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| Lipps Inc. Steven Greenberg and Cynthia Johnson |
| 1980 was the start of a new decade and traditional disco music was undergoing a major change. Clubs seemed to be running out of fuel when they received a surge of power from a bespectacled son of a storage magnate and the saxophonist daughter of a 3M chemist.
By the age of 15, Minneapolis-born Steven Greenberg was pounding away as a rock drummer and by 20 he had written and produced his first record. He left for California and searched for the big record deal only to realize that he wasn't quite ready for the big time. Returning home he fought off pressure to join the family business. Instead he spent the next eight years (1970-1978) honing his musical skills in local groups and as part of a duo, "Atlas and Greenberg." During this period, as disco music grew, he launched a state-of-the-art mobile disco and partnered a production company that failed within a year. By 1979 he was ready, once again to try his hand at record-making. That summer, Greenberg searched for a female vocalist to front his group. Cynthia Johnson, a 24-year old police department secretary, heard Steven was auditioning singers. She was singing on the weekends with a band, "Flyt-Time," but wanted to try something new. As a young girl, Cynthia had sung in the Mount Olivet Baptist Church, and at the age of eight had taken up the saxophone when her teacher ran out of "girls' instruments" for her to play. Her mother, a chemist at 3M, was horrified at this choice, so for 10 years Cynthia practiced in secret. Her saxophone skills later helped her win the "Miss Black Minnesota U.S.A." title in 1976. Greenberg loved her voice and recorded a demo with her. He wrote, produced, and played all the instruments (except bass) on "Rock It," then pressed 500 copies to distribute around Minneapolis. Thanks to his self-promotion the song topped the chart at the local radio station KFMX. Steven, flush with his local success, began shopping the song around to record companies searching for a deal for the now named group "Lipps Inc." After rejection from all the major labels, and a few of the minor ones, Bruce Bird at Casablanca Records expressed interest in Greenberg's demo. "Bruce called everyone in, from secretaries to the vice presidents," Steven recalled, "and they were all packed in this little office dancing around. I'm in a corner, sweat pouring off my body, thinking this is what I've waited all my life for." With the stamp of approval "Lipps Inc." was signed to an exclusive contract with Casablanca Records. The company released the promotional-only 12" single of "Rock It" and it ignited in the clubs. With it's success Steven quickly began work on material to round out an album. 3 new songs were written and recorded for inclusion on their debut album. "Mouth To Mouth" was released in the fall of 1979. Sales were good at first, thanks to the success of "Rock It," and then Casablanca released the second promotional-only 12" single. Inspired by Greenberg's boredom with Minneapolis and it's languid radio stations, the song told of getting away to a "Funkytown." When "Funkytown" took off in the clubs it spontaneously entered radio playlists across America. It entered the Hot 100 at number 89 on March 29, 1980 and in nine weeks it was sitting atop the charts. When it hit the top on May 31, 1980 it began a four week reign. Replacing Blondie's "Call Me," it took ex-Beatle Paul McCartney's "Coming Up" to unseat it from the throne. This smash not only earned "Lipps Inc." a certified platinum album but a place in "The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame's One-Hit Wonder" exhibit. It was so popular that it has been used for commercials and people that had never set foot in a disco knew the words to it. Oddly enough, with it's enourmous popularity I can't recall it being sampled in other songs. Perhaps that's because of it's unique sound. For their follow-up album, once again Steven took to writing, three songs by himself, one with Scott Jones and one with his former partner Sandy Atlas. Having hit a writers block Steven needed one more song, he remembered a favorite of his from five years earlier and decided to include it. When "Pucker Up" was released in early 1980 expectations were high, especially considering that their previous effort had already gone platinum. The first 12" single release was the only non-Greenberg cut on the album. "How Long," a former number three hit for it's writer Paul Carrack and his group "Ace" in 1975, blazed up the club charts into the Top Ten across the country. It however was not so readily accepted by radio stations. The follow-up 12" single "The Gossip Song" was received even less enthusiastically, even putting "How Long" on the b-side didn't help it's sales. A rebound of sorts came with the release of the album "Designer Music" in 1981. The first 12" single, "Hold Me Down," was well received both on radio and dance floors. Their second 12" single, "Designer Music," was somewhat an anomaly at the time. A very high energy song at a time when radio and club playlists were dominated with downbeat sounds. Guest appearances by Andre Cymone and Rockie Robbins round out the album. Sadly these were Cynthia's swan songs. There is no mention anywhere of exactly why Cynthia departed but one would suspect it was generally to leave the business altogether, since no solo efforts were forth coming. For the group's next album, local singers Melanie Rosales (who did backgrounds on previous Lipps Inc. albums) and Margaret Cox (who would later record as Tamara in a record deal with Jesse Johnson) handled the vocals. 1983's "Four" would prove to be the last album for the group. The two 12" single releases from this album, "Addicted To The Night" and the haunting "Choir Practice" were two of their best releases ever. Both received critical acclaim and became dance floor favorites. The last original release was their 1985 12" single "Does Anybody Know Me" b/w "Hit The Deck" on the local Minneapolis Twin Tone Records label. It started with a small label 12" in Minneapolis and ended with a small label 12" in Minneapolis....Steven Greenberg and his Lipps Inc. had come full circle. In 1992 Polygram released "Funkyworld-The Best of Lipps Inc." partly because "Funkytown" still remains the biggest selling 7" single in Polygrams history according to the R.I.A.A. In 1999, the now married and father, Steven Greenberg did a college tour promoting a film he worked on from 1995-1999 entitled "Funkytown." The film was about 5 groups of struggling musicians, a semi-documentary. He no longer writes songs but says he has written a Broadway musical that he would like to see get produced. When not fathering or touring colleges with his film project he can be found at his web development company "Designstein". |
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