Best one hit wonder of the 70s (Female)

Vicki Lawrence - The night the lights went out in Georgia 1973:

Anita Ward:

Alicia Bridges:

Debby Boone held the No. 1 position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for ten consecutive weeks in 1977.

Was it really that big? It's hardly remembered or streamed today.

It's Homer and Marge's song and that's how anyone not dead knows it.

Samantha Sang:

As a kid I loved the Debby Boone song. I made my (musical) aunt sing it & I recorded her. My other favorite song was Top of the World, by the Carpenters. What can I say, I was squeaky clean!

I'm certainly no spring chicken, but this is before my time.

"The night the lights went out" was a story song offered to Cher to follow her other story songs gypsies and half breed . Sonny didn't like it and had her turn it down.

Amii Stewart - Knock on Wood

I nominate Freda Payne for Band of Gold. She was dead sexy and the song was irresistably catchy.

I'm going to throw The Emotions "Best of My Love" (1977) in here.

Yeah, they had another big hit in "Boogie Wonderland" WITH Earth, Wind & Fire two years later....and some songs that charted on R&B/Soul/Dance charts....but "Best of My Love" was massive. #1 on Billboard Pop and R&B charts, won a Grammy.

"I Can't Stand the Rain" - Ann Peebles

I was born in 1970, but I was into music from an early age. I love a lot of these songs, but I had to go with Nicolette. One of the first 45s I bought, and still one of my favorite songs ever.

Patti Smith is certainly not a one-hit wonder. Do you even understand what this is about OP?

The Flying Lizards' Deborah Evans-Stickland doing the fantabulous cover of "Money" (1979).

This is one of the closest polls I've seen. I voted for Nicolette but I like each of the songs. Cheryl Lynn, Ann Peebles, and the Emotions all deserved spots but there was no room.

Cyndi Grecco reached #25 with her only hit.

July 4, 1976:

I was going to suggest Mary MacGregor, but after “Torn Between Two Lovers” she scraped into the Top 40 when “Good Friend” went to #39. I guess *technically* she’s not a One Hit Wonder, but just barely.

[quote] I was going to suggest Mary MacGregor.

I always got Mary MacGregor confused with Maureen McGovern. I still have friends who insist "The Morning After" was sung by Marcia Brady.

They are all so good to this old queen. I have a hard time choosing. I'm going through and listening to them all now. Thanks for this thread.

Rickie Lee Jones made it to #40 with “Young Blood” but I can’t imagine anyone remembers it, so I guess she still qualifies?

Didn’t Chuckie’s in Love chart higher for her?

Out of this list, it's Minnie for me; all the way baby! Gorgeous lyrics, sound, and feelings.

R24 OP put the chart position w/ year after Jones' name in the original poll that started the thread.

[quote] I was going to suggest Mary MacGregor, but after “Torn Between Two Lovers” she scraped into the Top 40 when “Good Friend” went to #39. I guess *technically* she’s not a One Hit Wonder, but just barely.

Mary MacGregor, d'ye KNOW what happened to Peeping Tom? His EYES were SHRIVELED into darkness in his head, and dropped before him!

I had to give my vote to Alicia because of her lesbian glam fabulousness, and also because she wanted some ACK-SHONE... she wanted to liiiiive!

I always thought it was remarkable how much Cyndi Grecco's voice on "Making Our Dream Come True" sounded so much like Cindy Williams's... for years I just assumed Cindy Williams was the singer.

6 artists each have over 10% of votes.

Right now DL readers believe Debby was best at 15%

It's Jean KNIGHT, not Jean Smith, who sang "Mr. Big Stuff".

I nominate Denise LaSalle. "Trapped By a Thing Called Love" went to #15 on the pop charts, #1 on the soul charts. She wrote it herself, as she did much of her material.

She went on to become a modern day Queen of the Blues, and put out some really great stuff on the Malaco label in the 80's and beyond.

I only know this song. Did they have any other hits in the US?

Shame Shame Shame - Shirley & Company

Patti Smith:

[quote]Shame Shame Shame - Shirley & Company

She sounds like Nell Carter! And that dude, Jason Alvarez??

Samantha Sang has such an unusual voice and style of singing. Really underrated

Sally Oldfield, Mike ‘Tubular Bell’ Oldfield’s older sis, and her 1978 UK hit ‘Mirror’

^ Mirrors

[quote] Shame Shame Shame - Shirley & Company

Shirley had a big hit in the 50's, "Let the Good Times Roll", as one half of Shirley & Lee.

