OXO was an American
dance-rock
Dance-rock is a dance-infused genre of rock music. It is a post-disco genre connected with pop rock and post-punk with fewer rhythm and blues influences. It originated in the early 1980s, following the decline in popularity of both punk and disco ...
band with the
palindromic
A palindrome is a word, number, phrase, or other sequence of symbols that reads the same backwards as forwards, such as the words ''madam'' or ''racecar'', the date and time ''11/11/11 11:11,'' and the sentence: "A man, a plan, a canal – Pana ...
name formed in 1983 by
Ish 'Angel' Ledesma, the former lead singer of
Foxy.
He formed the band with guitarist Orlando Nuñez, bass player Frank Garcia, and drummer Freddy Alwag.
They released only their self-titled debut in 1983, which scored a
Top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...
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 ...
with "
Whirly Girl",
a
new wave style song about Orlando's current girlfriend at the time. The track was originally titled "Worldly Girl", "but adding that 'd' to the mix made the chorus too chunky and difficult to sing. So they abbreviated it to 'Whirly Girl' and pop music history was made with the only song to ever use the phrase 'Whirly Girl'." OXO's success was not to last, and the band broke up a few years later. According to
Ken Mansfield
Ken Mansfield (October 14, 1937 – November 17, 2022) was an American record producer who was the manager of Apple Records in the United States. He was also a high-ranking executive for several record labels, as well as a songwriter, author o ...
and
Marshall Terrill
Marshall Terrill (born December 17, 1963, in Texarkana, Texas) is an American author and journalist. He is noted for biographies on Steve McQueen, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Billy Graham and Pete Maravich.
Early years: 1963-1982
Terrill is ...
, on OXO's "debut record on
Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint.
Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...
was a Top 30 hit called 'Whirly Girl' that died a painful death. The moment the record charted, the group began breaking up. Politics and power struggles erupted between management and Geffen". In 1986, after the breakup of OXO, Ledesma formed the dance-pop group
Company B, which at first was a trio with his wife among the members, and had a sole ''Billboard'' Hot 100 hit (1987's "
Fascinated") penned by Ledesma.
Frank Garcia's stepson
G.J. Echternkamp has directed two films about the relationship between his stepfather and his mother: the documentary ''Frank and Cindy'' in 2007 and the comedy of
the same name in 2015, which includes a rearranged version of "Whirly Girl" and some excerpts from its video clip.
Episode 104 (April 12, 2007) of the Showtime series ''
This American Life
''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internation ...
'', based on the long-running
PRI radio show, focuses on Frank Garcia and OXO.
Discography
Album
*''OXO'' – (1983) – number 117 (U.S.
''Billboard'' 200)
Single
*"
Whirly Girl" – (1983) – number 28 (U.S.
''Billboard'' Hot 100)
Compilations
*Summer Fun Vol. 2 – "Whirly Girl", side 1/track 3 -(GSA) – (1983)
References
External links
*
OXO MySpace page
Frank & Cindy movie page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oxo
Dance-rock musical groups
Musical groups established in 1983
Rock music groups from Florida
Musical groups from Miami
Geffen Records artists