Zelma Davis (born August 2, 1970) is a Liberian-born American singer-songwriter. She is primarily known for her number-one

dance hits Dance/Mix Show Airplay (formerly Hot Dance Airplay) is a monitored electronic dance music radio chart that is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. History The chart came about as a result of the small but influential impact of electronic ...

"Things That Make You Go Hmmm..." and "Just a Touch of Love" with

C+C Music Factory C, or c, is the third letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''cee'' (pronounced ), plural ''cees''. History "C" ...

. She has won four

American Music Awards The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show, generally held in the fall, created by Dick Clark in 1973 for ABC when the network's contract to air the Grammy Awards expired, and currently produced by Dick Clark Produc ...

, five

Billboard Music Awards The ''Billboard'' Music Awards are honors given out annually by '' Billboard'', a publication covering the music business and a music popularity chart. The ''Billboard'' Music Awards show has been held annually since 1990, with the exception of ...

, two

MTV Video Music Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...

, and a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

nomination with the group.

Career

Upon

's emergence onto the scene in late 1990, Davis was marketed as the principal vocalist of the ensemble—despite there having been several other female vocalists, in addition to her, who had provided the vocals to various tracks on the group's debut album, '' Gonna Make You Sweat''. Davis appeared in the music video for the album's number-one

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

-charting title track, where she lip-synched to vocals which had, in fact, been sung by

Martha Wash Martha Elaine Wash (born December 28, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, and producer. Known for her distinctive and powerful voice, Wash first achieved fame as half of the Two Tons O' Fun, who sang backing vocals for the disco si ...

. Wash (who had also provided vocals to

Black Box In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The te ...

during the same period, and also saw that group use models to lip-sync to her voice in the music videos) did not appreciate the perception of Davis being the voice behind the hit song, and proceeded to file a lawsuit against the group. With this happening during the height of the

Milli Vanilli Milli Vanilli were a German-French R&B duo from Munich. The group was founded by Frank Farian in 1988 and consisted of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus. Their debut album, '' All or Nothing'' in Europe, reconfigured as ''Girl You Know It's True'' in ...

lip-synching scandal, Davis found herself being accused of being a "no talent" who was being featured by the group only because of her looks – despite her having actually performed a number of songs on their studio album '' Gonna Make You Sweat''. In 1992, she made an appearance on the American sitcom "

Blossom In botany, blossoms are the flowers of stone fruit trees (genus ''Prunus'') and of some other plants with a similar appearance that flower profusely for a period of time in spring. Colloquially, flowers of orange are referred to as such as wel ...

". In 1993, Davis performed a rendition of

Dennis Edwards Dennis Edwards Jr. (February 3, 1943 – February 1, 2018) was an American soul and R&B singer who was best known as the frontman in The Temptations The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a serie ...

's song "

Don't Look Any Further "Don't Look Any Further" is a 1984 song by American singer Dennis Edwards featuring Siedah Garrett, and is written by Franne Golde, Dennis Lambert and Duane Hitchings. It is taken from the singer's debut album by the same name and peaked at No. ...

" for

Dave Koz David Stephen Koz (born March 27, 1963) is an American smooth jazz saxophonist, composer, record producer, and radio personality based in California. Early life Dave Koz was born in Encino, California, to Jewish parents: Norman, a dermatologist ...

's album '' Lucky Man''. In 1994, Davis reunited with

to record their second album, '' Anything Goes!''.Published by Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (April 2, 1994). Clivilles and Cole retool C+C Music Factory. ''Billboard'', Vol. 106: No. 14, Page 24. Retrieved from https://books.google.com The album's lead single "Do You Wanna Get Funky", which featured Davis and

, peaked at number-one on ''Billboard's'' Dance chart. Davis also appears on the song "I Found Love". In 1997, she released a song called "I'm Calling (Say It Loud)" on the soundtrack for the documentary film, ''

When We Were Kings ''When We Were Kings'' is a 1996 American documentary film directed by Leon Gast about the "Rumble in the Jungle" heavyweight championship match that was held on October 30, 1974, in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) between world ...

''. In 2000, Davis released a single called "Power", which peaked at number-one on ''Billboard's'' Hot Dance Maxi-Singles Sales.Published by Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (October 21, 2000). The Dance Trax Hot Plate. ''Billboard'', Vol. 112: No. 43, Page 33. Retrieved from https://books.google.com In June 2008, Davis appeared on

DJ Heavygrinder Bobbie Merveille (born 1983) better known by her stage names DJ Heavygrinder and Marie Vaunt is an American disc jockey. Biography Merveille was born in Seattle, Washington to a French-American father and a Japanese mother. She was raised in J ...

's single "Mind Reader". In August 2008, Zelma Davis and Amber released a remake of

Donna Summer LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the " Queen of Disco", while her mus ...

and

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...

's "

No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" is a 1979 song recorded by American singers Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer. It was written by Paul Jabara and Bruce Roberts, and produced by Giorgio Moroder and Gary Klein. The song was recorded for Streis ...

". In 2009, she released another single with DJ Heavygrinder called "Chains of Love". In 2010, she released three singles: "Free Love", "Touch the Sky", and "Summer of Love". In January 2015, she released a single with Dank called "1994 (Rhythm Is Right)". In 2017, Davis appeared in the TV series "

Dr. Ken ''Dr. Ken'' is an American multi-camera sitcom that aired on ABC from October 2, 2015, to March 31, 2017. The series was created, written, and co-executive produced by its lead actor, Ken Jeong, who based the concept on his experience as a physic ...

".Dr. Ken – Full Cast & Crew
IMDb. Retrieved on June 5, 2017

Discography

Singles

Awards and nominations

;American Music Awards ;Grammy Music Awards ;MTV Video Music Awards *Note: These are nominations Davis shares with the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Zelma Columbia Records artists House musicians Living people American people of Liberian descent Americo-Liberian people 20th-century African-American women singers African-American women singer-songwriters 1970 births 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singers 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers 21st-century African-American women singers C+C Music Factory members

Career

Discography

Singles

Awards and nominations

See also

References