One-Hit Wonders You Didn't Know Passed Away

The world recently lost one of the biggest one-hit wonders of all time, Biz Markie. His song "Just a Friend" peaked at No. 9 on Billboard in 1990, and stayed on the charts for 22 weeks. The song is a rap by Markie mixed with some of the beat and lyrics of the 1968 song "(You) Got What I Need" by Freddie Scott. It went platinum in the year of its release.

Biz Markie was born Marcel Theo Hall in Harlem, New York, in 1964. Markie gained a reputation as a beatboxer in 1985, and came up alongside famous rappers such as Doug E. Fresh and often worked with Big Daddy Kane. His hip-hop talents, mixed with his humorous lyrics, earned him the title the Clown Prince of Hip Hop. Markie released a few more albums after the success of "Just a Friend," and continued to perform for decades, but he never entered the charts again.

Per Vulture, the rapper's health took a downturn starting in April 2020. He died July 16, 2021, in Baltimore, Maryland, at just 57 years old. Markie's cause of death is unconfirmed, but he was known to have struggled with Type 2 diabetes.

Adam Schlesinger formed Fountains of Wayne with Chris Collingwood in the mid-'90s. The band didn't have a hit until 2003, when they released the song, "Stacy's Mom." According to UDiscoverMusic.com, Schlesinger and Collingwood wrote the song based on a friend of Schlesinger's who was attracted to his grandma. It was an ode to early puberty. Schlesinger said, "It's a combination of sexual awakening and limited contact with a large number of people." The song earned them a Grammy Nomination for Best Vocal Performance and Best New Artist.

Adam Schlesinger was a talented writer and musician who wrote a lot of music for television in addition to his Fountains of Wayne success. He won a Grammy for "A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!" He won three Emmys, one for his work on "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," and two for co-writing for the Tony Awards telecast. He was nominated for an Oscar for the title track in "That Thing You Do!" On April 1, 2020, it was announced that Schlesinger had died from complications caused by COVID-19. He was 52 years old.

Rob Pilatus was one half of the infamous duo Milli Vanilli, along with Fab Morvan. The act rose to fame with the hit song "Girl You Know It's True" in 1989. That same year, while performing a concert in Connecticut, the song that they were mouthing along to skipped. Per Biography, Pilatus said, "I knew right then and there, it was the beginning of the end for Milli Vanilli." It took the rest of the world a bit longer, but a year later, it became widely known that Milli Vanilli was lip-syncing and not the true artists behind the hit.

"Girl You Know It's True" was not even a new song. It was first released by the band Numarx. Music producer Frank Farian reportedly heard the track and knew he could make it better. He remixed the song with new vocals and hired Pilatus and Morvan to be the frontmen. According to Billboard, Numarx member Ky Adeyemo, said, "All Frank did was take the back hook ["Girl you know it's true, my love ... ooh ooh ooh I love you"] and put it with the other hook and the rest is music history."

When the news that the performers were not the same artists who recorded their album broke, Pilatus and Morvan were stripped of their Grammys and ostracized. Though the two tried to make a comeback on an album of their own, they were never able to reach the level of success made with Milli Vanilli. Rob Pilatus tragically died in 1998 of a suspected drug overdose. He was just 33 years old.

Johann "Hans" Holzel went by the stage name Falco, and his song "Rock Me Amadeus" hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts in 1986. While only known for "Rock Me Amadeus" in the U.S., Holzel's 1982 debut hit "Der Kommissar" hit the European charts when he was only 25 years old. According to Der Spiegel, Holzel was philosophical about his fame. He said, "Today platinum, tomorrow tin, today they kiss your feet and tomorrow the dog won't even look at you."

Technically, "Rock Me Amadeus" is a rap song, meaning that the Austrian singer holds the distinct recognition of being the first rap artist to reach No. 1 on the U.S. charts. While Falco never had another hit at the same level, he did sell 60 million records over the course of his career.

While vacationing in the Dominican Republic in 1988, a car Holzel was driving was hit by a truck. He died at age 40. While he was not widely known in the U.S., for Austrians, he was bigger than Mozart.

Pete Burns was the lead singer of the band Dead or Alive, whose song "You Spin Me Right Round" reached the Billboard Top 20 in 1985. The song was produced by S.A.W., a trio that went on to create other hits, such as Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up." 

Burns was born in Cheshire, England in 1959. His father was English, and his mother, who was German, had survived the Holocaust. He dropped out of school at age 14 and had formed the band Dead or Alive by 1980. According to The Guardian, "Burns became famous for his androgynous style and his progressive approach to gender." He even accused Boy George of stealing his style.

Dead or Alive recorded several albums, but never again achieved the same level of success as with "You Spin Me Right Round." Burns remained in the limelight by appearing on reality shows, including "Big Brother" and "Celebrity Wife Swap," and was a well-known figure in the U.K. Burns died of a cardiac arrest in 2016. He was 57 years old.

Stuart Adamson was the lead singer of the band Big Country, best known for their hit song, "In a Big Country." The song made it to the U.S. Billboard charts in 1983. According to Songfacts, Adamson said of the song, "The lyrical idea was about having hope, a sense of self in times of trouble." Big Country was nominated for two Grammys, for Best New Artist and for Best Rock Performance by a duo or group for their song "In A Big Country."

