March 2, 2015
Rose Royce and Crystal Waters Rock Dinah Dance Floor
Winnie McCroy READ TIME: 4 MIN.
Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend is celebrating its 25th Anniversary with two of the biggest dance-floor legends: Rose Royce and Crystal Waters.
Continuing its old-school icons series, The Dinah is cranking up the decibels and bringing the heat of disco inferno to your dancing feet during its world-renown epic weekend pool parties showcasing two disco/dance giants whose timeless club anthems have been continuously capturing old and new generations.
On Saturday, April 4, they will kick the weekend off with the annual Cabana Girl Pool Party at the Hilton hotel with an exclusive live performance by "100% Pure Love" club diva, Crystal Waters. Keeping the groove going until the very last day of the festival, Rose Royce will take you back to the bellbottoms and platform shoes disco era with its finest classics during the Dinah's Sunday, April 5 Pool Party.
"Rose Royce and Crystal Waters bring a legendary aspect to The Dinah. They are both iconoclastic performers who will bring years of experience and showmanship to our attendees," said Mariah Hanson, founder and producer of Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend. "Both shows are going to shake the pool deck, no doubt! I'm excited to bring two artists who attract a broad range of admirers and to expose these legends to our younger clientele as well."
Legendary house singer, Crystal Waters became a nightclub staple in the early '90s with her infectious single "Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless)" and has since been keeping millions of fans dancing beneath disco balls all over the world. Her follow-up single "100% Pure Love" spent 48 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1994, becoming one of the longest charting singles of all time. In addition to being certified gold, "100% Pure Love" won the Billboard Music Award for top-selling club single.
Since then Waters has remained a prominent force in the underground dance scene. Her singles "Dancefloor" and "Never Enough" were both Top 20 Billboard dance hits. "Destination Calabria" was #1 on the pop charts in more than thirty countries. "Le Bump" -- her collaboration with Yolanda Be Cool -- reached the top of the Beatport House Chart, and "Come On Down" (based on the theme song from The Price Is Right), "My Time," and "Oh, Mama, Hey" all hit # 1 on the Billboard charts.
These days, Waters collaborates on house and EDM singles with renowned DJs like Chris Cox and Armand Pena; she's currently compiling remixes for a release celebrating the 20th anniversary of her mega hit "100% Pure Love."
First formed under the name Total Concept Unlimited in the early '70s, the funky and talented R&B soul music group from Los Angeles, California, Rose Royce rose to international fame providing several songs for the seminal soundtrack of the 1976 comedy film "Car Wash."
Written and produced by former Motown producer Norman Whitfield, "Car Wash" was the group's debut single and one of the most notable successes of the disco era. Reaching number one in the United States on the Billboard pop and R&B charts, "Car Wash" also peaked at number three on the disco charts. The supremely rousing and syncopated titular tune became a massive #1 hit on both the R&B and Billboard Top 10 pop charts. The songs "I Wanna Get Next to You" and "I'm Going Down" likewise did well on the R&B radio charts while the soundtrack album sold over a million copies.
Rose Royce had further follow-up R&B chart hits with the songs "Do Your Dance," "Ooh Boy," "I'm in Love (And I Love the Feeling)" and the poignant ballad "Love Don't Live Here Anymore," which Madonna later covered. Other notable music artists that have covered their songs include: Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Teena Marie, Patti LaBelle and En Vogue.
Yet it was the 2004 rendition of "Car Wash" by Christina Aguilera and Missy Elliott -- released as the single for the "Shark Tank" soundtrack -- that famously gave the iconic disco anthem a modern revival and became another meteoric success selling over 1.5 million copies worldwide.
Crystal Waters and Rose Royce will create a splash at the Dinah's Pool Parties performing several of their hits appealing to old school just as much as the new.
Bring your best attitude and your boogie shoes, and be prepared to get your groove on. It's old school time at The Dinah!
Winnie McCroy is the Women on the EDGE Editor, HIV/Health Editor, and Assistant Entertainment Editor for EDGE Media Network, handling all women's news, HIV health stories and theater reviews throughout the U.S. She has contributed to other publications, including The Village Voice, Gay City News, Chelsea Now and The Advocate, and lives in Brooklyn, New York.