Some musicians hit it big, and then fade away. Meet the one-hit wonders you didn't know passed away.
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00:00For most artists, it's difficult to sustain a long-lasting career in the ever-changing
00:05music business. And although some musicians do manage to hit it big with one song, they
00:10fade away just as quickly. Meet the one-hit wonders you didn't know passed away.
00:15In July 2021, the world lost one of the biggest one-hit wonders of all time, Biz Marquis.
00:22His song, Just a Friend, peaked at number nine on Billboard in 1990 and stayed on the
00:26charts for 22 weeks. The song is a rap by Marquis mixed with some of the beat and lyrics
00:32of the 1968 song, You Got What I Need, by Freddie Scott. It went platinum in the year
00:37of its release.
00:39Biz Marquis was born Marcel Theo Hall in Harlem, New York, in 1964. According to Vulture, Marquis
00:46burst onto the rap scene in 1985 as a reputed beatboxer. He came up alongside famous rappers
00:52such as Doug E. Fresh and often worked with Big Daddy Kane. His hip-hop talents mixed
00:57with his humorous lyrics earned him the title The Clown Prince of Hip-Hop.
01:02Marquis released a few more albums after the success of Just a Friend and continued to
01:06perform for decades, but he never entered the charts again. The rapper's health took
01:11a downturn starting in April 2020. He died July 16, 2021, in Baltimore, Maryland, at
01:17just 57 years old.
01:20He's cause of death is unconfirmed, but he was known to have struggled with type 2 diabetes.
01:26In 2010, Cali Swag District's first single, Teach Me How to Dougie, became a national
01:31dance sensation. Michelle Obama could be found doing the Dougie at her Let's Move events
01:37and on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. According to The Guardian, the Dougie was inspired by
01:42the dance moves of 1980s hip-hop artist Doug E. Fresh.
01:46In May 2011, one of the members of Cali Swag District, Monte M. Bone Talbert, was killed
01:53in Inglewood, California in a drive-by shooting. According to Billboard, M. Bone was the comedic
01:59center of the group and helped launch the Dougie to mainstream audiences. Talbert was
02:04only 22 years old. After his death, the remaining three members continued and released an album,
02:09The Kickback.
02:10In 2014, the group lost a second member, Karan J.R. Childs. He was suffering from sickle
02:17cell anemia and died of a cardiac arrest after being admitted to a hospital. He was 25 years
02:23old. Following these two tragedies, Cali Swag District dissolved.
02:28Adam Schlesinger formed Fountains of Wayne with Chris Collingwood in the mid-'90s. The
02:33band didn't have a hit until 2003, when they released the song, Stacy's Mom. According
02:39to UDiscoverMusic.com, Schlesinger and Collingwood wrote the song based on a friend of Schlesinger's
02:45who was attracted to his grandma. It was an ode to early puberty, Schlesinger said. It's
02:51a combination of sexual awakening and limited contact with a large number of people.
02:56The song earned them a Grammy nomination for Best Vocal Performance and Best New Artist.
03:01Adam Schlesinger was a talented writer and musician who wrote a lot of music for television
03:06in addition to his Fountains of Wayne success. Schlesinger won a Grammy for A Colbert Christmas,
03:12The Greatest Gift of All. He also won three Emmys, one for his work on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
03:17and two for co-writing the Tony Awards telecast. Furthermore, Schlesinger was nominated for
03:22an Oscar for the title track in the 1996 film That Thing You Do. On April 1, 2020, it was
03:29announced that Schlesinger had died from complications caused by COVID-19. He was 52 years old.
03:37Johann Hans Hölzel went by the stage name Falco, and his song, Rock Me Amadeus, hit
03:42number one on the Billboard charts in 1986. While only known for Rock Me Amadeus in the
03:48U.S., Hölzel's 1982 debut hit, Der Kommissar, hit European charts when he was only 25 years
03:54old. According to Der Spiegel, Hölzel was philosophical about his fame. He said,
03:59"'Today, platinum. Tomorrow, tin. Today they kiss your feet and tomorrow the dog won't
04:04even look at you.'"
04:05Technically, Rock Me Amadeus is a rap song, meaning that the Austrian singer holds the
04:10distinct recognition of being the first rap artist to reach number one on the U.S. charts.
04:16While Falco never had another hit at the same level, he did sell 60 million records over
04:21the course of his career. While vacationing in the Dominican Republic in 1998, a car Hölzel
04:26was driving was hit by a truck. He died at age 40.
