Let The Music Play by Shannon

Album: Let The Music Play (1983)

Charted: 14 8

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Songfacts®:

Spotted singing with a live band in her cousin's recording studio, college student Brenda Shannon Greene was invited to audition for the production team of Mark Liggett and Chris Barbosa. They introduced her to the track "Fire and Ice," which would later evolve into this song and was issued on the New York-based dance label Emergency Records as a 12" single. The record became a massive club hit then broke out into the singles charts internationally. The accompanying album, which was titled after this song, went on to sell over eight million copies worldwide. After recording several more dance hits, Shannon asked to be released from her recording contract in 1987. In the late 1990s interest in Shannon was rekindled and she was the featured artist on two UK Top 20 hits, "It's Over" by Todd Terry and "Move Mania" by Sash.
This song is an important record in dance music history. Its combination of Latin American rhythm and melody with electro beats and a heavy syncopated drum-machine pattern produced an original sound, which became known as Freestyle. During a period when there was a backlash against disco tunes, this song brought dance music back onto the radio and into the charts. Other popular Freestyle artists include Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam and Expose.
In 1996, former Time Frequency singer Mary Kiani had a #19 hit on the UK singles chart with her cover of this song.
Sixth Season American Idol winner Jordin Sparks sampled this song for her 2009 single "S.O.S. (Let the Music Play)."

Comments: 2

Greg Hobbs from KcmoI remember when the song came out I loved it nobody else really liked it but I I knew this was going to be be a hit
Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn this day in 1984 {April 21st} Shannon performed "Let The Music Play" on Dick Clark's ABC-TV Saturday-afternoon program, 'American Bandstand'...
Two months earlier on February 19th, 1984 the song peaked at position #8 on Billboard's Top 100 chart...
And on January 29th, 1984 it reached #2 {for 2 weeks} on Billboard's Hot R&B Singles chart, and the two weeks it was at #2, the #1 record for both those weeks was "If Only You Knew" by Patty LaBelle...
And on the same 'Bandstand' show she also performed "Give Me Tonight", at the time it was at #17 on the Hot R&B Singles chart, three weeks later it would peak at #6 {for 2 weeks} and on April 29th it reached #46 {for 2 weeks} on the Top 100...
Besides the above two records, the Washington, DC native had five other records on the Hot R&B Singles chart; "My Heart's Divided" {#48 in 1984}, "Do You Wanna Get Away" {#13 in 1985}, "Stronger Together" {#26 in 1985}, "Urgent" {#68 in 1985}, and "Prove Me Right" {#82 in 1986}...
Shannon, born Shannon Brenda Greene, will celebrate her 61st birthday next month on May 2nd, 2019...

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