[quote] Did they (The Three Degrees) have any other hits in the US?

They had one other top 40 hit, a cover of the Chantels classic, "Maybe".

Carol Douglas, “Doctor’s Orders”

This song by Sally Oldfield always makes me feel like running free on a Grecian beach, under a cloudless azure sky, hair flying in the air, like the hippie flower children of yore

Vicki Lawrence takes the lead with 13.5% of DL votes.

OP, you forgot Meri Wilson's "The Telephone Man" (#18).

Freda Payne's 1970's Band of Gold is a classic.

I like op’s choice, but Cheryl Lynn’s “Got To Be Real” wins for me…

Rickie Lee Jones’s second album, Pirates, was fantastic and managed to chart in the top five without a hit.

[quote] I like op’s choice, but Cheryl Lynn’s “Got To Be Real” wins for me…

These were just the biggest Billboard chart hits. Cheryl only reached #12 but it deserved to be a much bigger hit.

What idiot thinks Rickie Lee Jones is a one-hit wonder?

Which single hits did she have besides "Chuck E.'s in Love," r49? I see only that one cracking the top fifty Billboard hits on her "Singles" discography chart.

You're misusing the term "one hit wonder."

What it means is someone or some group who had a hit song and then faded into obscurity.

It does not mean someone who had only one Top 50 Billboard Song but went on to have a successful and critically acclaimed career.

I think Ricki Lee Jones is like Sinead O'Connor, though most of her songs didn't chart, her music had a significant cultural impact in a way that say, 'true' one hit wonder's body of work did not.

I love Rickie Lee Jones and I certainly wouldn't call her a one-hit wonder at all.

I Love the Nightlife is a gem of a song, and so catchy. Alicia Bridges looked fabulous, too. Lesbian disco glamour!

ACK-SHONE!

I was just a wee tot as I remember this one playing on the radio constantly. Huge hit.

The female group Hot reached the Top Ten in 77 with Angel In Your Arms, but never came back to the Top 40

That’s so wild to me that “Got to Be Real” peaked at only #12. I was a little kid when it came out, but it was HUGE and the way it is STILL played always makes me perceive it as a #1 song.

Yvonne had a whole Greatest Hits album with several classic singles.

I know she doesn’t fit this thread since she had a handful of hits, but this thread made me think of Evelyn “Champagne” King. I loved her back in the day.

OMG ! Is anyone else bookmarking these fabulous songs and getting misty eyed listening to the soundtrack of our long gone youth ? So many great tunes,so many memories. I havent heard that song by the flying lizards in decades ! I always thought it was the Waitresses who sang it.

If I Can't Have You by Yvonne Elliman is one of my favorite songs of all time.

When I was about 11 or 12, my best friend and I would stay up late almost every Saturday night when the local college radio station would play “weird” music and take requests. We requested that Flying Lizards song every time.

Maria Muldar - Midnight At The Oasis

Andrea True Connection - More, More, More

Yonne Elliman's first hit was "I Don't Know How To Love Him", which was on the charts at the same time as Helen Reddy's version, so she's not a one-hit wonder. Same with Freda Payne, who followed up "Band Of Gold" with "Bring The Boys Home", which was an anti-Vietnam War song. It was pretty popular, but you never hear it anymore.

When I think of one-hit wonders from the 70s, I think of Beverly Bremers "Don't Say You Don't Remember".

What about Come to Me by France Joli?

Baby gay me loved this…my parents had a lot of disco records.

Aren’t the 3 degrees credited on the MFSB sound of Philadelphia (soul train theme) which hit number one in 1974?

Jessi Colters I’m not Lisa was a huge hit on the pop charts, and though she had other hits on the country charts that was her only pop hit.

Did Lynn Anderson have any other hits beside I Never Promised You A Rose Garden?

Christie Allen - He's My Number One.

Nope r69, that was her only Top 40 hit.

Althea and Donna's "Uptown Top Ranking" - the Jamaican teenagers recorded this semi-improvised reggae song as a one-off.

It hit #1 on the UK charts in 1978.

Vicki Sue Robinson

There are so many great songs here. I don't care who is the one hit wonder. But Ricki Lee Jones put out two of the most amazing albums of all time and Patti Smith is a legendary artist who doesn't care much about chart placements. She is monumentally important. How many hits did Tom Waits have? He's also monumentally important. Ditto Leonard Cohen and Dylan and Joni Mitchell.

