The Weather Girls

For other uses, see Weather Girl (disambiguation).

The Weather Girls
Also known as	The Two Tons, and later Two Tons O' Fun
Origin	United States
Genres	Hi-NRG, Urban, Dance-pop, Disco
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1977–1985 1999-present
Labels	Columbia (1982–1985), Thirty-7 Recordings (2005–present)
Associated acts	The Mary Jane Girls The McCain Girls Sylvester Patrick Cowley
Website	[1]
Members	Dynelle Rhodes
Past members	Izora Armstead Martha Wash

The Weather Girls, also known as Two Tons o' Fun (especially during the early portion of their career), are an American duo comprising two African-American women. The girl group has charted several dance hits over the course of its career, with its peak in popularity having occurred in 1982, when the group released the hit song "It's Raining Men." The group currently comprises Dynelle Rhodes, the daughter of founding member Izora Armstead, who died in 2004, and a second singer.

Known career

The original Two Tons were Martha Wash and Izora Armstead. Though the mainstream pop market considers the team a one-hit wonder for "It's Raining Men" (though the song did not make the Top 40 in the US, peaking at #46 on the Billboard Hot 100), they recorded three songs which peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart under the "Two Tons o' Fun" name: "Earth Can Be Just Like Heaven" (1980); "Just Us" (1980 and also made #29 on the US R&B chart); and the Hi-NRG song "I Got the Feeling" in 1981. They were brought together by Sylvester as his backing group (from 1977 to 1981), who also gave them the name 'Two Tons O' Fun.' They also backed Aretha Franklin (on "Freeway of Love"), and Bob Seger (1986). They are best known for their 1982 #1 club and pop hit, "It's Raining Men", the recording of which music producer Paul Jabara supervised and from which the name "The Weather Girls" was derived. After the success of "It's Raining Men", other hits with the original line-up (which adopted the Weather Girls moniker permanently after the hit) included "Dear Santa (Bring Me a Man this Christmas)", for which, as with "It's Raining Men", an accompanying music video was made, and "No One Can Love You More Than Me." The group disbanded in 1985, while Wash moved on to a solo career, one that continues into the present day. (Wash also recorded for C+C Music Factory at the peak of that band's popularity in the early 1990s.)

In the 1990s, Izora Armstead moved to Germany, where she and her daughter Dynelle Rhodes re-formed the group for touring in Europe, and in 2002 they joined the "Disco Brothers" for a participation in the German National Final for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Get Up". In the end, the group only managed a 13th place out of 15. The Weather Girls released a new album, Totally Wild, in late 2005. It scored an underground club hit with "Wild Thang." Like the original Weather Girls, the duo has proven very successful with its gay male core audience.

In 2008, the Weather Girls were listed as featured artists on the song, "Break You" by Ralph Falcon of the bands Murk and Funky Green Dogs. This song spent one week at #1 on the American dance chart in May 2008. [2]

Discography

Albums

Year	Album
1980	Two Tons of Fun
1980	Backatcha (as The Two Tons)
1983	Success
1985	Big Girls Don't Cry
1985	Megatonnage, The best of The Two Tons (Aka The Weather Girls)
1988	Weather Girls
1993	Double Tons Of Fun
1995	Think Big!
1999	Puttin' On The Hits
2005	Totally Wild

Partial singles chart success

Year	Single	US Dance	US Pop	US R&B
1980	"Earth Can Be Just Like Heaven"	2	-	-
	"I Got the Feeling"	2	-	-
	"Just Us"	2	-	29
1982	"It's Raining Men"	1	46	34
1985	"No One Can Love You More Than Me"	26	-	-
	"Well-A-Wiggy"	-	107	76 (airplay)
1993	"Can You Feel It"	2	-	-

Other singles by the Weather Girls

• "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair"
• "Success"
• "Dear Santa (Bring Me a Man This Christmas)"
• "Big Girls Don't Cry"
• "Love You Like a Train"
• "Land of the Believer"
• "Laughter in the Rain"
• "Sounds of Sex"
• "Wild Thang"
• "Girl You And Me"
• "We Shall All Be Free"
• "Party"
• "Star (feat. Jimmy Somerville)"

See also

• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

External links

• The Weather Girls at Allmusic
• official homepage (www.the-weathergirls.de) (german)