Top 10 Alert!
Gold Record Alert!
Song#: 4104
Date: 11/11/1989
Debut: 78
Peak: 2
Weeks: 23
Genre: Dance-Pop, Freestyle
Pop Bits: Seduction was initially a studio project from Robert Clivillés and David Cole. They recorded a couple of singles and released them under the moniker. One of the tracks, "(You're My One and Only) True Love" with vocals by Martha Wash, became an unexpected success getting to #3 Dance and #23 Pop. As the tune was shaping up to be a hit, Clivillés and Cole had to then form an actual vocal group named Seduction to help promote the single and then get them in the studio to record an album. Hired in for the trio were vocalists Idalis DeLeón, April Harris, and Michelle Visage. A debut LP titled Nothing Matters Without Love would be recorded and released in early fall of '89. The two previously released singles Clivillés and Cole did with other vocalists would appear on the album as-is, but the remaining tracks were performed by the new trio, which included this next single. The tune slowly caught fire and would finally reach #1 at Dance and #2 Pop. It sold well enough to go gold. The hit would send the album to #36 and in May of '90 it would go gold. The LP would spawn two more significant hits, "Heartbeat" (#11 Pop/#2 Dance/#21 R&B) and "Could This Be Love" (#13 Pop/#38 R&B/#21 AC).
ReduxReview: With its big hook and samples from the Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock hit "It Takes Two," this song stood out among the glut of freestyle songs on the Pop chart. Clivillés and Cole were reaching the top of their game with this track and it would lead to their massive 1991 #1 hit "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" under the moniker C+C Music Factory (with vocal by Martha Wash) and their work on Mariah Carey's '91 album Emotions. As for Seduction, they were the right voices at the right time and the trio did fine on this hit and its follow ups. Unfortunately, just as quickly as they were tossed together, they split. Still, they will always be remembered for this track, which was one of the major freestyle hits of the era.
ReduxRating: 8/10
Trivia: Like a lot of assembled groups, line up changes would happen and not everyone would get along. And they didn't necessarily see much of the profits made from their hits and tours. The various issues seemed to creep up on the trio and so in '91 they would go their own ways. Of course the most well known former member of the group would be Michelle Visage, although it would take a while. After the breakup of Seduction, Visage still did vocal work including being featured on the '92 track "It's Gonna Be a Lovely Day," which was recorded by The S.O.U.L. System for the soundtrack to The Bodyguard. Released as a single, it would get to #1 Dance/#34 Pop/#44 R&B. Visage would have other gigs before landing a job at a New York station. That job just happened to be co-hosting a radio show with RuPaul. That quickly led to her being the co-host on the VH-1 program The RuPaul Show, which lasted for two seasons. Visage would say in radio for several years in various cities until RuPaul called on her to be a judge on his new reality competition program RuPaul's Drag Race. The show would launch in 2009, but initially without Visage. She had a contract with CBS radio and they wouldn't let her join the show. Finally, by season three of Drag Race she got CBS to let her do the program and from that point on Visage became a fixture on the show's judging panel. Later on she would become of of the show's producers and would win an Emmy in 2021 when Drag Race won for Best Competition Program. As for her old group Seduction, former member April Harris, who owned the Seduction name, would reform the trio with two new members in 2004. A new album, Feel Brand New, would be released. The title track would get to #28 Dance, but the album would not chart. As of this posting date, Harris' version of Seduction is still out there performing on the bills of nostalgia shows.
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