Wanda Dee
Encyclopedia
Wanda Dee is a singer songwriter whose career has spanned many years. Her face and vocals are well known to international audiences through her involvement as lead singer on a number of international hits such as 3 a.m. Eternal
3 a.m. Eternal
"3 a.m. Eternal" is a song by The KLF, numerous versions of which were released as singles between 1989 and 1992. In January 1991, an acid house pop version of the song became an international top ten hit single, hitting #1 in the UK Singles Chart and #5 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and leading to...

 and Last Train to Trancentral
Last Train to Trancentral
"Last Train to Trancentral" is a song released, in different mixes, as a series of singles by The KLF, including "Last Train to Trancentral ", a commercially successful single of April 1991 that reached # 2 in the UK Singles Chart and achieved international top ten placings...

, and "Dee was featured on six Top Ten singles, including "Last Train to Transcentral" and "Justified and Ancient
Justified and Ancient
"Justified & Ancient" is a song by British band The KLF which featured on their 1991 album The White Room but with origins dating back to the duo's debut album, 1987 ....

","http://www.answers.com/topic/wanda-dee, with the KLF.
Describing her contribution during the 1990s, Word magazine listed her as amongst "the most outstanding female artists of the decade"http://www.abc.net.au/rage/guest/2004/klf.htm

Early Years

She started as one of the first Hip Hop female DJ, and was "forever historialized in HARRY BELAFONTE's film "BEAT STREET" (where she blazed the wheels of steal barely in her teens), to being the first (solo) female rap artist to score two consecutive platinum singles; "THE GODDESS" b/w "TO THE BONE" (Tuff City Records) while still in her early teens (1989), to her present day status as The Empress Of Techno Music"http://www.nealhollanderagency.com/wanda-dee/index.htm

Unauthorised use of vocals by the KLF

British group the KLF, which stands for Kopyright Liberation Front used an unauthorized sample from one of her previous records, and this led to her being involved in the band the KLF.

As Dinnen (1993) describes in an article for Beat magazine, quoting her manager: ""I'd never heard of these people and they'd never asked Wanda's permission to use her voice. They'd taken off her biggest selling rap single 'To The Bone' - the record opens up with Wanda saying 'I wanna see you sweat' - and sampled it right off the record and put it on What Time is Love?. It wasn't until I went to sue Bill Drummond
Bill Drummond
William Ernest Drummond is a Scottish artist, musician, writer and record producer. He was the co-founder of late 1980s avant-garde pop group The KLF and its 1990s media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with which he burned a million pounds in 1994...

 and Jimmy Cauty
Jimmy Cauty
James Francis Cauty is a British artist and musician born in Liverpool, England, in 1956...

 that I discovered they had also taken from the same record the line 'come on boy do you wanna ride?' and slapped that on Last Train to Trancentral."
http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=351
"The KLF stands for Kopyright Liberation Federation - that's what they told us. They spell Kopyright with a K because they think it's OK to steal other people's material, by-passing other people's publishing companies and copyright, putting it into their own records, using their own studio wizardry, in releasing it to the masses. But they'd just gone too far this time."
http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=351
"So their settlement with us was to invite Wanda to participate in the rest of the LP, to star in the Stadium House Trilogy and video and do a track of hers called 'Do as I Damn Well Please' for her upcoming solo album, to receive a shit-load of money as a cash settlement, to fly us over to do the videos and also to give her co-publishing credits on the songs which she co-wrote with Bill - which they did because all the records say co-written by L. McFarland, which stands for Wanda's real name L'wanda McFarland. And also you'll see on the bottom of the album it says WandDee music, which is Wanda Dee's co-publishing company.""http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=351

Success with the KLF

KLF songs on which Dee was featured include:
"3AM ETERNAL"
"CONTROVERSY"
"LA VIE EN ROSE"
"LOVE LIKE MINE"
"CHURCH OF THE KLF"
"WHAT TIME IS LOVE?"
"JUSTIFIED & ANCIENT"
"ALL BOUND FOR MU MU LAND"
"LAST TRAIN TO TRANCENTRAL"
http://goddessempireentertainment.com/wanda.htm
This led to massive international success, with the KLF being the best selling British group in the world in 1990.http://www.klf.de/home/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/klf-in-legal-jamm.jpg.

Indeed, it wasn't until the involvement of Wanda Dee and other vocalists that the KLF managed to have this massive success. One reporter noted that "BILL DRUMMOND & JIM CAUTY of The KLF had been around for many years with only moderate underground success, however, their fortunes turned upward when they decided to collaborate with several vocalists (P.P. Arnold, Maxine Harvey, Samantha Brown, etc.), rappers & Wanda as a lead singer, lyricist & sensuous centrepiece of their acclaimed songs & video presentations, throughout the 90's"http://www.abc.net.au/rage/guest/2004/klf.htm

Breakup of the KLF

The original producers and songwriters for the KLF Bill Drummond
Bill Drummond
William Ernest Drummond is a Scottish artist, musician, writer and record producer. He was the co-founder of late 1980s avant-garde pop group The KLF and its 1990s media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with which he burned a million pounds in 1994...

 and Jimmy Cauty
Jimmy Cauty
James Francis Cauty is a British artist and musician born in Liverpool, England, in 1956...

 decided to disband the group in 1992. Wanda Dee, as lead vocalist for the KLF subsequently decided to mount a live performance without them as the KLF experience. This led to cease and desist notices by Drummond and Cauty http://www.klf.de/home/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/klf-in-legal-jamm.jpg despite the fact that there was massive public popularity for her work http://www.abc.net.au/rage/guest/2004/klf.htm

Recent work

Dee has also worked with Blue Man Group
Blue Man Group
Blue Man Group is an organization founded by Chris Wink, Matt Goldman and Phil Stanton. The organization produces theatrical shows and concerts featuring popular music, comedy and multimedia; recorded music and scores for film and television; television appearances for shows such as The Tonight...

http://goddessempireentertainment.com/wanda.htm

See also

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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