David Cole (C&C Music Factory)

A production team comprising Robert Clivill’s (b. New York City, New York, USA) and David Cole (b. 1963, Tennessee, USA, d. 24 January 1995, USA), who first recorded as A Black Man And A Dominican with "Do It Properly" on their own label in 1987. As C & C Music Factory they reached US number 1 and UK number 3 in 1990 with "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)'. Although this was credited to C+C Music Factory featuring Freedom Williams (a rapper who also appeared on records by New Kids On The Block and Grace Jones), the duo were solely in charge of matters, hiring vocalists and musicians and programming the backbeat. Over the next two years guest singers included Zelma Davis (b. Liberia), whose contribution was lip-synched, with the vocal actually provided by Martha Wash of the Weather Girls, Q Unique and Deborah Cooper. Though they enjoyed six further UK Top 40 hits during 1991 and 1992, including a re-recording of U2"s "Pride (In The Name Of Love)", only "Things That Make You Go Hmmmm ...", again jointly credited with Williams, reached the Top 10. The latter also provided the duo with their third consecutive US Top 5 hit, following the number 3 hit "Here We Go". It was later widely played during a television advertising campaign. Clivill’s and Cole were also involved with the soundtrack of one of the biggest movies of the 90s, The Bodyguard. They also worked as remixers on songs by Seduction, Sandee and Lisa Lisa And Cult Jam, examples of which were contained on their 1992 album, credited under their own names. Their first remix had been Natalie Cole's "Pink Cadillac", which, in drastically altered form, broke into the US and UK Top 5 in 1988. They released their second album in 1994, but the following year David Cole died of spinal meningitis.