One-Hit Wonders: The Dazz Band’s “Let It Whip”

February 17, 2012 12:00 PM

The Dazz Band – “Let It Whip” (Motown, 1982)

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The Dazz Band were the sum of two bands that played the clubs of Cleveland during the 1970s. By the early ’80s, they were on Motown, hitting the R&B charts and warming up for their lone single to make the pop charts.

let it whip single 385 One Hit Wonders: The Dazz Bands Let It Whip

It was during the late ’70s that Bobby Harris, alto sax player for Cleveland’s Bell Telephunk band, brought his proteges together with a house band from the Kinsmen Grill to form the Kinsman Dazz Band.

After a marginally successful run at the R&B charts with 20th Century Fox’s label, the crew were signed to Motown in 1980. Success was similarly fleeting until the reconstituted crew, now called the Dazz Band, tracked a cut by producer Reggie Andrews and songwriter Leon “Ndugu” Chancler called “Let It Whip.”

The record proved to be a huge hit, reaching #5 on the pop chart, #2 on the dance chart and spending five weeks at #1 on the R&B chart. The cut also won the 1983 Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

Though the band would go on to produce seven more Top 20 R&B hits, they’d seen the last of their pop success, relegating them to the status of One-Hit Wonders.