Was singer Kym Mazelle “Useless” or have we “Got To Get her Back”? If you “Love her The Right Way”, you won’t have to “Wait”!
Thirty years ago, Indiana born singer Kym Mazelle crept into the charts with her debut single “Useless”. It began a career that is still very much alive and well today, as we shall see…
Kym (born Kymberly Grigsby in 1960) began her career as a club singer and infiltrated the dance floor’s of America in the mid-1980’s. Indeed, she is regarded as the first lady of house music to this day. It was her work with DJ and producer Marshall Jefferson that got her noticed and in late 1988 she released her debut single “Useless (I Don’t Need You Now)”, which topped the dance and club charts the world over. It made little impact, however, on the commercial sales charts and it was only in the UK that the single actually charted, failing to reach any higher than No.53.
It was in the UK in January 1989 that Kym broke out commercially when she duetted with The Blow Monkeys (whatever happened to them?) lead singer ‘Dr.’ Robert Howard on the song “Wait”, which reached No.7 there as well as charting across Europe. It did not receive a commercial release the The US.
Kym’s debut album “Crazy” was released soon after, although that was the title that European’s got. For the US and Canada the record was titled “Brilliant”. She followed “Wait” with “Got To Get You Back” (UK No.29), “Love Strain” (UK No.52) and “Was That All It Was?” (UK No.33). A further track from the album “Don’t Scandalize My Name” was released to the US clubs and made No.22 on the dance chart there in early 1990.
1990 saw a remixed version of “Useless” hit the clubs and the charts reaching No.48 in the UK, five places higher than the original did, as well as Kym guest vocalling on dance group Soul II Soul’s single “Missing You” (UK No.22, US dance No.39).
Kym stayed with club/dance anthems at the beginning of 1993 when she provided vocals on UK duo Rapination’s smash hit “Love Me The Right Way”, and hooray, it broke the US singles chart!…if only at No.97! The song made No.22 in the UK and was remixed and reproduced in 1996, this time reaching No.20 on the US dance chart and No.55 on the UK singles chart, somewhat lower than the original version four years earlier.
1994 was a busy year for Kym when she teamed up with Jocelyn Brown for their version of “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)” which hit No.13 in the UK as well as “Gimme All Your Lovin'” which made No.22. She recorded “Young Hearts Run Free” for Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Romeo + Juliet’ film soundtrack which made No.20 in the UK, No.11 in Australia and No.16 in New Zealand.
Since the 1990’s Kym has provided guest vocals on a number of dance tunes and has worked with some top producers including David Morales. In 2004 she released her second album “The Pleasure Is All Mine” FIFTEEN years after her debut! Her third album “Destiny” came in 2010. She has appeared on a number of reality TV shows and celebrity bake off shows. Since 2017, she has been touring with her thirty years in music show.
Stay in touch with Kym through her WEBSITE and her FACEBOOK page
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