"Boy Toy" by Tia

Song#:  3044
Date:  03/07/1987
Debut:  97
Peak:  97
Weeks:  2
Genre:  Dance-Pop



Pop Bits:  This singer from Long Island was supposedly discovered while dancing in a club by a local NYC DJ and his wife. The DJ, Jim "Chopper" Cohn, had some music business and studio experience and thought that the teenager could be a viable dance-pop artist and convinced her to sign with his production company. Their first effort was this single that was co-written and co-produced by Cohn. The tune was pitched around and RCA Records decided to bite and release the record. It took off in the clubs and by February of '87 it had reached #6 on the Dance chart. That gave it momentum to cross over to Pop, but it would only be for a very brief two-week stay. It was enough for RCA to call for an album and while that was being readied, Tia released two more singles, a remake of Alisha's #1 Dance hit "Baby Talk" and "Cupid." Neither charted and due to those results, the associated album Sugar-N-Spice got shelved and that ended Tia's major label days.

ReduxReview:  You can pretty much lump Tia in with all the other Madonna-wannabes from the time period. I mean, it's pretty obvious when you record a song titled after an iconic Like a Virgin era piece of fashion and the song has a similar dance-pop feel of Madonna's True Blue album. At least Tia's voice was different from Madonna's, although there were a few inflections on this track that are certainly reminiscent of Madge. It got doubly crazy when Tia covered a song ("Baby Talk") from another Madonna-a-like Alisha. Weirdly, Alisha ended up on RCA just about the same time Tia was leaving. I think the label was starved for a Madonna of their own and took a chance on several. For what it is, this song is not all that bad (it's not all that good either). Tia's voice seems a bit stronger than the average Madonna-wannabe and the chorus is hooky. Still, it all seemed just a bit too manufactured and while it may have drawn folks to the dance floor, it wasn't nearly strong enough to claw its way up the Pop chart.

ReduxRating:  4/10

Trivia:  Double Shot!  1) It seems that Tia had some success in France. Her singles were released there and apparently she was popular enough that two other records were released as well. "Sugar Baby" came out in 1988 while "Dance to the Music" came out in 1992. Later in 2010, her singles and material that was to be included on her debut album were gathered and released on a collection titled Absolutely.  2) After her days as a dance-pop diva, Tia turned to rock music and began fronting a few bands. Since 2010 she has been with the New Jersey hard rock band Sinsanity. They released an album in 2012 titled The Machine.

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