UB Black Music Month Spotlight: The Success of Jay King + Club Nouveau

In 1986, Jay King stared the independent record label JAY Records and released the Timex Social Club hit “Rumors.” After making a living from breakdancing in Alaska, true story. The single ushered in the biggest selling single of 1986 (3.5 million copies) and becoming the #1 R&B single on the Billboard charts and a Top 10 single on the Billboard Pop charts for over 56 weeks.

Jay King began laying plans for an album, he said at the time; “We had a lot of material, and we really wanted to make the Timex Social Club the biggest they could be.” But complications set in when the group apparently decided to leave Jay for Dave Luccheis‘s Danya Records. A dispute also developed over the publishing rights to “Rumors,” then adding on Timex Corporation, the watch manufacturer, advised that use of their name cease.

Jay King was then a 24 year old, who went on to sign a new label/production deal partnered with Warner Brother Records, King Jay Records. Other acts on the label were a female group called New Choice and rap act Three The Hard Way. “There’s a lot of talent out there that’s not being listened to,” Jay said at the time. “I get tapes every day from young people all over the country. Unfortunately, the record industry is structured so that it’s not what you do, but who you know.”

Club Nouveau a R&B/pop band was formed in Sacramento, California, subsequent to the breakup of the Timex Social Club. Other members of Club Nouveau included original members Denzil Foster, Thomas McElroy, Samuelle Prater, and Valerie Watson. Additional members include James L. Richard II, Kevin Irving, David Agent, Walter Phillips, and Mario Corbino.

The band’s name (French for “New Club”) was changed from its original incarnation, Jet Set, to exploit the breakup of the Timex Social Club.

In December of 1986, Club Nouveau released their debut album “Life, Love & Pain.” After the first single “Jealousy” hit the top 10 on the Billboard R&B charts. That single was followed by “Situation #9,” which reached #4 on the Billboard R&B charts.

From their debut, the group scored five consecutive hits: “Jealousy” (essentially an answer song responding to Timex Social Club’s hit “Rumors”), “Situation #9,” a cover of Bill Withers’s “Lean on Me,” “Heavy On My Mind” and “Why You Treat Me So Bad.”

The latter was interpolated by the Luniz on that group’s hit single “I Got Five on It” and subsequently by Puff Daddy on “Satisfy You.” The latter two both made Top 10 on the Billboard R&B chart. “Jealousy” also made an appearance on the soundtrack of the film Modern Girls.

In 1987 they came in with a remake that would become their biggest hit. “Lean On Me” was released in February and reached #1 on the Billboard Pop chart and #2 Billboard R&B charts, going platinum and winning a Grammy for fostR&B Song of The Year.

Club Nouveau was nominated for two Grammy’s, the other for Best New Act. “Lean On Me” was also nominated for two American Music Awards, nominated and won a Bammy award, nominated and won a BRE Drummer award, nominated and won two Narm awards and finally nominated and won a Bay Area Star award.

The idea to remake “Lean On Me” was McElroy and Foster‘s, Jay King shared with Billboard in 1987; “It happened to fit in with the album title, but we had to make it into a new record, otherwise people would just say we couldn’t write.”

“Lean On Me” was Club Nouveau’s biggest hit going #1 on the U.S Pop & Dance charts, #5 in Australia, #22 in Austria, #1 in Canada, #9 in Germany, #5 in Ireland, #4 in Netherlands, #1 in New Zealand, #7 in Switzerland & #3 in the U.K. Making Club Nouveau the biggest urban/black music artist in 1987. Coming ahead of other new comers at the time such as Shirley Murdock, Salt-N-Pepa, Surface and Miki Howard.

Foster and McElroy soon left to form their own production team and focus on working with other acts. The duo are the creators of multi-platinum selling R&B group En Vogue. Prater, who had performed the lead vocals on “Lean on Me”, eventually left as well to pursue a solo career. The replacements were David Agent and Kevin Irving. Samuelle went on to release the 1990 R&B hit “So You Like What You See.”

The group’s next albums beginning with the 1988 “Listen to The Message,” were laced with an evolving social consciousness as well. Starting with the lead “It’s A Cold Cold World,” a Top 40 Billboard hit. Other songs released were “For the Love of Francis” and the remix of “Envious,” which stayed in urban radio rotation. As well as the video’s for both singles, being in heavy rotation on BET, with “For the Love of Francis” reaching #1 on the Video Soul Top 20.

That album was followed by the 1989 album “Under a Nouveau Groove,” which featured the Top 20 hit “You Ain’t No Friend Of Mine.” The classic midnight love ballad “Share Your Love” was also released from that album.

Other recordings include a dancehall-influenced version of the gospel classic “Oh, Happy Day” from the 1992 album “A New Beginning” and “Let It Go” from 1995‘s “Everything Is Black.”

Their single “What Kind Of Love” from the 1998 “Collection Volume I” release, reached #25 on the Billboard Urban A.C Charts.

In 2008 Club Nouveau released the “Consciousness” album and released in the summer of 2015 via Cleopatra Record, with the single “That Ain’t Love.”

Jay King currently is a Radio Show Host for 97.5FM in Sacramento and also acts as Manager/Booking Agent for Club Nouveau, Karyn, White, Cameo and Larry Dunn.

Take A Trip Down Memory Lane with Club Nouveau!