04:31Doug Feiger was the lead singer of the band The Knack, whose hit, My Sharona, was number
04:35one in the summer of 1979. The song gained attention again in 1994, when it was part
04:41of the film Reality Bites' soundtrack. According to NPR, Feiger was inspired to write the song
04:47by a teenager named Sharona Alperin. While the two did date, they never married, but
04:52remained friends. In an interview for Variety, Alperin said the song took Feiger less than
04:5715 minutes to write.
04:59Feiger was born in Detroit in 1952 and grew up in Oak Park, Michigan. Before graduating
05:04high school, his band Sky signed to RCA. Sky recorded two albums, but then the band dissolved.
05:11In 1978, Feiger created The Knack. After the success of their debut album and the hit My
05:16Sharona, The Knack went on to release a few more albums, but never again reached the success
05:21of their first run. In 2010, Feiger died of lung cancer. He was 57.
05:27Pete Burns was the lead singer of the band Dead or Alive, whose song, You Spin Me Right
05:32Round, reached the Billboard Top 20 in 1985. According to Newsweek, the track was also
05:38covered by Adam Sandler in the movie The Wedding Singer, Jessica Simpson in 2005, and had even
05:43greater success in 2009 when it was sampled on Flo Rida and Kesha's Right Round.
05:49The song was produced by SAW, a trio that went on to create other hits such as Rick
05:54Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up. Burns was born in Cheshire, England in 1959. His father
06:00was English, and his mother, who was German, had survived the Holocaust. He dropped out
06:04of school at age 14 and formed the band Dead or Alive by 1980. According to The Guardian,
06:10Burns became famous for his androgynous style and his progressive approach to gender. He
06:15even accused Boy George of stealing his style.
06:18"...anybody that sets themselves apart visually is not like anybody else. It's the most obvious
06:22statement that you can make, you know, your visual side."
06:25Dead or Alive recorded several albums, but never again achieved the same level of success
06:30as with You Spin Me Right Round. Burns remained in the limelight through appearances on reality
06:35shows including Big Brother and Celebrity Wife Swap, and was a well-known figure in
06:40the UK. According to the BBC, Burns died of a cardiac arrest in 2016. He was 57 years
06:46old.
06:48Minnie Riperton is most famous for her song, Lovin' You, which was released in 1974. The
06:53song is a high-pitched lullaby that was originally created for Riperton's daughter, Maya Rudolph.
06:58Yes, the well-known comedian from Saturday Night Live and Bridesmaids.
07:01"...I didn't really put together that Lovin' You was for me and my brother."
07:06Lovin' You has been featured in commercials for large companies such as Burger King and
07:11Visa. It has also been used in films such as Vegas Vacation and The Nutty Professor.
07:16Riperton was born in Chicago in 1947 and studied music, drama, and dance as a young girl. Before
07:22graduating high school, she joined a band called The Gems, which signed with Chicago's
07:27Chess Records. She also performed backup vocals for The Dells and Etta James. In the late
07:3260s, she partnered with her husband, Richard Rudolph, a prolific composer. Because she
07:37had worked as a backup singer for Stevie Wonder, the legendary musician agreed to help her
07:42produce her album Perfect Angel, which featured the song Lovin' You.
07:46Riperton's fame grew slowly, but soon she was doing appearances on American Bandstand
07:51and Soul Train. Just as she was offered the opportunity to release another album, she
07:56was diagnosed with breast cancer. She continued to perform for live audiences until her death
08:01in 1979. She was just 31.
08:05Polly Fuemana was the lead singer of OMC, whose song, How Bizarre, was number one on
08:09the U.S. Billboard charts in 1997 and stayed on the charts for 32 weeks. OMC stood for
08:15Otara Millionaires Club, an homage to the neighborhood where Fuemana grew up in Auckland,
08:20New Zealand. According to The Guardian, Otara was one of New Zealand's poorest communities,
08:26hence the irony of the name.
08:27Fuemara was born to a Maori mother and a Nuean father and spoke Nuean first. He reportedly
08:34had a rough childhood, joining gangs and later spending time in youth prison. Then success
08:39came at him fast, and he did not handle it well. He was sued by his producer for royalties
08:44and by 2006 had declared bankruptcy. Fuemana continued to work at building his music career,
08:50but never reached the success of How Bizarre again.
