Martha
Walsh (1953 -
)
Izora
Armstead (1942 - 2004)
Martha Walsh and Izora Armstead first worked
together in the late 70’s as back-up vocalists
for disco star Sylvester in San Francisco.
As you can see from that clip, the ladies had
large voices.
And they embraced their physical largeness by
calling themselves Two Tons O' Fun, which they
Iater shortened to Two Tons.
Here’s
another Sylvester number with Two Tons doing
back-up:
I
Got the Feeling
In
1979, they got their own record deal and, as
"Two Tons O' Fun," released a handful of
Billboard Dance Chart Hits, including:
Earth
Can Be Just Like Heaven
In
1982, Martha and Izora peaked with the song
we talked about at the top of the page --
the song that would fracture the disco crowd
on the dance floor.
To help promote it, the two women changed
their group's name to "The Weather
Girls."
The song?
It's
Raining Men
"It's
Raining Men" was written by Paul Jabara and
Paul Shaffer (yes, that Paul Shaffer, from
"David Letterman"). It was intended
for Donna Summer, but she rejected it.
“Lyrically
she hated it because she had become a
born-again Christian,” Shaffer said. “She
thought it was blasphemous. She called Paul
(Jabara) and said, ‘I hate the song. Oh,
we’ve lost you.’ And then she sent him
a Bible the next day.”
The
Weather Girls did a number of follow-ups
over the next 5 or 6 years, but nothing
connected in quite the same way.
Here’s a pair of songs capitalizing on their
man-hungry vocal reputation:
I'm
Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair
Dear
Santa
(Bring
Me A Man This Christmas)
The
duo broke up in 1988, with each of them
continuing to record individually.
Martha worked as a back-up session singer
on songs aimed at dance club play.
But she became infuriated that record
companies didn't give her vocal credit on
album covers and CD inserts. She
sued several of the companies --
successfully -- and received a number of
settlements. She's recorded so many
dance club hits over the years that she’s
come to be considered the "Queen of
Clubland."
In 1991, Izora resurrected The Weather
Girls name and performed with her
daughter, Dynelle Rhodes.
Unfortunately,
Izora died of heart-related ailments in
2004. Dynelle continued on, first
with her sister, Ingrid Arthur, and then
with Dorrey Lin Lyles.
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