Pretty Poison
formed 1981 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Did you know this about the Latin Freestyle Legend?
Philly can undoubtedly celebrate the emergence of the American dance group Pretty Poison in the 1980s.
The band started as a rock band with Whey Cooler and his brother, and soon Starling joined the gig, and the threesome was reduced to two.
Pretty Poison is named after the 1968 movie, which had absolutely nothing in common with what the group wanted to be. They merely found the name mysterious and romantic.
With a career spanning two decades, Pretty Poison has seen much of the good, the bad, and the ugly. The duo made up of Vocalist Jade Starling and Whey Cooler on the keyboards celebrated their initial success with their 1981 debut "Gimme Gimme Your Autograph."
Although the band was initially rock-oriented, they soon realized that changes had to be made if they wanted to be known. This leaned more toward electronica and syncopation, which ultimately became what we know as Freestyle today.
All records show a nosedive as the band took a wrong turn with synthesizers but subsequently came back strong with their hit "Nighttime" in 1984, landing them the #14 spot on the US Hot Dance Club Play Chart.
1987 saw amazing things happen for Pretty Poison when their single "Catch Me," under the Virgin Label, was featured in the movie Hiding Out and came at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and a number 1 on the Dance chart.
Surprisingly, "Nighttime" was re-recorded in 1988 and became their second Hot 100 hit.
Pretty Poisons' first album, Laced, was released in 1983 under the Svengali Label and featured artists like Lou Franco on guitars and Kaya Pryor on percussion.
Although there were not many notable mentions, it is interesting to see that most of Pretty Poisons' music worked a little better after a remix.
Pretty Poison was also featured at the Battle of the Bands in 1986 as the opening act for The ClockMen.
Whey Cooler suffered a significant setback in 2017 with a throat cancer diagnosis.
Back in the 1980s, Pretty Poison was pretty much a starving band, but it was then that Cooler decided to invest in a new keyboard, a Roland D 50. This probably was the turning point for the duo since "Catch Me" was released shortly after.
Pretty Poison have experienced what we would call diverse success. The band has made appearances on shows like Entertainment Tonight, American Bandstand, and Soul Train.
They separated from the Virgin label in the 1990s, and although they continued to record together, Jade Starling pursued her solo career at the same time while Cooler continued producing. He was one of the first people to work with Eve and other significant names like Eric B and Capone.
As a result of his cancer diagnosis, Cooler has committed his time to an organization that he started called Party2Life, intending to create more awareness around HPV-related cancer.