Boys Club was a pop duo consisting of Eugene Wolfgramm (Gene Hunt) and Joe Pasquale from Minneapolis, Minnesota and was created and put together by Don Hunter Powell. They had a big hit with "I Remember Holding You" in 1989, which peaked at #8 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. [1] Throughout the greater part of Minnesota, Boys Club was also regarded as "Minnesota's version of Wham!".[ citation needed ] "I Remember Holding You" was their only song to reach the Billboard Hot 100,[ citation needed ] making them a one-hit wonder. Their second single, "The Loneliest Heart" peaked at #39 on the US Adult Contemporary chart a few months after "I Remember Holding You" had peaked at #4 on the same chart.
In radio interviews conducted during the height of their success, both Hunt and Pasquale stated that one of their primary musical influences was George Michael, and more specifically, the work Michael did during the Wham! years. "The way he arranged songs and melodies was quite unique and we tried to emulate that with our own music," Hunt was quoted as saying during one of those early interviews.
Boys Club was the first recording artist to appear on the All-New Mickey Mouse Club as a musical guest during the first episode.
Hunt was previously a member of the family group The Jets.
In 1990, Hunt briefly reunited with The Jets to record four new tracks for The Best of The Jets (1990). He was featured on the cover and inside album sleeve, and he appeared in the "Special Kinda Love" music video.
Hunt passed away on April 15th, 2024.
George Michael was an English singer-songwriter, record producer and philanthropist. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the best-selling musicians of all time, with his sales estimated at between 100 million to 125 million records worldwide. Michael was known as a creative force in songwriting, vocal performance, and visual presentation. He achieved 10 number-one songs on the US Billboard Hot 100 and 13 number-one songs on the UK Singles Chart. Michael won numerous music awards, including two Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards, and four MTV Video Music Awards. He was listed among Billboard's the "Greatest Hot 100 Artists of All Time" and Rolling Stone's the "200 Greatest Singers of All Time". The Radio Academy named him the most played artist on British radio during the period 1984–2004. Michael was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023.
Marta Marrero, better known by her stage name Martika, is an American pop singer and actress. She released two internationally successful albums in the late 1980s and early 1990s, which sold over four million copies worldwide. Her biggest hit was "Toy Soldiers", which peaked at #1 for two weeks on the American chart in mid-1989. She is also known for her role as Gloria on Kids Incorporated.
Deborah Ann Gibson is an American singer, songwriter, and actress.
New jack swing, new jack, or swingbeat is a fusion genre of the rhythms and production techniques of hip hop and dance-pop, and the urban contemporary sound of R&B. Spearheaded by producers Teddy Riley, Bernard Belle, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, new jack swing was most popular from the late 1980s to early 1990s.
Catherine Roseanne Dennis is a British singer, songwriter and record producer. She was discovered as a teenager by music manager Simon Fuller, which led to her featuring on the hit dance single "C'mon and Get My Love" with D Mob in 1989.
Diane Eve Warren is an American songwriter. She has won an Academy Honorary Award, Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards and three consecutive Billboard Music Awards for Songwriter of the Year from 1997 to 1999. She first gained recognition for her work on DeBarge's 1985 single "Rhythm of the Night". By the late 1980s, she joined the record label EMI, where she became the first songwriter in the history of Billboard magazine to have written seven hit songs, all of which by different artists, prompting EMI's UK Chairman Peter Reichardt to call her "the most important songwriter in the world".
Breathe were an English pop band formed in London in 1984. The band enjoyed chart success in the late 1980s and early 1990s with hit singles "Don't Tell Me Lies", "How Can I Fall?", and "Say a Prayer". The group's biggest hit was "Hands to Heaven", which reached #2 in the United States in August 1988.
"Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham! Written and produced by George Michael, it was released on 3 December 1984 via CBS Records internationally and as a double A-side via Epic Records with "Everything She Wants" in several European countries. The song has been covered by many artists since its original release, most notably by Whigfield, Crazy Frog, Billie Piper, Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande.
Jody Vanessa Watley is an American singer whose music crosses genres including pop, R&B, jazz, dance and electronic soul. During the late 1970s and early 1980s she was a member of the R&B/funk band Shalamar, who scored many hits, notably in the UK. In 1988, she won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist and has been nominated for three Grammy awards.
Faith is the debut solo studio album by the English singer George Michael, released on 30 October 1987 by Columbia Records and Epic Records. In addition to playing various instruments on the album, Michael wrote and produced every track on the recording except for one, "Look at Your Hands", which he co-wrote with David Austin. A pop album with influences of R&B, funk and soul music, Faith's songs include introspective lyrics, which generated controversies about Michael's personal relationships at that time.
Tevin Jermod Campbell is an American singer and songwriter. He performed gospel in his local church from an early age. Following an audition for jazz musician Bobbi Humphrey in 1988, Campbell was signed to Warner Bros. Records. In 1989, Campbell collaborated with Quincy Jones performing lead vocals for "Tomorrow" on Jones' album Back on the Block and released his Platinum-selling debut album, T.E.V.I.N. The album included his highest-charting single to date, "Tell Me What You Want Me to Do", peaking at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. The debut album also included the singles "Alone With You", and "Goodbye".
The Jets are a Tongan American family music group from Robbinsdale, a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Jets are composed of brothers and sisters LeRoy, Eddie, Eugene, Haini Wolfgramm, Rudy, Kathi, Elizabeth, and Moana Wolfgramm, who perform pop, R&B, and dance music. They started performing as a family band in 1977. The group enjoyed worldwide success in 1985–1990, performing three world tours, and producing five top-10 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100.
"Careless Whisper" is a song recorded by English singer-songwriter George Michael. Released as the second single from Wham!'s second studio album Make It Big (1984), it was written by Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, with Michael producing the song. Although the song was released as part of Make It Big, the single release is credited to either Wham! featuring George Michael or solely to George Michael.
"Freedom! '90" is a song written, produced, and performed by English singer-songwriter George Michael, and released by Columbia Records in October 1990. The "'90" added to the end of the title is to prevent confusion with a hit by Michael's former band Wham!, also entitled "Freedom". The song's backing beat is a sample from James Brown's song "Funky Drummer".
"Everything She Wants" is a song by British pop duo Wham!, originally released as a single in 1984 on Epic Records on a double A-side with "Last Christmas". It was written and produced by George Michael, a member of the duo, becoming their third consecutive million-selling number-one hit in the United States.
"A Different Corner" is a song written and performed by George Michael that was released on Epic Records in 1986.
"Kissing a Fool" is a song written and performed by English singer and songwriter George Michael, released by Columbia Records in 1988.
"Save the Last Dance for Me" is a song written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, first recorded in 1960 by American musical group the Drifters with Ben E. King on lead vocals. It has since been covered by several artists, including Dalida, the DeFranco Family, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Michael Bublé.
Eugene Joseph Wolfgramm, a.k.a. Gene Hunt, was an American singer and musician who was a founding member of the Minneapolis-based group The Jets.
Billboard magazine only charted Christmas singles and albums along with the other popular non-holiday records until the 1958 holiday season when they published their first section that surveys only Christmas music.