[kar522]

I have always disliked that song anyway...Is that the same Paul Shaffer from Letterman? I know I could look it up....

IZORA RHODES ARMSTEAD
Half of duo that sang `It's Raining Men'

New York Times News Service
Published September 30, 2004

Izora Rhodes Armstead, one half of the disco-pop duo the Weather Girls, who sang the flamboyant and enduring club hit "It's Raining Men," has died in San Leandro, Calif. Her age was unknown.

She died Sept. 16 of heart failure, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. The church where Ms. Armstead's funeral was held, St. John Missionary Baptist in San Francisco, confirmed her death.

"It's Raining Men," a bombastic vocal romp that winkingly borrowed from gospel music--"Hallelujah, it's raining men, amen!" goes its chorus--was one of the biggest hits of the genre known as hi-NRG, a souped-up version of disco that ruled dance clubs in the 1980s.

Sung with gusto by Ms. Armstead, then known as Izora Rhodes, and Martha Wash, the song only reached No. 46 on the pop charts when it was released in 1983, but hit No. 1 on the club charts and later reached No. 2 in England.

Written by Paul Jabara and Paul Shaffer, the song has since become an anthem of the gay club scene, and in 2001 it again reached the top of the British charts in a version by former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell.

The song was the centerpiece of the Weather Girls' first album, "Success," which featured another booming Jabara-Shaffer composition, "Dear Santa (Bring Me a Man This Christmas)."

Ms. Armstead and Wash met in San Francisco in the mid-1970s when they both joined a gospel group called Now (News of the World). They were soon recruited to sing backup for Sylvester, a cross-dressing disco singer with a local following.

The two sang on four Sylvester albums, including the hit songs "Dance (Disco Heat)" and "(You Make Me Feel) Mighty Real."

The two struck out on their own in 1979 under the name Two Tons o' Fun, a play on their Rubenesque physiques. They issued one album under that name before rechristening themselves the Weather Girls for "Success." They recorded two more albums before disbanding in the late 1980s.

After the Weather Girls, Ms. Armstead moved to Germany to found a new Weather Girls group with her daughter Dynell Rhodes.

[kas]

Sorry kar, but Disco Sucks!

Oh, I beleive you'll find the Paul had a career before the Late Show.

This post has been edited by kas: 9-30-04, 6:25am

[dewolfxy]

Ever seen the video? Hysterical!

[momalisa76]

I LOVE that song...and the images it conjures up...