| The Weather Girls | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| 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–present |
| Labels | Columbia (1982–1989), Thirty-7 Recordings (2005–present) |
| Associated acts | The Mary Jane Girls The McCain Girls Sylvester Patrick Cowley |
| Members | |
| Ingrid Arthur 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 plus-size 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 Ingrid Arthur and Dynelle Rhodes, the daughters of founding member Izora Armstead, who died in 2004.
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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" (even though the group technically does not qualify for the title, since the song did not make the Top 40, 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.
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 current members of the group are sisters Dynelle Rhodes and Ingrid Arthur, who are the daughters of Armstead, who died in 2004. They released a new Weather Girls 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. [1]
| 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 |
| 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" | - | - | 76 (airplay) | |
| 1993 | "Can You Feel It" | 2 | - | - |