Louie Louie

Many of you may remember this next singer from his role as Madonna's boyfriend in the early 80s classic Borderline video (remember them up on the rooftop?):

Madonna and Louie Louie in the 'Borderline' video.

Louie Louie had a brief run on the pop charts in the early 90s. From what little info I've been able to find he released a single in 1987 entitled The Girl Who Seduced The World produced by none other than Jon St. James (Stacey Q, Anything Box).

1987 Synthicide Records

In 1990 Louie Louie released his debut single Sittin' In The Lap Of Luxury on WTG Records (whose parent label was CBS Records). The song peaked at # 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #17 on the Billboard Dance charts and featured Dizzie Gillespie on the trumpet.

Louie Louie-Sittin- In The Lap Of Luxury
Uploaded by EinahChild

His debut album followed shortly entitled The State I'm In peaked at #136 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Two more singles were culled from this release but failed to set the charts on fire: I Wanna Get Back and Rodeo Clown.

Louie Louie's debut album THE STATE I'M IN

In 1993 he returned w/ a new album and a new label (Reprise). The album Let's Get Started came and went without much fanfare. Though it must be noted he worked w/ both Prince and George Michael on several tracks.

Louie's 2nd effort LET'S GET STARTED

Two singles were released, Thought Of It and Walk With Me. Though neither did much chartwise.

At some point during the mid 90s (1996) to be exact, Louie Louie resurfaced recording under this real name Louie Cordero and released an album with Interscope featuring songs in both English and Spanish reflecting on Louie's Puerto Rican heritage. The album featured the singles Ain't No Other Woman (which was released in both English and Spanish) and Don't Say You Love Me. Needless to say the album came and went. One would think that after all these years Mr. Cordero has faded into obscurity. Well we thought wrong. He is a live and well!!

Turns out he is performing in Vegas!

Here are some highlights from his current bio:

The party started a little more than 3 1/2 years ago when Louie Louie first came with his band to Las Vegas as the House Band for Sunset Station. In time, the Las Vegas Hilton gave Louie Louie both his own showroom and the freedom to play with his act.

In 1998, Nevada Governor Bob Miller declared July "Louie Louie Month" to honor the performing artist for "bringing Las Vegas back to its roots – back to the days when the best performers were in the lounges of Las Vegas’ legendary hotels." On August 21, 2002 Louie was awarded the Key to the city by Mayor Oscar Goodman.

For more info please visit the following website. Don't you love it when your fave acts of yesteryear are still out there doing their thing? 'Til next time...

Chasing Keedy

It was the summer of 1991 and a new voice was taking the Billboard charts by storm with her debut single Save Some Love. That singer was Keedy who after cracking the Top 20, released a follow-up, Wishing On A Same Star. Both these songs were featured on Keedy's debut album Chase The Clouds which was released on Arista Records in 1991. Like many acts of this era, it seemed as if Keedy had quietly faded away into pop obscurity. Now let me just say that Keedy holds a special place for two of our contributors (myself and ChicagoSexBox) , because just like Keedy we all hail fom Milwaukee, WI and grew up listening to her. On a personal note I am beyond geeked to be bringing you this Milk Carton Pop Stars exclusive interview. So what is Mootown's First Lady of Song up to these days? Well let's find out! Without further ado...

10 QUESTIONS WITH KEEDY



Keedy Arista Records promotional picture circa 1991 (Photo courtesy of Keedy & Royce Hall)

1. Welcome to Milk Carton Pop Stars Keedy! We are honored to have you here. Your debut single "Save Some Love" became a Top 20 smash during the spring of 1991. It remains one of my favorite songs of all time, tell us how this song came about.

Thank you it’s great to be here. I love reading about other artists and their stories, so it’s fun to be a part of the gang.

Well… “Save Some Love” was written by Greg Gerard during a time when I was in the Milwaukee based band GERARD. Greg and his brother Bill Gerard had been recording songs with a number of different singers in the band and the idea was if one of us could get a foot in the door we could help the rest of the gang. “Save Some Love” and “Lazy Day” were the songs that caught the ears of record industry people.



“Save Some Love” was written about two members in the band that had an on-again off-again relationship. I always loved the solo and the bridge section in that song and to this day it still makes me happy to hear it.

2. Two of our contributors (myself included) are from your hometown of Milwaukee. Tell us about growing up & how music played a part in that.

I grew up all over the place because my dad worked for UPS and we were transferred every 5 years it seemed. Music was my one constant friend that I had wherever I went. I would sit in my room for hours listening to my latest favorite records or the radio count down and I would play piano and guitar dreaming about playing for people. My uncle Buddy who played guitar with guys like Don Rich (Buck Owens) was my first influence with music. I believe Buddy had the greatest impact on my journey in music. Milwaukee was the last stop on the UPS transfer program for me, my parents had to move onto Connecticut but I was in Gerard and doing what I loved, so I considered Milwaukee my home even though I was born in Texas.

