"Body Talk" by The Deele

Song#:  1757
Date:  01/21/1984
Debut:  88
Peak:  77
Weeks:  8
Genre:  R&B



Pop Bits:  This Cincinnati, Ohio, sextet was formed in 1981 when three members of the local band Pure Essence decided to stay together after that band dissolved. Padded out with three new members, they signed with Dick Griffey's SOLAR Records and began work on their debut album Street Beat. The LP's first two singles were middling affairs on the R&B chart, but this third single broke them through to the Top 10 (#3). It was popular enough to crossover to the Pop chart for a couple of months. It was a solid success, but it would take another four years before the group would return to the R&B Top 10 and then grab their first Pop Top 10.

ReduxReview:  You could hear that this band had something good going on, but the material wasn't quite there yet. The sound and production here is solid for mid-80's synth-based funk. It's almost an updated mash up of Kool & the Gang with Earth, Wind & Fire. But the song kind of wears out its welcome fairly fast and after five minutes, I was pretty much done with it. There just wasn't quite enough bang here to keep Pop listeners interested.

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  Two of The Deele's members would become highly successful after leaving the band. Antonio "L.A." Reid and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmunds began writing and producing for other artists while still in The Deele. That side job was going so well that the pair quit the band and started their own label called LaFace Records. As a branch of Clive Davis' Arista Records, LaFace had major success with artists like TLC, Toni Braxton, and Outkast. Along the way, Babyface scored his own solo hits while the pair continued to write and produce for many artists. Reid would have a more public face when he became a judge for the first two seasons of the music competition TV show The X Factor.

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