Song:Don't Stop The Music
Album:The Best Of Yarbrough & Peoples
Don't Stop The Music was the very first single by Yarbrough & Peoples. It topped the R & B charts and was a top twenty pop hit in 1980. They continued to be a staple on the R & B charts until their record label closed in 1986. Keyboard player Calvin Yarbrough and singer Alisa Peoples are from Dallas. They were childhood friends and grew up singing in church. After both graduated from college, Peoples took a day job and Yarbrough sang and played keyboards for a funk band called Grand Theft. At a 1977 local club gig, Peoples sang with the band and she became a regular member. Their big break came when Robert, Ronnie & Charlie Wilson AKA The Gap Band spotted them and took them on tour as background vocalists. Yarbrough played one of their demos for Charlie and he took it to their manager and producer Lonnie Simmons. They turned up at the Los Angeles office of his Total Experience label. he sent them into the recording studio with house producer Jonah Ellis. Don't Stop The Music topped the R & B charts and reached #19 on the Billboard Hot 100. Peoples wrote the words to the song and Simmons & Ellis were credited with writing the music. Using a live drummer and a drum machine was a key element to the success of the song. Yarbrough & Peoples continued to have a lot of success on the R & B charts until Total Experience folded in 1986. This comp has all their hits. Don't Stop The music is frequently sampled. most significantly on Don't Stop What You're Doin' by Puff Daddy in 1997, Gangsta Lovin' by Eve & Alicia Keys in 2002 and Let It Go by Keyshia Cole in 2007. Yarbrough & Peoples are now married and still perform but they haven't recorded since the 80s. Here's Yarbrough & Peoples performing Don't Stop The Music.
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