__NOTOC__ Dominatrix was a

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

band from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, best remembered for their 1984 club hit, "The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight". Although the group was short lived, their lone hit single was highly influential in the

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * ICD Freestyle, a paintball marker * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott La ...

genre.

History

Producer/songwriter Stuart Argabright (formerly of

Ike Yard Ike Yard is an experimental band founded in 1980 in New York and consisting of members Stuart Argabright (vocals), Kenny Compton (bass), Fred Szymanski (synthesizers/ programming) and Michael Diekmann (guitar). Formed in the later days of New York ...

) formed Dominatrix with vocalist Claudia Summers, Ivan Ivan (AKA Ivan Baker), Ken Lockie and keyboardist Peter Baumann. When Claudia Summers parted ways with the group, musician and actress Dominique Davalos took her place. The band's only single was the controversial "The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight," released in 1984. The track became a pioneering force in the

genre, and was noted for its use of spoken lyrics. The song's video, directed by Beth B., featured a fur and stocking-clad Dominique Davalos, and it was the imagery in the video set against the subject matter of the song that prevented it from becoming a mainstream success. Commercial radio stations banned the single, and

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

refused to air the risque video. In 2012, the video was placed on display in the contemporary art wing of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Though the song was doomed to commercial failure in the pop charts, it went to number two for two weeks on the dance charts, spending a total of eighteen weeks on the chart. The song became a highly popular single in New York clubs where Dominatrix performed regularly, and also made waves throughout Europe. Due to the success of "The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight," the group toured as an opening act for

Grace Jones Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a model, singer and actress. Born in Jamaica, she and her family moved to Syracuse, New York, when she was a teenager. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for ...

, but soon dissolved to pursue other musical projects. Stuart Argabright has continued working as a producer and

Dominique Davalos Dominique Davalos (born November 5, 1965) is American actress, rock singer and bass player formerly in the band ''Dominatrix'', whose controversial music video single "The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight", released in 1984, was deemed too racy for its ...

has appeared in several films and released solo records of her own. She now plays in The Blue Bonnets, an all-female rock band. In 2012, she joined the three piece rock band SuperEtte with local Austin musicians Susie Martinez and Matthew Phebus. They recorded their first EP, titled "Your's Till The End," in March, 2014. The song was featured in the 1986 film ''

Parting Glances ''Parting Glances'' is a 1986 American drama film. The film was one of the earlier motion pictures to deal frankly and realistically with the subject of AIDS and the impact of the relatively new disease on the gay community in the Ronald Reagan ...

'', the 1997 film ''

Grosse Pointe Blank ''Grosse Pointe Blank'' is a 1997 American black comedy action film directed by George Armitage from a screenplay by Tom Jankiewicz, D. V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink and John Cusack. It stars Cusack, Minnie Driver, Alan Arkin and Dan Aykroyd and follo ...

'' and the 2010 film '' Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child''.KCRW.com
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References

External links

AllMusicDiscogsDominatrix
on Myspace American synth-pop groups American dance music groups {{US-pop-band-stub