Song:Sugar Free
Album:The Masters: Mellow Groove
Jerry Barnes is a bassist, producer, arranger and recording engineer who had brief success with the duo Juicy with his sister Katreese Barnes. Sugar Free was a top 20 R & B hit in 1986. Barnes is from New York and he is primarily a recording engineer and a go to guy for remixes. He was a one time member of Chic and worked with Chuck Mangione and Brazilian jazz musician and arranger Eumir Deodato. He formed Juicy with Katreese in 1982 and the duo was named after James Mtume's 1982 hit Juicy Fruit. They recorded their debut album for Arista in 1982. It went nowhere. But Juicy got some traction when Beat Street Strut appeared on the soundtrack of the 1984 film Beat Street and it made the dance charts. This led to a deal with the Columbia owned Private I Records. The 1986 album It Takes Two was produced by Eumir Deodato and the single Sugar Free reached #13 on the R & B Singles chart. Sugar Free is an answer song to Juicy Fruit. The song was certified Gold. It's probably one of those songs that you will remember when you hear it. Follow up singles and the 1987 album Spread The Love did not sell so Jerry Barnes ended Juicy. You can get Sugar Free on this Sony various artists comp that is part of a series of R & B masters CDs. Though they ended the group, Jerry & Katreese Barnes still work together in the recording studio. He has produced Chaka Khan, Roberta Flack and Phyllis Hyman among others. He does a lot of remixes which tells me he has a great ear and real talent at the studio control board. And Katreese does backup vocals and plays sax and keyboards. And Jerry Barnes produced a bass instructional DVD in 2009. So Juicy had their brief fling with success but are still making music today. Here's a video for Sugar Free by Juicy.
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