Pepper Mashay

Jean McClain (born March 8, 1953), known professionally as Pepper Mashay, is an American soul, house and dance music singer-songwriter. McClain grew up in Muncie, Indiana. Growing up, her musical influences were Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan. She left Indiana in her 20s to pursue her career. Mashay was contracted to sing back-up for the soundtrack of Tina Turner's movie What's Love Got to Do with It. She spent two days with Tina Turner saying, "She is rock n' roll". In 1995, Mashay's manager at the time contacted Michael O'Hara to work on an initial demo for a possible recording deal. They wrote five songs together in her California home, but the songs never went anywhere. Mashay ended up writing a song called "Something to Feel" and it got picked up by Island Records. In her thirties, music labels in the '90s thought she was too old for a record deal but she never gave up. Mashay has an extensive résumé of work as a background and session singer working, most notably, with Gladys Horton in a 1980s regrouping of The Marvelettes. Mashay's photo can be seen on the cover of the CD The Marvelettes: The Very Best of the Motor City Recordings. As a lead vocalist, Mashay has released many tracks that have performed well on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart and the Hot Dance Airplay chart. Those singles include "Something to Feel" (1995), "Happiness" (1997), "Step into My Life" (1998), "Sextacy" (2000) and "Send Me an Angel" (2005). Her voice is probably best known from the "Let's get soaking wet!" chanting throughout the Barry Harris track "Dive in the Pool", made famous by its inclusion in the American television series Queer as Folk. Another collaboration with Harris, "I Got My Pride", hit number two on the U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 2001. In late 2006, Pepper Mashay earned her first solo chart-topper on the U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart with the song "Lost Yo Mind". It has attained moderate to heavy rotation on dance-oriented radio stations, charting well on the Hot Dance Airplay. Mashay issued her single, "Got to Give the People What They Want" in late January 2008 and "Does Your Mamma Know" during the fourth quarter of 2008. She toured with House's Hugh Laurie officially as part of his band, Hugh Laurie & The Copper Bottom Band. Mashay also performs as Sista Jean & CB, has released two albums under that name. The first was the 2013 release Back to the Root. Next was the 2015 album Requiem for a Heavy Weight, a tribute to Odetta, an icon in the folk & blues genre. 1995: "Something to Feel" 1995: "By Any Means Necessary" (with Lenny White) 1997: "Happiness" 1997: "Not Much Heaven" 1998: "Into You" 1998: "Right Back to Love" (with Subsystem) 1998: "Step 2 Me" (Grant Nelson feat. Jean McClain) - (UK #92, UK Dance #7) 1998: "Step into My Life" 1998: "You've Got to Go" (with DJ Alexia) 2000: "Sextacy" 2000: "Here's to Life" 2000: "Dive in the Pool" (with Barry Harris) 2001: "Love Pretender" (with Frank 'O Moiraghi) 2001: "I Got My Pride" 2001: "You and Me (Feels So Good)" (with Solar City) 2002: "I Want You in My Life" (with Max Iron) 2002: "I Pledge" 2002: "Let's Runaway" (with Scott Michael) 2002: "No More Drama" (with Mary J. Blige, Thunderpuss Club Anthem Mix) 2003: "Happy New Year" (with Ernest Kohl) 2003: "I Can't Stop" 2003: "You're My Inspiration" 2004: "Electro Illusion" 2004: "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" (with Colton Ford) (cover of the Stevie Wonder song) 2005: "Send Me an Angel" (cover of the Real Life song) 2005: "Beauty Shop" (featured in the film Beauty Shop) 2006: "Lost Yo Mind" 2008: "Got to Give the People What They Want" 2008: "Does Your Mamma Know" (with @djCoreyD ) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nnqIMQn8d_mt8l7ZNeOdCtSf98NDwAhUg Winner USA Songwriting Competition 2009: Best Dance/EDM song 2009: "Freeway of Love" (cover of the Aretha Franklin song) 2009: "Burning" (with World of Colour) 2011: "Love S.O.S." 2011: "Things U Do" 2012: "Our World" (with Clemens Rumpf) 2013: "Dance Florr" 2014: "Does Your Mamma Know (You're A Freak)" (With @DJCoreyD ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7q-GQFDlSQ 2016: "You Stop Breakin' My Heart" (With Anderson and Thatcher) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPsBysD_cfQ 2022: "Dancin' Lights Pt 2" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpeVgm7edbw 1989: Peter Frampton – When All the Pieces Fit 1989: Lenny Kravitz – Let Love Rule 1989: Cher – Heart of Stone 1990: Lalah Hathaway – Lalah Hathaway 1991: Michael Bolton – Time, Love & Tenderness 1991: Neil Diamond – Lovescape 1991: Cher – Love Hurts 1991: Gladys Knight – Good Woman 1991: Patti Austin – Carry On 1992: Vonda Shepard – The Radical Light 1992: Celine Dion – Celine Dion 1992: Olivia Newton-John – Back To Basics 1993: Tina Turner – What's Love Got To Do With It 1993: Mick Jagger – Wandering Spirit 1993: Celine Dion – The Colour of My Love 1993: Texas – Ricks Road 1993: Ray Charles – My World 1993: Paul Rodgers – Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters 1993: Bruce Hornsby – Harbor Lights 1994: Victoria Williams – Loose 1994: Phish – Hoist 1994: Steve Perry – For the Love of Strange Medicine 1994: Julio Iglesias – Crazy 1995: Christopher Cross – Window 1995: Haddaway – The Drive 1995: Bobby Caldwell – Soul Survivor 1995: Phyllis Hyman – I refuse To Be Lonely 1996: Keb' Mo' – Just Like You 1996: Celine Dion – Falling into You 1997: Michael Lington – Michael Lington 1997: Michael Bolton – All That Matters 1998: CeCe Winans – His Gift 2002: Solomon Burke – Don't Give Up On Me 2003: Joe Henry – Tiny Voices 2005: Bobby Caldwell – Perfect Island Nights 2005: Susan Tedeschi – Hope And Desire 2007: Evelyn "Champagne" King – Open Book 2007: Tiffany – Just Me 2007: Bob Dylan – I'm Not There 2008: Rodney Crowell – Sex & Gasoline 2009: Irma Thomas – The Soul Queen Of New Orleans 2010: Aaron Neville – I Know I've Been Changed 2010: Sheryl Crow – 100 Miles from Memphis 2011: Hugh Laurie – Let Them Talk 2012: Jimmy Cliff – Rebirth 2013: Hugh Laurie – Didn't It Rain List of number-one dance hits (United States) List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart Bonacich, Drago. "Pepper Mashay – Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved November 19, 2014. "GRANT NELSON FT JEAN MCCLAIN | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". Official Charts. Official website Pepper Mashay's label site on Myspace Pepper Mashay fanpage