Nu Shooz
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- "I Can't Wait (Nu Shooz song)" - Nu Shooz
Nu Shooz is a 1980s electronic dance music group fronted by husband-and-wife duo John Smith and Valerie Day, based in Portland, Oregon. They released three albums in the U.S. during the 80s, but it was their second album, Poolside, that brought the group's sound to a wider audience. Nu Shooz originally released the single "I Can't Wait" in Portland during the winter of 1985 on Poolside Records. The original recording was done at Cascade Recording in Portland in the fall of 1984. "I Can't Wait" was a big hit on Portland radio stations at the time, and this got the attention of Atlantic Records, which signed the duo to a contract. Atlantic had Nu Shooz re-record "I Can't Wait" and issued the new version in February 1986.
They scored two major pop / R&B / dance hits. "I Can't Wait" climbed to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in June 1986 and spent 15 weeks in the Top 40, and it also hit #1 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart earlier that year. Its follow-up, "Point Of No Return", was remixed by Shep Pettibone and also topped the dance chart in September 1986; the song peaked at #28 on the Hot 100. Both singles were on their album Poolside, which charted on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart as high as #27 and sold a half million copies in the U.S., garnering gold record RIAA certification on October 2, 1986.
In 1987, Nu Shooz was nominated for a Grammy award in the Best New Artist category, based on their breakthrough success the previous year. They lost to Bruce Hornsby & the Range; the other nominees that year were Glass Tiger, Simply Red and Timbuk3. In 1988 they released the album Told U So, which had their final chart entries to date: "Should I Say Yes?" hit #41 on the Hot 100, and the track "Are You Lookin' For Somebody Nu," topped out at #2 on the dance charts. The album itself climbed Billboard's Top 200 Album chart to #93. A third album for Atlantic was recorded, titled Eat & Run, but it was never released, and the group decided to disband.
Discography
Singles
- "I Can't Wait" (1986) US #3, R&B #3, Adult Contemporary #38, Dance #1, UK #2
- "Point Of No Return" (1986) US #28, R&B #36, Dance #1, UK #48
- "Don't Let Me Be The One" (1986) Dance #39
- "Should I Say Yes" (1988) US #41, R&B #17
- "Are You Lookin' For Somebody Nu" (1988) Dance #2
- "Time Will Tell" (1992)
- "I Can't Wait: Unplugged"
Albums
- Can't Turn It Off (Nebula Circle, 1982) [1]
- Poolside (Atlantic Records, 1986) US #27, UK #32
- Told U So (Atlantic Records, 1988) US #93