3. What led to you getting a record deal w/ Arista?

Lisa Wells at Geffen Publishing heard “Lazy Day” and loved it. She flew to Milwaukee and came to a Gerard performance and signed Greg and I to a publishing contract. She then contacted Mitchell Cohen at Arista and said you have to hear this… at that point (I’m not sure if this is true or not but it’s what I was told) Mitchell was playing “Save Some Love” and Clive Davis walked by his door and heard the song and said who is that… go find her… within a few months I was signed to a record deal with Arista.



4. You also released a second single which also charted on the Billboard Hot 100, "Wishing On The Same Star". After your debut album reached it's peak, so to say, fans were naturally expecting a follow up to "Chase The Clouds". What happened?

Diane Warren wrote “Wishing On The Same Star” and I was asked by Clive to give it a chance. The week it came out Bryan Adams’s song “(Everything I Do) I Do For You” was being played and a number of the radio stations went with the Bryan Adams song as there wasn’t enough room in their play lists for another new ballad. My manager (at the time) and I took off on a radio road trip and hit every radio station we could from Milwaukee to Florida trying to get support for the record but we kept running into the same questions “why should we play your record when your own home town’s Top 40 radio station isn’t playing it. The main radio station in Milwaukee decided they weren’t going to play it because it wasn’t “Sorry” which was the song THEY liked and if we could get the record company to release that one they would lend their support (nice of them huh?). After a couple of weeks I was told that support for “Wishing On The Same Star” was being pulled because Whitney Houston’s new record was having trouble, and all the label’s resources had to go to helping her record out. “Wish On The Same Star” fizzled out and the end of “Chase The Clouds” came shortly after.

Greg and I then moved to Los Angeles and wrote and demoed over 100 songs for the follow up to “Chase The Clouds”. Arista had to accept 6 songs before they would start recording the second record. They would like 4 and then say you need 3 more like this one and so on and so on. Then we found out that there was a shift in management at Arista and we were lost in the shuffle. My new A&R guy didn’t believe in what we were doing and hip-hop was taking off as was Nirvana and grunge. After trying to get the second record off the ground for several years it was apparent that I needed to be released from any dealings with Arista. It was a liberating feeling and the end of that chapter of my life. “And what an amazing chapter it was!”

5. What little info I was able to find out about your whereabouts, I see you used to perform w/ a band called The Orphans in Milwaukee. Were you involved w/ any other groups and/or projects over the years?

I have been involved with lots of projects over the years. Mostly involving writing and recording but for a number of years I played with The Orphans and had a great time doing 70’s folk, country and rock tunes. I really learned how to play rhythm guitar in that band. During that time I wrote with two of my friends Mykl Stanley and Alec Miller. We wrote every week for a couple of years and I felt real growth as a writer.

A current photo of Keedy & her husband Royce Hall (photo courtesy of Keedy & Royce Hall)



6. I was very happy to find out that you are still making music. Can you tell us about your current project?

For the last six years I have been writing, recording and playing with my husband Royce Hall. We write and record when inspiration hits us and then post the songs on myspace. One thing I wouldn’t do again is get mixed up with a major label and have them get between me and my feelings for music. (You know… no suits in the art department!)

7. Are there any upcoming gigs that fans can check out? Any plans to release any new music?

We aren’t doing any gigs right now as we have multiple things on our plate but we are thinking of doing a video podcast or something of that nature in the future. As for new music we are always writing and recording but only some of it makes it to myspace.

If we had the inclination to pursue music full time we would want to put out CDs and end up on Austin City Limits with radio airplay on The World Café. But to do that you have to work so hard that all other areas of your life get put on hold and life’s just too much fun right now to do that.

8. Other than music is there anything else that you are passionate about?

Royce & I have an antique business and we go out treasure hunting for collectibles. I have also been making art out of buttons and newspaper and taking photos.



9. I finally just saw the video for "Save Some Love" after all these years! Itunes has it for purchase and I immediately purchased it. You were rockin' the early 90s fashions like there was no tomorrow! Any stories you'd like to share about the filming of the video?

The director wanted it to be a take on the 1954 Fellini film “La Strada”. It was shot in LA at the Sepulveda dam, where a lot of movies were and are shot. It was a two-day shoot. And it may seem crazy when you watch it but the day outside at the Sepulveda dam it was freezing cold. There is also a part where I’m roller-skating but you can’t see my skates… J The zebra and camel had a little fight. Oh and the day before we started shooting I thought I would be really cool and go and get the longest red finger nails I could, when I walked in and the stylist saw them I thought she was going to faint. So it was a seriously nutty time just like the video.