Don't compare You Light Up My Life and Torn Between Two Lovers with Easter or Last Chance Texaco. You just don't.

Because the Night is far from Patti Smith's best song. She lent Springsteen some much needed darkness. Yikes.

For a hit record that was probably her only big hit - Band of Gold is the winner. A great catchy song. Freda Payne is a lousy singer - but the song and it's hook are irresistable.

Miss Jones & the Dr.

Genya Raven - I Won’t Sleep On The Wet Spot Anymore

Nicolette had a few other minor hits in 1979 (Rhumba Girl #47, Let Me Go Love, #35).

This Dusty cover hit #53 in 1982:

These are all great and it also made me think of “Woman to Woman” by Shirley Brown

“Hello Barbara…this is Shirley…..”

Gosh, I love Native New Yorker, Young Hearts Run Free, Whispering/Cherchez La Femme, Emotion, I Love the Night Life (Disco Round),, just too many to choose from.

One Hit Wonderess

People have mentioned Cheryl Lynn.

In 1979 she had another hit with "Star Love".

This thread is making me painfully nostalgic. I was pretty young in the 70s but gosh it was the best. Sometimes it occurs to me that that time is forever in the past and it hurts. What I wouldnt give to be back in my grandma’s harvest gold kitchen listening to these songs on her little AM/FM radio.

I voted for Nicolette for what it’s worth. But I was also sitting here listening to “When Will I See You Again” with tears on my face, thinking about my dad who is long passed

[quote] Out of this list, it's Minnie for me; all the way baby! Gorgeous lyrics, sound, and feelings.

Minnie Riperton is NOT a one hit wonder. She had one No.1 hit on the pop chart. Even though she died at 31 years old, she has a catalog of music that has made her legendary among fans of soul music. Same principle applies to Cheryl Lynn, The Emotions and Freda Payne.

My pick is Nicolette Larson because "Lotta Love" is so staggeringly beautiful. Followed by Samantha Sang and Maria Muldaur.

I haven't heard R83's song in years, but what an incredible performance.

"If I Can't Have You" and "Lotta Love" are still two of my all-time favorite songs. They're both beautifully sung and produced, and still sound flawless.

"That night/on our ho-nee-moon/We stay-yayed/In separate rooms." Dang, how totally effed up it must've have been.

r81 cheryl lynn had a big r&b hit in 1983 with ENCORE.

I liked so many of the titles listed by OP that I could not pick one. I was relieved when I checked the results and there was no runaway in the polling.

Was that Minnie Ripperton song supposed to be a joke, with the screeching and the birds and all?

And how did the legendary Patti Smith get on a list with so many actual one-hit wonders?

Somewhere on Datalounge there is a thread about "Story-Songs" - songs that told a narrative story--that I learned about The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia from, and that Vicki Lawrence wasn't just someone who looked like Carol Burnett and was on her show.

[quote] [R81] cheryl lynn had a big r&b hit in 1983 with ENCORE.

They know! It is the ultimate insult to call her a one hit wonder. These old white queens knew they were taking poppers and giving blowjobs in the back room when Cheryl's "Encore" was storming gay clubs in 1983.

As others have stated, Cheryl Lynn is anything but a "One Hit Wonder" amongst older Blacks and anyone who followed R&B Music in the 70s & 80s. 'Got To Be Real' was her debut single in 1978 and Miss Lynn continued to have Top Ten R&B hits until as late as 1989.

Miss Lynn's most memorable HITS are probably 'Got To Be Real', 'Star Love' (which was HUGE in Discos), 'Shake It Up Tonight', 'If This World Were Mine' (a duet with Luther Vandross) and 'Georgy Porgy' (with Toto). But the majority of her other singles and album cuts are just as fabulous.

Toto (Don’t It Feel Like Paradise)” by Lynda Carter in 1978.

Mellow Lovin’ by Judy Cheeks in 1978!!

Think It Over by Cheryl Ladd in 1978!

My fave song of 1978!

Wasn’t the Minnie Riperton song about her daughter, Mia? Maya?

The actress?

Ring My Bell by Anita Ward in 1979

Typical Girls by The Slits in 1979

Knock On Wood by Amii Stewart in 1979!

