Cookie Crew were a rap music duo formed in

Clapham Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Early history ...

, South London in 1983.

Career

Their career took off after winning a national rap championship and

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

two sessions for the John Peel

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

show. They gained a recording contract from the UK dance

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

Rhythm King Rhythm King Records Ltd was a British independent record label, founded in the mid-1980s by Martin Heath, Adele Nozedar, DJ Jay Strongman and James Horrocks. It was based in Chiswick, London. History Beginnings Starting out as an offshoot of ...

and were put in the studio with the

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

trio Beatmasters, who put them in a house music direction. In July 1987, the resultant single " Rok da House" was popular in the

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

s. Their follow-up single "Females" also was a minor

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

in October 1987. The continuing popularity of "Rok da House" in nightclubs eventually renewed interest in the track and garnered

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

appearances on the '' No Limits'' programme. The record was remixed at the end of December 1987 and crossed over into the mainstream. The song became a

Top 5 ''Top Five'' is a 2014 American comedy film written and directed by Chris Rock. Produced by Scott Rudin and Eli Bush, the film stars Rock, Rosario Dawson, and Gabrielle Union, and follows New York City comedian and film star Andre Allen (Rock), ...

hit in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

at the beginning of February 1988, and was used for an advertising campaign. The "embryonic hip-house track" was "one of the earliest examples of

hip house Hip house, also known as rap house or house rap, is a musical genre that mixes elements of house music and hip hop, that originated in both London, United Kingdom and Chicago, United States in the mid to late 1980s. British group the Beatmaster ...

". The duo moved on to another record label,

FFRR FFRR Records (sometimes credited as Full Frequency Range Recordings) is a dance music label previously run and founded by English DJ Pete Tong. Originally the dance music label of London Records, FFRR is currently a sublabel of Parlophon ...

and different producers, resulting in a string of hit singles in 1989, with "Born This Way (Let's Dance)", "Got to Keep On" with

Edwin Starr Charles Edwin Hatcher (January 21, 1942 – April 2, 2003), known by his stage name Edwin Starr, was an American singer and songwriter. Starr was famous for his Norman Whitfield-produced Motown singles of the 1970s, most notably the number-one ...

and "Come and Get Some"; plus the

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

''Born This Way!'' which reached number 24 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

. "Got to Keep On" also reached #33 in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Dance chart. By 1992, there were differences of opinion between the duo and label, who wanted to pursue more of an orthodox hip hop/

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

style, and FFRR's owner London Records, who wanted to steer the duo towards more of a pop oriented style of rap. This resulted in the duo parting company with FFRR and retiring from the hip hop/rap scene. Despite this, Pryce and Banfield have remained involved with other projects within the music industry. The two continued to perform and travel the world. Banfield is the

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

The Pasadenas The Pasadenas were an English R&B/pop group. They had two UK top 10 albums and eight UK top 40 hit singles, including " Tribute (Right On)" (1988), "Riding on a Train" (1988) and " I'm Doing Fine Now" (1992). Career The group scored a UK num ...

' singer Andrew Banfield, and Pryce was formerly a chef for the Ministry of Defence.

Group members

*MC Remedee (born Debbie Pryce, 16 August 1967) *Susie Q (born Susan Banfield, 10 March 1967)

Discography

Albums

*'' Born This Way'' – 1989 – UK No. 24; U.S. R&B #93 Allmusic.com – Charts & Awards/ref> *''Fade to Black'' – 1991

Singles

References

External links

Heroes Of UK Hip Hop Cookie Crew PageBBC / John Peel based biography
* {{Authority control English hip hop groups English electronic music duos English house music duos Women hip hop groups Hip house music groups Musical groups from the London Borough of Lambeth Musical groups established in 1983 Musical groups disestablished in 1992 1983 establishments in England 1992 disestablishments in England English girl groups Female musical duos Hip hop duos British hip hop girl groups Black British musical groups Black_British_women_rappers FFRR Records artists Rhythm King artists