Pure Energy also wrote and produced records for several other artists. In particular, you guys scored big New York dance hits with sides for Hot Streak, Lauriece Hudson and Maxine Singleton.
LS: Yes, I wrote "You Can't Run from Love" for Maxine. We also did one on her called "Don't You Love It." The radio stations got hold of it and put it in regular rotation; but the record company wasn't behind it.
CH: A lot goes into making an actual single happen. You've got to have money behind it. Frankie Crocker of WBLS was a big fan of the group. He played that song out of the box.
LS: Then KISS picked it up and told us they were behind the record, but that people were calling and asking for the song and there was no product in the stores. They can't play something if there's nothing behind it. So, he got off the record after a couple of weeks.
CH: The major labels like Warner Bros. and Columbia had a whole network in which they'd work on building up songs in clubs for months before taking it to radio.
LS: Some of the independent labels, on the other hand, would give money to promoters to push the records in another state. But we'd hear from people we knew around the country that the promoters were taking that money to go on vacation. There was a lot of that craziness.
CH: With the Hot Streak record, "Body Work," we had some extra time in the studio and decided to put up a track. I programmed the drum machine, put a bassline down, and did some vocals with Lisa, my sister Lauriece, and Raymond. Bashiri Johnson, who also played on "Holiday," did percussion. Our manager took the song to Easy Street Records and got a 12" single deal; but we were still signed to Prism Records and didn't have a group behind it. So, we found a group in New Jersey to front the song. Derek Dupree was the lead singer of the group, so he added some ad-libs to the song. Jellybean mixed it and Fred Zarr added a synth solo.
LS: The song ended up on the Breakin' soundtrack album, which sold 10 million copies worldwide. But we never got a dime from it.
CH: Missy Elliott sampled the song in "Lose Control," so we got paid from that. It was nominated for a Grammy. Because of the sample, they sent me a notification, but I couldn't get an actual Grammy. At that point, they weren't identifying the writers of sampled parts as actual writers.
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