Unique (band)
Encyclopedia
Unique was a short-lived post-disco
studio act
from New York
, best known for their crossover
number "What I Got Is What You Need" released in 1983
for a well-established dance label, Prelude Records
. The group was formed by producer/songwriter
Deems J. Smith in 1982 and is consisted of Smith and Darryl K. Henry. The said hit song somewhat established itself on the Billboard
Dance Singles and Black Singles
charts and even scored over the atlantic reaching No. 27 on UK Singles Chart
.
for the same label: "What I Got Is What You Need" in 1983 and "You Make Me Feel So Good" in 1984.
Their most successful track "What I Got Is What You Need" has been reissued on various compilation album
s, for example: Dance Mix - Dance Hits Volume 2 (1983, CBS
), Essential 80's Garage Dancefloor Classics Volume 1 (1994, Deepbeats), Ferry Maat's Soul Show: Saturday Night Grooves (2005, Disky), and on Prelude's Greatest Hits - Volume 3 (Unidisc
).
"You Make Me Feel So Good"
Post-disco
Post-disco refers to a historically significant period in popular music history beginning with the commercial death of disco music in the late 1970s and ending with the mainstream appearance of house music in late 1980s.The stripped-down musical trends followed from the DJ- and producer-driven,...
studio act
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
from New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, best known for their crossover
Crossover (music)
Crossover is a term applied to musical works or performers appearing on two or more of the record charts which track differing musical tastes, or genres...
number "What I Got Is What You Need" released in 1983
1983 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1983.-January-April:*January – ZTT Records is founded.*January 8 – The UK singles chart is tabulated from this week forward by The Gallup Organization...
for a well-established dance label, Prelude Records
Prelude Records
Prelude Records is a classical music specialist CD shop, located in Norwich, England.Staffed by musicians, the shop has been in business since 1985....
. The group was formed by producer/songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
Deems J. Smith in 1982 and is consisted of Smith and Darryl K. Henry. The said hit song somewhat established itself on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Dance Singles and Black Singles
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
charts and even scored over the atlantic reaching No. 27 on UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
.
History
Around 1982, Deems with other studio musicians was signed to dance record label Prelude under the name Unique and released released two singlesSingle (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
for the same label: "What I Got Is What You Need" in 1983 and "You Make Me Feel So Good" in 1984.
Their most successful track "What I Got Is What You Need" has been reissued on various compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
s, for example: Dance Mix - Dance Hits Volume 2 (1983, CBS
CBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
), Essential 80's Garage Dancefloor Classics Volume 1 (1994, Deepbeats), Ferry Maat's Soul Show: Saturday Night Grooves (2005, Disky), and on Prelude's Greatest Hits - Volume 3 (Unidisc
UniDisc
UniDisc, Inc. was one of the first digital media companies to publish multimedia titles for consumer market.Based in Palo Alto, California and founded in 1989, the first product published was the Guinness Disc of Records, an interactive version of the Guinness Book of Records that included hundreds...
).
Chart performance
| Year | Title | Label | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | "What I Got Is What You Need" | ― | #30 | #78 | #27 | |
| 1984 | "You Make Me Feel So Good" | ― | ― | ― | ― | |
Singles
"What I Got Is What You Need"| U.S., UK 12" single |
|
|---|
"You Make Me Feel So Good"
| U.S. 12" single |
|
|---|