Wanda Dee (born April 12, 1963 as Lawanda McFarland) is an American hip hop artist.

Career

Early life

Lawanda McFarland grew up in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, New York. While still a teenager, she became the first female hip hop DJ as the protégée of hip hop

DJ Kool Herc Clive Campbell (born April 16, 1955), better known by his stage name DJ Kool Herc, is a Jamaican-American DJ who is credited with contributing to the development of hip hop music in the Bronx, New York City, in the 1970s through his "Back to ...

, who gave her the stage name "Wanda Dee". She was eventually introduced to

Afrika Bambaataa Lance Taylor (born on April 17, 1957), also known as Afrika Bambaataa (), is an American DJ, rapper, and producer from the South Bronx, New York. He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenc ...

, who inducted her into his

Universal Zulu Nation The Universal Zulu Nation is an international hip hop awareness group formed by and formerly led by hip hop artist Afrika Bambaataa. The Universal Zulu Nation promotes the idea that hip-hop was created to sustain the ideals of “peace, love ...

. Alongside of her boyfriend/business partner, rapper Richard Sisco ("Sisco Kid"), she appeared in ''

Beat Street ''Beat Street'' is a 1984 American drama dance film featuring New York City hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Set in the South Bronx, the film follows the lives of a pair of brothers and their group of friends, all of whom are devoted to var ...

'', a 1984 film about the hip hop sub-culture produced by

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an interna ...

. Dee and Sisco's relative success - she received many offers to go on tour while he did not - contributed to the pair breaking up. At the time, Dee had already met Eric Floyd, her future husband and manager. Floyd encouraged her to switch from the turntables to the microphone and in 1986, she released her first single, "Blue Eyes", produced by British hit factory

Stock Aitken Waterman Stock Aitken Waterman (abbreviated as SAW) are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s. SAW is considered ...

. In 1989, she achieved commercial success with "The Goddess"/"To the Bone". The publication of a full album was hampered by disagreements with

Tuff City Records Tuff City Records is a New York-based record label founded by journalist Aaron Fuchs in 1981.Verna, Paul (1994)Tuff City Records Moves Forward and Looks Back" ''Billboard'', July 16, 1994, retrieved 2010-08-29 Initially concentrating on hip hop m ...

, Dee's distributor at the time.

Dispute and association with the KLF

In 1990 and 1991, respectively, British music duo

The KLF The KLF (also known as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, the JAMs, the Timelords and other names) are a British electronic band formed in London in 1987. Bill Drummond (alias King Boy D) and Jimmy Cauty (alias Rockman Rock) began by releasing ...

Bill Drummond William Ernest Drummond (born 29 April 1953) is a Scottish artist, musician, writer, and record producer. He was a co-founder of the late-1980s avant-garde pop group the KLF and its 1990s media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with wh ...

and

Jimmy Cauty James Francis Cauty (born 19 December 1956), also known as Rockman Rock, is an English artist and musician, best known as one-half of the duo The KLF, co-founder of The Orb and as the man who burnt £1 million. He is married to artist and mu ...

- used unauthorized samples from "To the Bone" in the "stadium house version" of their tracks "

What Time Is Love? "What Time Is Love?" is a song released, in different mixes, as a series of singles by the band the KLF. It featured prominently and repeatedly in their output from 1988 to 1992 and, under the moniker of 2K, in 1997. In its original form, the ...

" and " Last Train To Trancentral". When manager Eric Floyd by chance heard the former track at a disco, he sued Drummond and Cauty for copyright infringement. A 1993 article in Beat magazine quotes Floyd: The KLF agreed to a settlement: Dee received a payment, a share in royalties and co-writing credits on the U.S. release of the album ''

The White Room ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''. Under the agreement, Dee also appeared in the "Stadium House" video to " Last Train To Trancentral". Drummond and Cauty also agreed to produce a track for Dee's upcoming solo album, but this collaboration never materialised. Dee claimed, "I wasn't INVITED into The KLF, I was IGNITED!" After The KLF retired (and deleted their back catalogue) in early 1992, Dee took off on a two-year concert tour that spanned 150 cities in 90 countries. The show, dubbed "The KLF Experience featuring Wanda Dee" or "The Voice of KLF, Wanda Dee", combined the KLF's pre-recorded music with her own live vocals and lavish costumes. Drummond and Cauty, who were displeased by Dee's use of the KLF moniker, requested that their U.S. distribution company,

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...

, issue a

cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent to an individual or business to stop alleged illegal activity. The phrase "cease and desist" is a legal doublet, made up of two near-synonyms. The letter may warn that, if the recipient does not dis ...

order, but the company refused, estimating that an international tour would only boost their sale of KLF material. Dee's repeated claim that she had been an integral or even the decisive part in the KLF's success raised controversy among observers. Ben Butler, in an interview for ''

The Big Issue Australia ''The Big Issue'' in Australia is a street newspaper which began in 1996. The Australian edition of the paper is a project of the UK-based ''The Big Issue''. The first magazine was launched in Australia on the steps of Melbourne’s Flinders St ...

'', asked Jimmy Cauty for his thoughts on "the act that was doing the rounds several years ago that called itself the KLF, but didn't feature either Bill Drummond or yourself auty. Cauty responded

Beyond the KLF

In the early 1990s, Dee signed a multi-album record deal with her previous producers Stock & Waterman. A debut album was produced but the release came to a halt when Stock & Waterman's partnership disbanded in 1993. In 1994, still riding on the KLF success, Dee published the single "I Wanna See You Sweat" with German record company

ZYX ZYX or Zyx may refer to: * Zyx, a region in the North Caucasus inhabited by the Zygii * Zyx (cartoonist) (1950–2015), French-Canadian cartoonist * ZyX (company), a Japanese company that makes erotic video games * ZYX (gene), a gene that encod ...

. In 2003, Dee formed her own record label, ''Goddess Empire'', and finally published her debut album, ''The Goddess Is Here''. The same year, she also participated in the Zulu Nation's 30th anniversary performance.

Discography

;Singles *"Blue Eyes" (1986, Lisson Records/Critique) *"The Goddess"/"To The Bone" (1989, Tuff City) *"I Wanna See You Sweat" (1994, ZYX) *"I Like It Hard" (1997, Festival Records, Pride Music) *"Love Like Mine" (2003, Goddess Empire Record Label) ;Album *The Goddess Is Here! (2003, Goddess Empire Record Label)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dee, Wanda Living people The KLF 1963 births American women rappers Musicians from the Bronx Singer-songwriters from New York (state)