Happy New Year, readers!
After a six month siesta, Jheri Curl Fridays is back with new installments.
Hopefully, by this time in 2016, a dream of mine will be realized, and Jheri Curl Chronicles: The Encyclopedia Of Soul Music In The ’80s will be in bookstores and online. I’ve been working on this project for the past year and a half (along with my friend Thomas Inskeep), and over the next few months, we’ll hopefully be going hard in the paint to complete this project. Wish us luck! If you’re an artist, or an artist rep, and would like to submit your artist for an interview, hit us up at jhericurlchronicles@gmail.com.
Our first installment of 2015 is a classic dance jam from DeBarge. “You Wear It Well” was the third single from 1985’s Rhythm Of The Night LP. It was a top 10 R&B smash and just missed the pop top 40. Here are five things you may or may not know about “You Wear It Well.”
-It was written by El DeBarge and his younger brother Jonathan, who, for reasons unknown, was nicknamed Chico. It was Chico’s first songwriting credit, and it led to his own contract with Motown. A year after “You Wear It Well”‘s success, Chico would have his own smash hit with “Talk To Me.”
-In the song’s first verse, El gives props to his sweetie, saying she’s “got that laissez-faire.” I’m pretty sure he meant “savor faire,” and this lyrical faux pas has always kinda annoyed me. I am a huge geek.
Wait, do you think El really wanted his girl to be totally neutral and non-confrontational? Nah, I think he meant “savoir faire.”
-There was no video for “You Wear It Well.” Actually, DeBarge only released one video over the course of their entire four albums at Motown (for “Rhythm Of The Night.”) The song was promoted with a great deal of help from NBC; El appeared on episodes of The Facts Of Life and Miami Vice. While he merely played a nightclub singer on Vice, his Facts cameo offered the chance for some relatively meaty dialogue, or at least interaction with the show’s stars. In the episode, Tootie, Jo, Natalie and Blair enter a talent contest, with the grand prize being the opportunity to cut a record with El.
By 1985, The Facts Of Life was already pretty long in the tooth, having entered its 7th season. This was the year the girls teamed with Mrs. Garrett to open a boutique called Over Our Heads. They totally need to have a reunion show where the girls are all living high on their hog after selling their idea to Urban Outfitters.
In this episode, the ladies are accompanied by randomly inserted adorable kid Andy (played by Mackenzie Astin) and equally randomly inserted handyman George (played by some dude named…Cooney?…Mooney?…Cloney? Whatever.)
The full episode used to be on YouTube, but a DVD box set of Facts episodes is coming out on January 13th, and Shout Factory knows that no one is gonna spend money on a DVD box set when the episodes are free on the internet. Not that I think anyone loves Mrs. Garrett enough to fork over a C-note for the complete show. Even I wouldn’t do that, and I’m pretty sure I rank in the upper echelon of Facts Of Life fans.
-While released on DeBarge’s Rhythm Of The Night album, “You Wear It Well” was more or less an El solo record. On single release, the artist credit read “El DeBarge With DeBarge,” which was a familiar divide-and-conquer tactic used by Motown when they were preparing a member of a group for solo stardom (see: Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Diana Ross & The Supremes, etc.) The only other group member to appear on the song is brother Marty, who adds percussion. El & Marty’s non-group member brother, Tommy (who was in Switch) plays bass, and The Time’s Jesse Johnson adds a tasty guitar solo. James? Randy? Bunny? Possibly playing poker in the studio lounge at this time. By the time “Wear” hit, DeBarge was pretty much kaput, anyway. Marty, Randy and James were released from their contracts, while Motown retained El and Bunny. DeBarge (the group) went on to make one more album after recruiting older brother Bobby (also a former Motown act; also a former member of Switch) on an independent label. Then they joined forces with Chico and appeared on an episode of Punky Brewster. NBC loved them some DeBarge! Take that, El!
-NBC featuring El on two of its most highly-rated series was somewhat synergistic. Miami Vice boasted a strong affiliation with pop music. Phil Collins and Sheena Easton were a couple of the artists who had recurring roles on the show, and lead actors Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas tried their hand at rock stardom (with unmemorable results.) As for Facts, Lisa Whelchel (Blair) was a top-rated Contemporary Christian vocalist for much of the ’80s, while Kim “Tootie” Fields parlayed her singing chops and a friendship with the Jackson family into a couple of minor hits in the middle of the decade, including “Dear Michael,” which was a tribute to you-know-who.