The Ones are an American
electronic dance music group. Their 2001
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 ...
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
"
Flawless" peaked within the top ten of the charts in Belgium and the United Kingdom.
The
trio consisted of three male
vocalists
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
Paul Alexander, JoJo Americo, and
Nashom Wooden
Nashom Benjamin Wooden (October 9, 1969 – March 23, 2020) was an American performing artist. Wooden was a member of the electronic dance music band The Ones and performed as a drag queen under the stage name Mona Foot.
Biography
Wooden was bo ...
, who met while working at the
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
boutique
Patricia Field
Patricia Field (born February 12, 1942) is an American costume designer, stylist and fashion designer.
Early life
Field was born in 1942 in New York City to an Armenian father and a Greek mother, who emigrated from Plomari, Lesbos, Greece. Fi ...
. Each of them has a background in performing,
DJing, and being stylists within the underground New York
club
Club may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Club'' (magazine)
* Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character
* Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards
* Club music
* "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea''
Brands and enterprises
...
and
fashion
Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...
scenes.
Their debut single, "Flawless", was inspired by
the 1999 film, which Nashom appeared in alongside
Robert De Niro
Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
. It was first released on the New York based A Touch of Class Recordings label, and was popular among New York DJs even before its official release. In 2004, "Flawless" was
sampled
Sample or samples may refer to:
Base meaning
* Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set
* Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal
* Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...
and had
lyrics
Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...
added to it by British singer and former
Wham!
Wham! (briefly known in the US as Wham! U.K.) were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981. The duo consisted of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They became one of the most commercially successful pop acts of the 1980s, selling more ...
frontman
George Michael
George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...
for his song "
Flawless (Go to the City)
"Flawless (Go to the City)" is a song co-written and performed by British singer George Michael and released by Sony BMG on 28 June 2004. It samples " Flawless" (2001), originally recorded by the electronic music band the Ones, which in turn ...
". Michael's version peaked at number eight on 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 ...
in July 2004, almost three years after the original had peaked at number seven on the chart.
The group released a follow up single, "Superstar", which reached number 45 in the same country.
In November 2006, they released "Ultramodern", with a
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
and clips available on A Touch of Class's website. The Ones signed to Peacebisquit management in 2007. They tweaked their look and sound and released a 2008 single, "When We Get Together", with a video clip featuring cameos from the
Scissor Sisters
Scissor Sisters were an American pop rock band formed in 2001. Its members include Jake Shears and Ana Matronic as vocalists, Babydaddy as multi-instrumentalist, Del Marquis as lead guitar/bassist, and Randy Real (who replaced Paddy Boom) as dr ...
,
Debbie Harry
Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981.
Born in ...
,
Jody Watley
Jody Vanessa Watley (born January 30, 1959) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and artist,USA Today (February 16, 1996), Best Bets: Albums Jody Watley Greatest Hits, "Few singers fired up the disco like Jody Watley who set trends ...
,
Fischerspooner
Fischerspooner were an electroclash duo and performance troupe formed in 1998 in Chicago after meeting in school. The name is a combination of the founders' last names, Warren Fischer and Casey Spooner.
Career
Originally a duo formed by classi ...
,
Ultra Naté
Ultra Naté Wyche (born March 20, 1968) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, DJ and promoter who has achieved success on the pop charts with songs such as " Free", "If You Could Read My Mind" (as part of Stars on 54), and "Autom ...
,
Peppermint
Peppermint (''Mentha'' × ''piperita'') is a hybrid species of mint, a cross between watermint and spearmint. Indigenous to Europe and the Middle East, the plant is now widely spread and cultivated in many regions of the world.Euro+Med Plantbas ...
,
Cazwell
Luke Caswell, known mononomously as Cazwell, is an American rapper, record producer and songwriter. He has released the three studio albums '' Get Into It'' in 2006, '' Watch My Mouth'' in 2009 and ''Hard 2 B Fresh'' in 2014, along with videos an ...
,
Colton Ford
Glenn Soukesian, known professionally as Colton Ford, is an American singer, actor, and former pornographic actor. As of May 2007, he resides in New York City.
Career
Adult pornographic career
Colton Ford appeared in a dozen gay adult celebrate ...
, and many others.
Nomi Ruiz
Nomi Ruiz is an American singer, songwriter, actress, essayist, DJ and producer, who is also known for her work as Jessica 6.
Early life
Nomi Ruiz was born in 1986 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City and assigned male at birth. Her parents ...
collaborated with the Ones on their single "Let's Celebrate!" from their fourth album ''Blast from the Past''.
In August 2013,
Cher
Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...
released the video "A Woman's World" and almost immediately fans of the Ones complained of similarities to the Ones' video "Face & Body" which was released months earlier the same year. The band saw the comparison more as a compliment than controversy.
Nashom Wooden died on March 23, 2020, after reportedly contracting
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.
Discography
Singles
References
External links
A Touch of Class official site*
Discography on Discogs
Electronic music groups from New York (state)
{{US-electronic-band-stub