Fave 2 hit wonder of the 70s…

Right Back Where We Started From - Maxine Nightingale in 1976

Lead Me On -Maxine Nightingale in 1979

A personal favorite Chery Lynn cut of mine is the ballad 'At Last You're Mine'. It was written by a pre-fame Michael Bolton and included on the soundtrack to the 1984 movie "Heavenly Bodies" (a "Flashdance" knockoff and Aerobics-themed movie that pre-dated the 1985 John Travolta/Jamie Lee Curtic Aerobics flick "Perfect").

It was released as a single but when the movie flopped CBS simply stopped promoting the music associated with the film. That's a pity because the 80s were a time when sappy/pseudo-soulful Adult Contemporary ballads were burning up the charts. And IMO 'At Last You're Mine' was one of the best.

Silly Me @ R91. I made no mention of the R&B SMASH HIT by Cheryl Lynn, 'Encore'! Thankfully others did.

BOTTOM LINE: She's no "One Hit Wonder" within her primary musical genre, R&B.

There was a group called Brownstone who’s song was on the Living Out Loud soundtrack.

I'm not sure what all her career obstacles were but Samantha Sang deserved MUCH MORE than what she got out of the recording industry! She was a talented, unique and versatile vocalist. Several of her singles & album cuts (both before and after her hit 'Emotion') were excellent!

From her first hit in her native Australia, 'You Made Me What I Am' (recorded as Cheryl Gray), to the Late 60s/Bee Gees-penned Euro hit 'The Love Of A Woman', to pretty much that entire "Emotion" LP, to a few excellent cuts on her second US LP "From Dance To Love' on down to a few very catchy cuts she released on a small US label in the early 80s.......she had great songs. I don't understand her post-'Emotion' lack of recording success?

A personal favorite of mine by Samantha Sang is a ballad from her 1979 LP "From Dance To Love" called 'I Can Still Remember'. I'm not sure if it got a single release here in The States but somehow it became a hit in Mexico & other Spanish-speaking countries and has some association with Mexican Soap Operas (Telemundo Novelas). If you look at the comments of the several postings of this song on YouTube, you'll see thatbmost are in Spanish. Interesting.

Miss Sang has went on the record stating that she wanted a follow-up hit to 'Emotion' on her own merits and refused to take another song from The Gibb Brothers. That's admirable, but it's ironic that several of her post-'Emotion' songs (like 'I Can Still Remember') all featured faux-Bee Gees/male falsetto backing vocals. She probably should have simply just went back to the real deal and asked for help.

Candi Staton - Young Hearts Run Free

Yet another good, 'Emotion'-like number from Miss Sang, 'I Want You Back Again'. Released in 1981 (but I have a suspicion that it was recorded a year or 2 earlier) before she pretty much gave up on her recording career.

[quote] Mellow Lovin’ by Judy Cheeks in 1978!!

This thread is completely off the rails. Judy Cheeks enjoyed a spectacular resurgence in the 90s -- she had like 4 or 5 HUGE international dance hits.

A genuine one hit wonder has the dignity and humility to follow their hit with a career as a civil servant, secretary or midwife.

I gotcha number, hussy!

R103, Candi Staton is another one like Cheryl Lynn who had recording success outside of the Pop charts, on the R&B charts. Several of her Late 60s/Early 70s recordings for the Fame label (like 'I'd Rather Be An Old Man's Sweetheart (Than A Young Man's Fool)' & a remake of 'Stand By Your Man') were Soul hits in their day and considered Southern Soul classics. She also had smaller hits around the time of 'Young Hearts Run Free' like 'Victim' and a remake of The Bee Gees' 'Nights On Broadway' (the definitive version IMO).

Calling some of these Black artists "One Hit Wonders" is the equivalent of someone calling Country Stars like Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty or Tammy Wynette "One Hit Wonders", because you're basing their careers solely on the one or two songs that hit the Pop Chart.

Candi Staton performing the definitive version (IMO) of 'Nights On Broadway'.

Thelma Houston - Don't Leave Me This Way

[quote]The female group Hot reached the Top Ten in 77 with Angel In Your Arms, but never came back to the Top 40

I loved that one! Thank you to all the posters who are reminding me of songs from my long-gone youth.

[quote] Calling some of these Black artists "One Hit Wonders" is the equivalent of someone calling Country Stars like Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty or Tammy Wynette "One Hit Wonders", because you're basing their careers solely on the one or two songs that hit the Pop Chart.

