Unique was a short-lived

post-disco Post-disco (also called boogie, synth-funk, or electro-funk) is a term to describe an aftermath in popular music history circa 1979–1985, imprecisely beginning with an unprecedented backlash against disco music in the United States, leading to c ...

studio act from

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, best known for their

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

number "What I Got Is What You Need" released in 1983 for a well-established dance label,

Prelude Records Prelude Records was a New York-based independent record label that was active from 1976 to 1986. At one time, François Kevorkian held an A&R position at Prelude. The label's owner was Marvin Schlachter. History Prelude was first launched in 19 ...

. The group was formed by

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

Deems J. Smith in 1982 and consists of Smith, Mona Norris, and Darryl K. Henry. The said hit song somewhat established itself on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Dance Singles and

Black Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

charts and even scored over the atlantic reaching No. 27 on

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 ...

History

Around 1982, record producer Deems J. Smith hired studio musicians to appear in a project he named Unique. He was signed to dance record label Prelude and under this name released two

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

: "What I Got Is What You Need" in 1983 and "You Make Me Feel So Good" in 1984. Other people involved in the group were Mona Maria Norris and Darryl K. Henry who co-wrote "What I Got Is What You Need". Smith wrote the second song alone and it was mixed by an aspiring

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

producer

Shep Pettibone Robert "Shep" Pettibone (born 10 July 1959) is an American record producer, remixer, songwriter and club DJ, one of the most prolific of the 1980s. Career Shep Pettibone surfaced after his work with Arthur Baker on Afrika Bambaataa & the Jazz ...

Chart performance

Discography

Singles

;"What I Got Is What You Need" ;"You Make Me Feel So Good"

Compilation appearances

Their song "What I Got Is What You Need" has been reissued on various

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

s well into the 21st century including, but not limited to: * ''Dance Mix - Dance Hits Volume 2'' (1983,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

), * ''Essential 80's Garage Dancefloor Classics Volume 1'' (1994, Deepbeats), * ''Ferry Maat's Soul Show: Saturday Night Grooves'' (2005, Disky), * ''Prelude's Greatest Hits - Volume 3'' (

Unidisc Unidisc Music is a Canadian independent record label. The label is known for releasing rare music, that was made between the mid-1960s and late 1980s. Genres include rock, electronic, funk, soul, hip hop, jazz, reggae, Latin, disco and a cap ...

Legacy

Japanese rock musician

Toshiki Kadomatsu is a Japanese city pop singer-songwriter, musician, and producer. He has released many studio albums, as well as several instrumental and live albums. He has been active since at least 1981 and is still active, having released his most recent al ...

's adopted portions of "What I Got Is What You Need" into "Step Into the Night". It was a Japan-only release by the

Victor The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

label RVC. The song can be found on his 1984 album AFTER 5 CLASH. English acid house/electronic music group

808 State 808 State are an English electronic music group formed in 1987 in Manchester, taking their name from the Roland TR-808 drum machine. They were formed by Graham Massey, Martin Price and Gerald Simpson. They released their debut album, '' New ...

's song "Anacodia" samples vocals of "What I Got Is What You Need." The song is on their 1989 album '' 90''.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Electronic music groups from New York (state) Musical groups established in 1982 Musical groups disestablished in 1984 Prelude Records artists American post-disco music groups American dance music groups American garage house musicians 1982 establishments in New York (state)