"Make Up Your Mind" by Aurra

Song#:  0952
Date:  03/20/1982
Debut:  90
Peak:  71
Weeks:  7
Genre:  R&B, Funk



Pop Bits:  This disco/funk-leaning outfit was basically an offshoot from the group Slave. Developed by Slave founder Steve Washington, Aurra would get signed to the Salsoul label and issue a debut in 1980. They grabbed a couple of minor R&B chart entries before their third album yielded this #6 R&B hit. It reached the pop chart for a few weeks becoming their only single to do so. The group continued on but internal struggles got the best of them and by the mid-80s the group disintegrated with group members Starleana Young and Curt Jones going on to form Déjà. The duo would grab a #2 R&B hit in 1987 with "You and Me Tonight" (#54 pop).

ReduxReview:  This slightly dark jam is pretty good. It kind of sounds like a cross between Rick James and Kool & the Gang, which is not a bad thing. I wouldn't peg this for a major hit, but it's a song that had some more potential on the pop chart if radio had been more accepting of R&B/funk back then.

ReduxRating:  6/10

Trivia:  After leaving Déjà, Starleana Young tried for a solo career and issued a self-titled debut in 1991. She got a little R&B attention with her remake of The Staple Singers' #1 hit from 1972 "I'll Take You There," which was produced by her husband J.T. Taylor (of Kool & the Gang fame). It would be her only solo outing.

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