Formed Los Angeles, 1972 · Capitol Records · No. 3 Hot 100 with “Sukiyaki” in 1981
The Los Angeles group founded by Janice-Marie Johnson and Perry Kibble won the 1979 Grammy for Best New Artist off the back of “Boogie Oogie Oogie.” Johnson had heard Sakamoto’s record as a child in 1963 and pushed Capitol to let her remake it; she contacted Rokusuke Ei for a literal translation, found it would not scan in English, and wrote an entirely new English lyric. Against advice to cut it as a dance track, the group kept it a ballad — and it went to No. 1 R&B and No. 3 pop in 1981. The record is genuinely superb; what it is not is a translation, or the first recording.
Who recorded it
Songs credited to A Taste of Honey that are covers