Rainy day woman

>> Dance music diva Martha Wash weathers some questions

by GERARD DEE

"I've talked to people who are trying to get started in the music business, and I try and tell them, 'develop your own distinctive sound, so when a person hears you, they immediately know who it is.'" Sage advice from dance music's favourite diva, Martha Wash, whose own distinct vocals are the force behind such recognizable hits as C+C Music Factory's "Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" and Blackbox's "Strike It Up."

Born and raised in San Francisco, her early musical roots were planted in her parents' church, singing gospel. She says a full-blown gospel album is something that "still may happen." She hooked up with crossdressing disco star Sylvester in the '70s and, along with Izora Redman-Armstead, sang backup for him as the duo Two Tons of Fun. She has fond memories of Sylvester, who died of AIDS in the late '80s. "He was way before his time, as far as really being out there. I learned a lot, had a really good experience with him, and he was just crazy to work with."

Things really started to happen when Wash and Redman-Armstead stepped into the spotlight and became the Weather Girls. Ironically, she says recording the duo's signature song, "It's Raining Men," was an unremarkable event. "We just kind of recorded it and walked out of the studio and kinda forgot about it. It was just something that we did for the songwriter, and he was the one that really pushed it as far as the clubs were concerned."

Now she admits the song has a timeless quality. "The audience still loves it. It's one of those songs that's become a cult classic. It will never die."

Living large

That song pushed the duo into the limelight, though Wash remembers it wasn't all good. "I've been a big woman for just about all of my life. When Two Tons of Fun and the Weather Girls were together, we were kind of an oddity in the business, because we were two large women. Well, the fact that we could sing helped a little, but our talent wasn't really taken advantage of."

She says some things have changed since then, but some things haven't. "It seems like there are more background singers who are larger women, that's coming about. But the artists in front, there aren't too many large ones out there.

"Literally, I don't have enough good sense to get out of the business," she says, only half-jokingly. "I just kinda keep hanging on and hoping the tide will turn."

One thing that keeps her going is a strong belief that artists have a higher calling. Having lost friends in the industry to AIDS, Wash believes that performing for organizations that raise money to fight the disease is important. "I prefer to perform for smaller events, the grassroots organizations, because you get a better sense that the money is going directly to the people who need it."

Most recently, Wash lent her talents to a project aimed to help children. She says she jumped at the chance to work on the Sounds of a Better World: Small Voices Calling CD because of the impressive line of artists on the project and because she enjoys recording music with a meaning. "Me, personally, I get tired of the 'oooh baby baby, please baby baby' bullshit. You know what I mean? I would rather have something positive to say or some kind of message where the person who hears it really understands it and it really touches them in some kind of way.

"Possibly they may be going through something or something's not right, and they put on a song and it kinda helps them make it through the next couple of days, or the next few minutes, and they say, 'Well, maybe I can keep on going.'" l

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With DJs Ritchie Rich and Rob DiStefano and more at BBCM's Twist party, at the Just For Laughs Museum on Saturday, August 5, 10pm, $40