08:52It was a good ride while it lasted, and I got to see the world. Like, I really got to
08:57see the world.
08:59In 2010, Fuemana died of a rare autoimmune disorder. He was 40 years old and left behind
09:05his wife and six children. According to YouDiscoverMusic.com, the hit continues to be popular. It reports
09:11that more than 100,000 TikTok videos incorporate the song's lyrics and that the How Bizarre
09:17hashtag has generated more than 1.4 billion views.
09:22Chrissy Amplet was the lead singer of the Australian rock band The Divinyls. Best known
09:27for their 1991 hit song, I Touch Myself, the song was a collaboration between the band
09:32and songwriters Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg, who were famous for hits, including Madonna's
09:37Like a Virgin. The music video for the song was directed by none other than Michael Bay.
09:42While the band released seven albums between 1983 and 1996, none of their songs reached
09:48the same level of success as I Touch Myself.
09:51Amplet was born in 1959 in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. She formed The Divinyls in 1980.
09:58Along with singing and songwriting, Amplet was an actress, appearing in an Australian
10:03film called Monkey Grip and a stage production of Blood Brothers. In the late 90s, Amplet
10:08left the band to pursue acting further. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2006
10:14and breast cancer in 2010. Fittingly, the song I Touch Myself has been used in a campaign
10:20to educate women about breast cancer. In 2013, Amplet died of breast cancer. She was 53 years
10:26old.
10:28R&B singer Jermaine Stewart's hit song, We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off, reached
10:32No. 5 on the Billboard 100 charts in 1986. The song has popped up on the soundtracks
10:37for the films Zack and Miri Make a Porno and TV shows such as Scrubs. According to AllMusic,
10:44Stewart started off as a dancer on Soul Train and moved on to be a backup singer for large
10:48acts such as Boy George. He landed a deal with Arista Records and released four albums,
10:54with We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off his biggest success.
10:58Stewart was born in Columbus, Ohio, but his family moved to Chicago when he was still
11:02young. He died in 1997 of liver cancer caused by AIDS, according to a book written by AIDS
11:08advocate Dr. Terry Easley. Jermaine Stewart was only 39 years old.
11:14Not to be confused with the Bon Jovi song released in 2000, It's My Life was written
11:19and sung by Mark Hollis in 1983. No Doubt also covered it in 2003. It's My Life initially
11:26entered the charts in 1984, and it was the first and last hit for the band Talk Talk.
11:32The band was formed in 1981 in London by Hollis. Shortly after, it signed with EMI and began
11:37touring with Duran Duran. After the success of It's My Life, the band decided to change
11:43its sound, which made them less commercial. But nevertheless, they continued to work together
11:47until they released their final album in 1991.
11:51Hollis was born in Tottenham, England in 1955. He was heavily influenced by his older brother
11:56Ed, who was a music producer. After Talk Talk released its last album, Hollis dropped out
12:01of public life to focus on his family. He later released a solo album, and was commissioned
12:06to do the music for the TV show Boss in 2012. But other than that, he flew under the radar
12:11until his death in 2019.
12:13Per NPR, Hollis' manager stated that the musician died due to a short illness from
12:18which he never recovered. The style and genius of Mark Hollis has been credited as the inspiration
12:24for many bands, including Radiohead.
12:26I Just Died in Your Arms was a No. 1 Billboard hit in 1987 for the band Cutting Crew. Kevin
12:33McMichael was not the singer, but the lead guitarist and writer for the group. I Just
12:37Died in Your Arms earned the band a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, and Cutting
12:41Crew released a few more albums after their debut success, but failed to enter the charts
12:46again. They ultimately disbanded in 1993.
12:50McMichael was born in New Brunswick, Canada in 1951. He started playing guitar in high
12:55school and learned hundreds of Beatles songs. He formed Cutting Crew with Nick Van Ede,
13:00the band's lead singer, in 1985. When McMichael left the group, he went on to work with Robert
13:05Plant as a guitarist and writer.
13:07In 2002, McMichael was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died later that year at the age
13:12of 51.
13:14It's hard to call Dan Hartman a one-hit wonder because he wrote many great songs, but he
13:19is only known for singing one. Aside from writing and performing I Can Dream About You,
13:24which peaked at No. 6 in 1984, he wrote and produced James Brown's Living in America,
13:30which made it to No. 4. Hartman also wrote Living in America for Rocky IV, which earned
13:34Hartman a Grammy nomination.
