-singer for Shotgun Messiah and is currently the founder and frontman for Zan Clan and reunited Easy Action.
"Fast Girls" is a song by Janet Jackson and is the second and final single released from Dream Street. It peaked at #40 on the R&B charts. The song was written and produced by fellow A&M artist Jesse Johnson.
Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers are New York–based songwriters and record producers. They have produced hits for Ruben Studdard, Wild Orchid, Christina Aguilera and Evelyn Champagne King and helped build the career of Rihanna. In addition to being principals of Rihanna's production company SRP Music Group, they have achieved more than twenty top 40 hits, twelve top 5 hits and six BMI Awards. Their songs have sold more than 60 million albums around the world.
Carl Eugene Jackson is an American country and bluegrass musician. Jackson's first Grammy was awarded in 1992 for his duet album with John Starling titled "Spring Training." In 2003 Jackson produced the Grammy Award-winning CD titled Livin', Lovin', Losin': Songs of the Louvin Brothers – a tribute to Ira and Charlie Louvin. He also recorded one of the songs on the CD, a collection of duets featuring such artists as James Taylor, Alison Krauss, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, and others.
Tony Haynes is an American lyricist, songwriter, poet, music publisher, producer and author. Over the last four decades he has written lyrics to melodies composed by the biggest names in R&B and pop music. He has also authored children's books and produced children's music based on some of the most successful animated characters.
"Undress Me" is a 1988 song by the American R&B/pop singer and actress Vanity, released as a promotional single to support her then up-coming album which was never released. The track is from the 1988 movie soundtrack, Action Jackson which stars Vanity with Carl Weathers and Craig T. Nelson. "Undress" was produced and arranged by the former The Time member and musician Jesse Johnson.