10. Keedy thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions. Any final words for your fans and our readers?

Thank you for keeping “Chase The Clouds” alive, you have been a beautiful light in my life for a long time and I thank you for giving me so much.

I'd like to give a huge thanks to Keedy and her hubby Royce for being so generous in helping get this interview done. For all you fans out there, make sure and visit Keedy and Royce's myspace page @ http://www.myspace.com/roycekeedy. Tell 'em Milk Carton Pop Stars sent ya!

L'Trimm

Tigra and Bunny, better yet L'Trimm! It's time to celebrate THE sexiest rappers to ever bring their rhymes to the mic.

Miami-based teen rap duo and best friends Lady Tigra and Bunny D (real names still unknown!) were discovered and signed by Paul Klein (of production trio Davis Stone Klein aka DSK) at Hot Productions studios when he heard them fooling around with raps in a recording booth while waiting for a friend.

Loving their girlish, unpolished rhyme flow, and riding the wave of success of female hip hop groups like Salt 'N' Pepa and JJ Fad, DSK produced and released their first single "Grab It", a 'response' to Salt 'N' Pepa's mega-hit "Push It", released in 1987. After the song drew attention, they were signed to Atlantic Records and released an album with the same name. An even bigger hit was soon released off the album in the form of "Cars With The Boom", a bass heavy ode to the bass. Some versions of the single also included remixes of the track "Don't Come To My House".

Thanks to the magic of Youtube, you can watch the "Cars With The Boom" video and see the girls in action.

One more poppier single was released, "Cuttie Pie", but it didn't receive much fanfare. By this point, L'Trimm were beloved by fans, but ridiculed by critics and hip-hoppers alike as talentless fakes.

The girls perservered, however, and released their follow-up album "Drop That Bottom" in 1989. The album continued with the miami-bass sound, pushing the bass even deeper, especially in the title track, which was released as the first and only single. At this point the miami-bass sound was losing it's appeal with the public, however, and the girls were eager to work on a new album that would hopefully extend their career beyond being a novelty. They wanted to expand their musical palette, and hit the recording studio with a direction that was poppier but also delved into the house sound of groups like C&C Music Factory that was all the rage.

They left the label during the recording of this third album "Groovy" after disputes with their production crew and label owners over the direction of their sound, and the album was completed with half-finished vocal tracks the girls had previously recorded. The album was released in 1991, however. Two singles were also released. "Get Loose" heavily imitated the C&C sound and some versions of it had Techno mixes of another track, "We Got Da Beat" on the B-Side. "Low Rider" was a remixed version of a track carried over from the "Drop That Bottom" album that utilized War's funk hit of the same name. Both singles failed to have any success, however, and the duo broke up soon after and left the music biz.

And that is where the story seemed to end. Other than a couple remixes of "Grab It" and "Cars With The Boom" in later years, the girls were never heard from again. It was said that Lady Tigra went on to manage a club, while Bunny D became a stay-at-home mom. The L'Trimm sound was echoed in newer groups like FannyPack and Gravy Train!!!, but the ladies themselves seemed to fade into obscurity...

Until now! Lady Tigra is BACK and hotter than ever! She is expected to release her new album, "Please Mr. Boombox", sometime in 2007. Check out her website and myspace page for more info on her exciting new direction. We can only hope she can convince Bunny D back to the mic as well, but until then, her new solo album looks very promising. Always imitated but never duplicated. Welcome back, Lady T!

http://www.theladytigra.com/

http://www.myspace.com/theladytigra

The Lady Tigra Live + Interview (outrageous!)

Graffiti artist spray paint mural of The Lady Tigra (features a new track!)

Found: The Boys

From time to time we here at Milk Carton Pop Stars are researching acts to profile, and we end up finding them. Kinda takes all the fun out of this site? That's beside the point. I thought I'd feature one of those acts today as they were a fave of mine as kid:



The time was 1988 and a group of 4 siblings tore up the Billboard Hot 100 w/ their Top 40 hit Dial My Heart and their debut album Messages From The Boys:



Their 1990 follow-up yielded another hit Crazy in which they spoofed many pop stars of the day (Milli Vanilli, Bobby Brown, Madonna, Janet Jackson, George Michael and Michael Jackson to be exact):



According to fan reports their family moved to Africa after their thrid and final album for Motown Records:

Three young African American brothers who in their youth were child pop stars ( Motown recording artist “The Boys” ) whom at the height of their success traded in the glamour and glitz of the music industry for the pursuit of spiritual truth, ancestral knowledge, and the discovery of their life’s true purpose.

They have recently reemerged and now record under the monkier Sons Of Light. Check out their website @ sunsoflight.com. Here is a recent video they did: