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'Klymaxx' was a female Urban/Dance-pop group formed in Los Angeles, California between 1979 and 1990. The group consisted of drummer/founder 'Bernadette Cooper', vocalist 'Lorena Porter', bassist 'Joyce Irby', keyboardists 'Lynn Malsby' and 'Robbin Grider' and guitarist 'Cheryl Cooley'. Klymaxx became the first and last (so far) all-female band in this style of music to all play an instrument.

Contents

Career

Bernadette Cooper

Joyce Irby

Discography

Albums

Compilations

Singles

External Links

Career

In 1981, they signed to Solar Records. Their debut album, ''Never Underestimate The Power Of A Woman'', was released on Solar Records. Upon beginning work on their second album, they became the first ever act to work with writers/producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The team wrote and produced the song "Wild Girls" for that second album ''Girls Will Be Girls''. After the second Solar album in 1983, they switched to the Constellation label (via MCA) for ''Meeting In The Ladies' Room'' which featured the 1985 hit "I Miss You" which peaked at #3 on both the Adult Contemporary and Billboard Hot 100 charts. The album also featured the hits "The Men All Pause" and "Meeting in the Ladies Room". Two years later, their song "Man Size Love," from their self-titled ''Klymaxx'' album, was featured on the soundtrack for the movie ''Running Scared''. Klymaxx scored another massive hit with the ballad, "I'd Still Say Yes" written by Babyface and Joyce Irby. It peaked at #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #8 on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1987 and was covered by Toni Braxton's siblings The Braxtons in 1996.
The group was down to three members by the end of 1989 when the band was composed of Porter, Cooley, and Grider. In 1990, they returned with ''The Maxx Is Back'', which featured the singles "Good Love" and "Don't Run Away." "Good Love" peaked at #23 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play and #4 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks charts.
;1994-Present
They attempted a comeback in 1994 with the album titled "One Day." It was released on the label Valley Vue. The album featured the single "All I Think About Is You." Even though it received positive reviews from fans, it met with zero interest in radio airplay.
Five of the six members from the classic Klymaxx lineup (the one exception being keyboardist Robbin Grider) reunited on an episode of the VH1 series ''Bands Reunited'' in 2003 in order to perform some of their vintage hit singles. Unforutnately, disagreements between guitarist Cheryl Cooley and the rest of the band (particularly founding member Bernadette Cooper) resulted in the former not actually performing with her former bandmates. The remaining four members have recently attempted to continue performing as Klymaxx, while Cooley has put together her own band.

Bernadette Cooper

She signed with MCA Records for a lone solo album entitled ''The Drama According To Bernadette Cooper'' in 1990. The set yielded the singles "I Look Good" and "Stupid" that year. Another single, "The Underground," followed in 1991. Though the album is now out of print, "I Look Good" was included on the Klymaxx collection ''Greatest Hits''. On her own, Bernadette Cooper continued writing and producing for other artists, most notable was the trio Altitude, whom had two Top 40 singles in 1991 which were "Silly" and "Work It (Like a 9 to 5)". Cooper engineered the female singing trio Madame X in the 80's. She also produced Salt-N-Pepa's "I Am The Body Beautiful" for the soundtrack of the motion picture ''To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar''.

Joyce Irby

Joyce "Fenderella" Irby signed with Motown Records and released the dance-oriented ''Maximum Thrust'' in 1989. The solo set spawned two singles and music videos for "Hey Mr. DJ" and "She's Not My Lover". Joyce also wrote "I Will Always Love You" for male R&B group Troop. More recently Irby has been involved with starting the career of young R&B vocalist and The Inc/Def Jam recording artist Lloyd. Lloyd was once a member of the teen-pop group N-Toon which was put together by Irby and signed to Dreamworks Records in the mid 90's.

Discography

Albums

★ ''Never Underestimate The Power of a Woman'' (Solar, 1981)

★ ''Girls Will Be Girls'' (Solar, 1982)

★ ''Girls In The Band'' (Elektra, 1983) - Unreleased

★ ''Meeting In The Ladies Room'' (Constellation/MCA, 1984) US #18

★ ''Klymaxx'' (Constellation/MCA, 1986) US #98

★ Joyce Irby — ''Maximum Thrust'' (Motown, 1989)

★ Bernadette Cooper — ''The Drama According To Bernadette Cooper'' (MCA, 1990)

★ ''The Maxx Is Back'' (MCA, 1990) US #168

★ ''One Day'' (Valley Vue, 1997)

Compilations

★ ''Greatest Hits'' (MCA)

★ ''20th Century Master: The Millennium Collection'' (Geffen)

Singles

★ "Never Underestimate The Power of a Woman" (Solar, 1981)

★ "I Miss You" (Constellation/MCA, 1985) US #5, UK #89

★ "The Men All Pause" (Constellation/MCA, 1985) US #80

★ "Meeting In The Ladies Room" (Constellation/MCA, 1985) US #59

★ "Lock and Key"

★ "Man Size Love" (1986) US #15, UK #86

★ "Sexy" (Constellation/MCA, 1986) US #20 R&B

★ "Divas Need Love Too" US #5 R&B

★ "I'd Still Say Yes" (Constellation/MCA, 1987) US #18

★ "Good Love" (MCA, 1990) UK #89

★ "Private Party" (MCA, 1990)

★ "Don't Run Away" (MCA)

★ "4 The Old Dawg In U"

★ "All I Think About Is You"

External Links

★ Klymaxx.org Website

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