Martha Wash

Martha Elaine Wash (born December 23, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, and producer. Known for her distinctive and powerful voice, Wash first achieved fame as one half of the successful act Two Tons O' Fun who sang backing for American disco singer Sylvester. 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 after they released the top-selling single "It's Raining Men", which brought the duo to mainstream pop attention. As a duo, The Weather Girls released five albums and were heavily featured on Sylvester's albums. After disbanding in 1988, Wash made a successful transition into house music as a featured artist on several successful songs. Her success on Billboard's Dance chart has earned her the honorific title The Queen of Clubland, with a total of twelve number-one songs on the chart to date. Wash is also noted for sparking legislation in the early 1990s that made vocal credits mandatory on CDs and music videos after being denied proper credit and royalties for many of the songs she recorded including the platinum-selling number-one 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.