Sir Mix-a-lot and C+C Music Factory

Sir Mix-a-Lot began his musical career by founding the Nastymix record label with partner Nasty Nes. He released a variety of singles over the following years in an attempt to make a name for himself on the hip hop circuit. He collated some of his early material into the debut album 'Swass' which featured singles such as 'Square Dance Rap' and 'Posse on Broadway'. This album now holds a platinum selling certificate in the United States.

His most successful album 'Mack Daddy' was released through the Def American label and charted at #9 on the US Billboard. It features hit single 'Baby Got Back' which is Ray's most known single to date, topping the US Singles chart upon release. It is now certified as double platinum selling and won the artist his only Grammy Award to date in the Best Rap Solo Performance category.

His next two albums were poorly promoted by his record label which forced Mix-a-Lot to part ways with them after 'Return of the Bumpasaurus' failed to even make the top 100 on the US Billboard. Sir Mix-a-Lot decided to sign to the independent Artist Direct label to release the album 'Daddy's Home' in 2003, it failed to chart and he has not released an album since to date. The producer's biggest single 'Baby Got Back' was featured in Nicki Minaj's 2014 hit single 'Anaconda' with Anthony commenting that it is a 'new and improved version'.

The band were originally made up of producers Robert Clivillés and David Cole, who came together in the house acts 2 Puerto Ricans, a Blackman, and a Dominican and The 28th Street Crew. The duo had chemistry, and in 1990, they got together to make the single “Get Dumb! (Free Your Body)” with frequent collaborator Freedom Williams, a rapper from their shared home town of New York City. The single resulted in a lawsuit for the producers, but they had such a good time making it that they decided to continue working together, enlisting the vocalists Selma Davis and Martha Walsh, along with Williams, to form what they would call the C+C Music Factory. By mid-1990, the band had finished their first album “Gonna Make You Sweat”, but no-one could have predicted just how successful the band would become.

“Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” was released in October of that year, and was an absolutely mind-boggling hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1991, when it had already become one of the most recognisable pop songs of its time. The single would eventually go on to be certified Platinum five times over, and achieved similar success in Canada and the United Kingdom. Understandably, this was as good as it was ever going to get for the band, as their second and third albums sank without a trace after their releases in 1994 and 1995 respectively. Tragically, Cole died in January 1995 and after the last singles for the band's self-titled final album were released in 1996, the band quietly split up. However, in 2010 Clivillés tapped Eric Kupper to form a new incarnation of C+C, and have been starting parties all around the globe ever since. For being the most fun you can have with your clothes on, C+C Music Factory come highly recommended.