Musical Interlude: Funkytown (1979-80)

 From the point where I first heard Lipps, Inc.'s 1-hit wonder, "Funkytown", I, like everyone else, assumed correctly that this was more of an African-American disco group, like Chic. Lipps, Inc. was based in Minneapolis, and would be signed to a national deal by Casablanca Records, home to Donna Summer and KISS.

While it's true that it was an African American combo, for some reason, a white singer, Debbie Jenner, aka Doris D, was brought on as the "face" of Lipps, Inc., as shown in the video, while the actual singer, Cynthia Johnson, was kept off camera. If this sounds familiar, it should. A few years later, Weather Girls singer Martha Wash filed suit over her vocals being mimed by other singers in videos for Black Box and C & C Music Factory.

Here's the original "Funkytown". Pseudo Echo covered the track six years later.

The Wash case convinced record executives to stop the deceptive practice of using substitutes in music videos.