I am SHOCKED that Dataloungers are doing this!

Absolutely shocked!!!

Since the one hit labeling has gotten so toxic here, I'm just going to add this as another great female singer who got some fame in the 70s and deserved more fame.

Gwen McRae - Rocking Chair

R1 That video is hilarious. What an odd setting for that song.

R112 I remember going to a neighbor friend's house as a kid and watching his grandmother (who must've been in her 70s) "get down" to that song. Apparently the family made that granny's song sing she sat in a rocking chair most of the day doing crochet. My friend had just purchased the 45".

[quote]The Flying Lizards' Deborah Evans-Stickland doing the fantabulous cover of "Money" (1979).

I like a lot of the songs on this thread but this is the only one I actually have in my playlist.

For years I thought Melanie was a one-hit wonder with "Brand New Key" but it turns out she also does a cover of "Ruby Tuesday" that I really liked as a kid.

I used to love this song when I heard it on the radio. At the time I thought it was Barbra Streisand singing because her "Superman" album was released around the same time.

This thread reminded me about an obscure Alicia Bridges tune I've always loved called 'Rex The Robot'. An Electro/Sleaze number from the followup album to the one with 'I Love The Nightlife'. Something about the lyrics make me think that she's singing about some sort of sex toy/vibrator. LOL. And it's very catchy IMO.

Alicia's material wasn't the greatest but she was a talented and versatile performer. On her albums she tackled R&B, Disco, Country, Rock, Ballads, you name it.

Nice!

Melanie’s huge hit was Lay Down (Candles in the Rain).

"Pilot of the Airwaves" by Charlie Dore. It was a very minor hit, but it was fun and catchy, in 1979.

I don't consider either Rickie Lee Jones or Patti Smith one-hit wonders, if only because they were never Billboard-chart singers, both have been famous for many years, and have put out many albums. They don't fall under the category of what we know as one-hit wonders who have one hit song and then disappear.

Didn't Charlie Dore write "Strut" (Sheena Easton)?

[Quote] Judy Cheeks enjoyed a spectacular resurgence in the 90s -- she had like 4 or 5 HUGE international dance hits.

Aren't the dance charts a survey of what DJ's say that they're playing? There isn't a sales component.

[Quote] I don't understand her post-'Emotion' lack of recording success?

I do. Barry Gibb made her a featured player on her own hit. The Bee Gees sing the damn chorus themselves. If she's mixed in there, she's overshadowed.

I was going to say Misty Blue by Dorothy Moore when hit number 3 in 1976, but she had a song that made it to number 27 the next year. It’s a gorgeous song.

Vicki Lawrence was married to the songwriter of "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" and tells how she came to record the song. She's pretty funny in the telling...

how about 'Nice and Nasty' by the Salsoul Orchestra.

Didn't they have a hit with Tangerine?

Haha

The blonde at r57 looks like flashback Patsy Stone.

Flashing my pussy like it’s 1975 Hustler magazine

Razzle!

I so love the song Ring My Bell! I first heard it at the age of five! R112 thank you so much for sharing the Rocking Chair song . It has several versions that are musical masterpieces.

Rikki had a great album in 1988 that was done by Donald Fagan of Steely Dan, Not exactly a one hit wonder.

The best is of course Alciia Bridges, because she is the world's only lesbian disco queen who is simultaneously impossibly butch and impossibly femme.

And also because of the scornful loud "HUH!" she utters when she sings "Maybe that'll make... HUH!... a man outta you!"

Also, because she wants some AK-SHONE! She wants to liiiiiiiiiive....

Really hard to choose, but I have a soft spot in my heart for Alicia Bridges.

There was nothing impossibly femme about Alicia Bridges.

All that shiny make-up is pretty femme to me.

But I find absolutely zero point in arguing with you over this. Believe whatever you like--I certainly don't care.

You cared enough to reply.

Rickie Lee Jones and Patti Smith were album oriented artists. They weren’t dependent on singles sales and both have a best-selling body of work.

It’s silly to refer to either one of them as one-hit wonders.

[quote] You cared enough to reply.

Grow the fuck up.

Jackie Moore - "Precious, Precious"

She had a handful of other notable singles throughout the 70's, but this was her sole foray into the pop top 40.

Pattie's song is the only one that does not sound dated at all.