Freestyle, or Latin freestyle is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in the New York metropolitan area Philadelphia, and Miami, primarily among Hispanic Americans and Italian Americans in the 1980s. It experienced its greatest popularity from the late 1980s until the early 1990s. A common theme of freestyle lyricism originated as heartbreak in an urban environment typified by New York City.
Exposé is an American freestyle vocal group formed in 1984 in Miami, Florida. The group primarily consisted of lead vocalists Jeanette Jurado, Ann Curless, and Gioia Bruno, who achieved much of their success between 1984 and 1993. They became the first group to attain four top-10 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 since their debut album, including 1988 number-one single "Seasons Change." As an all-female group, Exposé’s seven consecutive Top 10 hits on the US Hot 100, landed them only behind The Supremes nine consecutive Top 10 hits. In March 2015, Billboard magazine named the group the eighth most-successful girl group of all-time.
The Cover Girls are an all-female, New-York-City based freestyle music group.
Brenda Shannon Greene, known professionally as Shannon, is an American singer and songwriter of freestyle and dance-pop music. She is best known for her single "Let the Music Play", which topped the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart in 1983 and was certified gold.
C+C Music Factory was an American musical group formed in 1989 by David Cole and Robert Clivillés. The group is best known for their five hit singles: "Gonna Make You Sweat ", "Here We Go ", "Things That Make You Go Hmmm...", "Just a Touch of Love", and "Keep It Comin'". The band stopped recording in 1996, following Cole's death. In 2010, C+C Music Factory reformed with Eric Kupper replacing Cole. Original member Freedom Williams acquired trademark rights to the name in 2003 and still tours under that moniker.
"Let the Music Play" is a song recorded by American singer Shannon and released on September 19, 1983, as both her debut single and the lead single from her 1984 debut studio album of the same name. Written by Chris Barbosa and Ed Chisolm, and produced by Barbosa and Mark Liggett, "Let the Music Play" was the first of Shannon's four number ones on the US Dance Club Songs chart, reaching the top spot in October 1983. It also became a huge crossover hit in the US, peaking at number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1984. It was Shannon's only Top 40 hit in the US. Some mark "Let the Music Play" as the beginning of the "dance-pop" era. "Let the Music Play" was ranked 43rd on the 2009 VH1 Special 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 1980s, while Rolling Stone and Billboard featured it in their lists of "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time" and "500 Best Pop Songs of All Time" in 2022 and 2023. The song also appears in the video games Dance Central 3 and Scarface: The World Is Yours.
Robert Manuel Clivillés is an American record producer, songwriter, arranger, and music video director most noted for his work with C+C Music Factory, a group he founded with musical partner David Cole. He is of Puerto Rican ancestry.
The S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M. was an American R&B and dance music group, assembled by Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C&C Music Factory, that was active in 1992. The group featured lead vocals by Michelle Visage, who was formerly a member of another Clivilles & Cole group, Seduction. Rounding out the quartet were Octavia Lambertis, Gary Michael Wade, and Jamal Alicea. The S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M. produced one hit single, "It's Gonna Be a Lovely Day!", a pop/house song that sampled the 1978 Bill Withers song "Lovely Day". The song appeared on the 1992 film soundtrack The Bodyguard. It reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart, and peaked at number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 16 in the UK Singles Chart in 1993, and number 90 in Australia on the ARIA Chart in 1993. The song "It's Gonna Be a Lovely Day!" was the only song on the soundtrack performed by an artist other than Whitney Houston released as a single in the US.
Rachel Alexandra Mercaldo, better known as Rockell, is an American freestyle, hi-NRG and pop singer-songwriter, best known for her 1997 hit single, "In a Dream".
"Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" is a song by American dance music group C+C Music Factory, released by Columbia in late 1990 as the debut and lead single from their first album, Gonna Make You Sweat (1990). The song is sung by singer Martha Wash and rapper Freedom Williams. It charted internationally and achieved great success in the United States, Austria, Germany, and Sweden, where it reached number one on the charts. The music video for the song was directed by Marcus Nispel. Billboard magazine ranked "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" among the "500 Best Pop Songs of All Time" in 2023.
"Will You Love Me Tomorrow", sometimes known as "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow", is a song with words by Gerry Goffin and music composed by Carole King. It was recorded in 1960 by the Shirelles at Bell Sound Studios in New York City, and hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song was the first by an African-American all-girl group to reach number one in the United States. It has since been recorded by many other artists, including a version by co-writer King released on her 1971 album Tapestry.
"I'm Free" is a song by the Rolling Stones written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, first released as the final track on the UK version of their album Out of Our Heads on 24 September 1965. It was also released at the same time as a single in the US and later included on the American December's Children album.
"Mony Mony" is a 1968 single by American pop rock band Tommy James and the Shondells, which reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 3 in the U.S. Written by Bobby Bloom, Ritchie Cordell, Bo Gentry, and Tommy James, the song has appeared in various film and television works such as the Oliver Stone drama Heaven & Earth. It was also covered by English singer-songwriter Billy Idol in 1981. Idol's version, which took in more of a rock sound, became an international top 40 hit and additionally revived public interest in the original garage rock single. Idol recorded a live version in 1985 which was ultimately released in 1987 where it became an even bigger hit than the Shondells 1968 original, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Fascinated" is a song by the freestyle girl group Company B. It was the first single released off their 1987 self-titled debut album. It was written and produced by Ish Ledesma, mixed by Ciro llerenea and Randy Miller and released by Atlantic Records.
We Can't Go Wrong is the second album from the New York-based R&B–dance trio The Cover Girls. Although the album only made it to #108 on the Billboard album chart, by the end of 1990 it had been certified platinum and become the group's biggest-selling album. We Can't Go Wrong features songwriting and production by Albert Cabrera, Andy "Panda" Tripoli, David Cole, "Little" Louie Vega, Robert Clivilles, and Tony Moran.
"Two to Make It Right" is a song by the American girl group Seduction, released as a single in late 1989. It appears on the group's first album, Nothing Matters Without Love featuring April Harris and Michelle Visage on lead vocals. "Two to Make It Right" peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The music video was directed by Stu Sleppin and produced by Bob Teeman.
"Come Go with Me" is a song by American girl group Exposé from their debut studio album Exposure (1987). Composed and produced by Lewis A. Martineé, the song was released in January 1987 as the third single from Exposure. The group’s second lineup recorded "Come Go with Me", with Jeanette Jurado singing lead vocals, and Gioia Bruno and Ann Curless singing backup. Some vocals from the original lineup of Exposé remain in the released track.
Robert Clivillés and David Cole (1962–1995), known collectively as Clivillés and Cole, were American record producers, songwriters, and remixers active from the late 1980s who achieved success in the 1990s.
Trilogy is an American freestyle and hip hop group from The Bronx, New York City, founded in 1985 by Carlos "CNR" Rivera, Duran Ramos and J.R. Mansanet. The group pioneered freestyle music and scored several hit songs including "Love Me Forever Or Love Me Not", "Good Time", and "Do You Wanna Get Funky".
Show Me is the debut album by the R&B–dance trio the Cover Girls released on independent label Fever Records. The album would produce the hit title track, "Show Me", as well as the Top 40 singles "Because of You" and "Promise Me". This would be the only album to feature original member Sunshine Wright, who would depart the group after the unsuccessful release of second single "Spring Love" and would be replaced by Margo Urban for the remainder of the album's singles. The other two members of the original lineup for this album were Angel Mercado and Caroline Jackson. The album peaked at No. 64 on the Billboard Hot 200 on 26 February 1988 and No. 74 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart on 4 March 1988.
