Martha Wash

Martha Wash
Wash performing at Sommarkrysset, Gröna Lund, 2008.
Background information
Born	(1953-12-23) December 23, 1953 (age 63) San Francisco, California, U.S.
Genres	R&B, Soul, Pop, House, Disco
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1977–present
Labels	RCA
Associated acts	The Weather Girls, C+C Music Factory, Black Box, Sylvester, Luther Vandross, Tony Moran, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, RuPaul, Showtek, Eva Shaw
Website	marthawash.com

Martha Wash is a twice Grammy nominated American R&B, pop, soul, and house singer and songwriter with a career spanning over thirty years. Known for her distinctive and powerful dramatic soprano voice, Wash first achieved fame as one half of the successful act Two Tons O' Fun who sang backing for the often dubbed Queen of DiscoSylvester. After gaining their own record deal, they released three consecutive commercially successful songs which all peaked at number 2 in the dance charts. The duo was renamed The Weather Girls in 1982 when they released the multi platinum single "It's Raining Men" in 1982 which brought the band to mainstream pop attention. After the disbanding in 1985, Wash subsequently made a successful transition into House music as a featured artist on several successful songs. This has led her being branded as The Queen of Clubland with seven Dance songs peaking at number one on the American Billboard Charts and a further four Dance songs peaking at number two, her most recent #1 song being the 2015 Tony Moran radio edit of "Free People".

Wash is also noted for spurring legislation in the 1990s that made vocal credits mandatory on CDs and music videos after being denied proper credit (and royalties) for the million selling #1 song "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" after she had been labeled "unmarketable" due to her weight.

In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 58th most successful dance artist of all-time.

Wash began her music career as a backing singer for Sylvester. With fellow backing singer Izora Rhodes, she was half of Two Tons O' Fun, who would later be renamed The Weather Girls. As such, they were responsible for providing much of the firepower behind several of Sylvester's earliest releases – often their voices were mixed so that Sylvester was actually the background singer and Wash's and Rhodes's voices were up front. When they left to pursue a career on their own, they achieved success with a handful of disco-oriented tracks, culminating in the 1982 release "It's Raining Men", a worldwide hit that peaked at No. 2 on the UK singles chart, No. 1 in Australia, No. 1 on the Euro Hot 100, No. 46 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 34 on the U.S. R&B chart, and No. 1 on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart. It reached the top ten in numerous other countries. "It's Raining Men" receives regular play in dance clubs and R&B radio to this day: it stands as one of the classic songs of the late-disco and Hi-NRG era. The Weather Girls scored moderate, lesser-known hits with "Dear Santa (Bring Me a Man for Christmas)" and "No One Can Love You More Than Me" in 1985.