13:37According to Song Facts, I Can Dream About You was initially written for the film Streets
13:41of Fire. It was sung by a fictional group, The Sorrels, and the vocals were provided
13:45by Winston Ford. It is Hartman's voice on the soundtrack and the single released that
13:50same year.
13:51Hartman was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1950. According to danhartman.com, he began
13:56playing piano at age 7 and by 13 was writing songs for his brother's band, The Legends.
14:02Hartman worked with the Edgar Winter Group in the 70s until he broke out with his first
14:06solo album in 1976. While his music did well in the UK, it was not until I Can Dream About
14:12You that he reached the U.S. charts. Though he continued to write and produce, nothing
14:17else he released had the same success. According to MetroSource, those close to him believe
14:22he contracted HIV sometime in the late 1980s. He kept his status a secret, although he died
14:27in 1994 from a brain tumor considered related to his AIDS diagnosis.
14:33Shannon Hoon was the long-haired, 20-something lead singer for the band Blind Melon. The
14:37group's hit song, No Rain, invaded the public's consciousness in 1993. Released in MTV's Glory
14:44Days, lots of people remember it from watching the video. It featured a young girl tap dancing
14:48in a bee costume on stage and then wandering around Los Angeles looking for applause until
14:53she finds a field full of bee people just like her.
14:57Hoon was born in Lafayette, Indiana, the same hometown as Axl Rose, in 1967. The Blind Melon
15:03frontman sang backing vocals on several Guns N' Roses tracks and also shared lead vocals
15:08with Rose on the song Don't Cry.
15:10He invited me to come down to the studio just to see what it was like to watch an album
15:15be recorded.
15:16At the same time, Hoon was working with Blind Melon, which formed in 1990. In 1995, Hoon
15:22was found dead from a cocaine overdose on his tour bus in New Orleans. His daughter,
15:27Nico Blue, had been born only three months prior. Blind Melon had just released its second
15:32album, Soup, and Hoon had just turned 28 a month before.
15:38Rob Pilatus was one half of the infamous duo Milli Vanilli, along with Fab Morvan. The
15:43act rose to fame with the hit song, Girl You Know It's True, in 1989. That same year, while
15:49performing a concert in Connecticut, the song that they were mouthing along to skipped.
15:54Pilatus told Biography,
15:55"...I knew right then and there it was the beginning of the end for Milli Vanilli."
16:00It took the rest of the world a bit longer, but a year later it became widely known that
16:04Milli Vanilli was lip-syncing and not the true artists behind the hit. Girl You Know
16:08It's True was not even a new song. It was first released by the band Numarks. Music
16:13producer Frank Farian reportedly heard the track and knew he could make it better. He
16:18remixed the song with new vocals and hired Pilatus and Morvan to be the frontmen.
16:22When the news that the performers were not the same artists who recorded their album
16:25broke, Pilatus and Morvan were stripped of their Grammys and ostracized. Though the two
16:30tried to make a comeback on an album of their own, they were never able to reach the level
16:35of success made with Milli Vanilli.
16:37"...Money is not that important. For me, it really is important to find my happiness,
16:42my inner peace. And I can't do this with money."
16:45Pilatus died in 1998 of a suspected drug overdose. He was just 33 years old.
16:52Stuart Adamson was the lead singer of the band Big Country, best known for their hit
16:56song, In a Big Country. The song made it to the U.S. Billboard charts in 1983. According
17:02to Song Facts, Adamson said of the song,
17:05"...the lyrical idea was about having hope, a sense of self in times of trouble."
17:09Big Country was nominated for two Grammys, for Best New Artist and for Best Rock Performance
17:14by a Duo or Group for their song, In a Big Country. Born in 1958 in Manchester, England,
17:21but raised in Dunfermline, Scotland, Adamson began singing in the punk band The Skids in
17:26his teens. He formed Big Country in the 1980s, and according to The Guardian, the band once
17:31competed with U2 as contenders for the Celtic Rock crown.
17:36Big Country continued to make records and perform until 2000, when Adamson decided to
17:41leave the group. They never had another hit in the U.S. Adamson moved to Nashville to
17:45start an alternative country band called The Raphaels. In 2001, it was reported that Adamson
17:51had taken his own life in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was 43 years old.
17:56If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide
18:01Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK. 1-800-273-8255.