Born in 1958 in Manchester, England, but raised in Dunfermline, Scotland, Adamson began singing in the punk band the Skids in his teens. He formed Big Country in the 1980s, and for a time rivaled U2 as Celtic superstars. Big Country continued to make records and perform until 2000, when Adamson decided to leave the group. They never had another hit in the U.S. Adamson moved to Nashville to start an alternative country band called the Raphaels. In 2001, it was reported that Adamson had died by suicide in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was 43 years old.

Natina Reed was a singer in the trio Blaque, who became well known in 1999 for their hit "Bring It All To Me." The girl group was discovered and mentored by Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes of TLC. Reed and the other two members, Brandi Williams and Shamari DeVoe, also had minor roles in the film "Bring it On" in 2000.

From the time Reed was 8 years old, she was in entertainment, and began as a model for Macy's and Bloomingdales. Blaque formed in 1996, when the girls were still in high school. After their debut's major success, the trio released a few more studio albums but never had another hit. In 2012, just as Reed was planning a comeback, she was hit by a car while crossing a street in Atlanta. She was 31 years old, and a mother to a 10-year-old son.

R&B singer Jermaine Stewart's hit song "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" reached No. 5 on the Billboard 100 charts in 1986. The song has popped up on the soundtracks for the film "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" and TV shows such as "Scrubs" and "Superstore." Stewart started off as a dancer on "Soul Train" and moved on to be a backup singer for large acts such as Shalamar and Boy George. He landed a deal with Arista records, and released four albums, with "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" his biggest success.

Stewart was born in Columbus, Ohio, but his family moved to Chicago when he was still young. He died in 1997 of liver cancer caused by AIDS, according to a book written by AIDS advocate Dr. Terri Easley. He was only 39 years old. Stewart was buried in an unmarked grave for 17 years.

"(I Just) Died in Your Arms" was a No. 1 Billboard hit in 1987 for the band Cutting Crew. Kevin MacMichael was not the singer, but the lead guitarist and writer for the group. "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" earned the band a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, and Cutting Crew released a few more albums after their debut success, but failed to enter the charts again. They ultimately disbanded in 1993.

MacMichael was born in New Brunswick, Canada, in 1951. MacMichael started playing guitar in high school, and learned hundreds of Beatles songs. He formed Cutting Crew with Nick Van Eede, the band's lead singer, in 1985. When MacMichael left the group, he went to work with Robert Plant as a guitarist and writer. In 2002, MacMichael was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died later that year, at the age of 51.

While he only scored one hit tune of his own — "Indiana Wants Me," a No. 5 single in 1970 — Toronto native R. Dean Taylor was responsible for a slew of others. When the hit-making songwriting team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland left Motown records in 1968, Taylor was one of a new team who attempted to keep the magic going — and, faced with the daunting task of coming up with a new song for the Supremes and given only about a week to do so, he and fellow songwriter Pam Sawyer penned the smash hit "Love Child," the first of two top-10 hits he would have a hand in writing for the iconic girl group. 

"Indiana Wants Me," about an outlaw on the run, was typical of Taylor's work as a songwriter: dark and cinematic, with a strong narrative informed by its framing as a letter to a lover the poor guy knows he'll never see again. Speaking with the Toronto Star, Taylor's wife Janee said, "He wrote dark songs ... He wrote about things that were troubling people in life." She went on to explain that after a move to Los Angeles, Taylor dabbled with the formation of his own labels and production companies, none of which ever bore any fruit, which caused him to become a touch disillusioned. Taylor died in January 2022, roughly a year after a bout with COVID-19 from which he had never fully recovered.

Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Phoebe Snow's career might have gone very differently, had fate not intervened. With a songwriting talent to match her formidable vocal chops, she debuted in 1974 with her self-titled debut album, which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard chart and yielded a single, "Poetry Man," which went to No. 5 in 1975. It was during this period, while enjoying the view from the top of the charts, that her daughter Valerie was born — unfortunately, with severe brain damage that left her disabled for her entire life.

Rather than institutionalize her daughter, Snow vastly scaled back her career ambitions to care for her herself, at home. In a 2008 interview with the San Francisco Chronicle (via Billboard), the singer said, "Occasionally I put an album out, but I didn't like to tour, and they didn't get a lot of label support. But you know what? It didn't really matter, because I got to stay home more with Valerie, and that time was precious." Indeed, Snow's noble decision seemed to have made all the difference in the world: Valerie, who wasn't expected to live more than a handful of years, died in 2007 at the age of 31. Snow helped to pay the bills by singing commercial jingles and TV themes (including the theme for the "Cosby Show" spin-off "A Different World"), but peers were well aware of her greatness — she sang backup for Paul Simon, and performed with the likes of Thelma Houston, Michael McDonald, and Boz Scaggs throughout the years. After suffering a brain hemorrhage in 2010, she died in April 2011.

While Stax and Motown were blasting their way onto the national music scene with their rollicking, punchy brands of R&B in the late '60s, a few visionary groups out of Philadelphia were taking a different approach. Favoring smooth harmonies over emphatic vocals and silky strings over blaring horn sections, these groups won over a large segment of the R&B audience with their "Philly Sound," exemplified by such classic tunes as "La-la (Means I Love You)" and "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)" — both by The Delfonics, who were among the first purveyors of this smoother style.

Vocalist Major Harris was a relative latecomer to the group, replacing the departed Randy Cain in 1971. After a three-year run, Harris himself departed in 1975 to pursue a solo career, which may have been the final nail in the coffin of The Delfonics — but Harris enjoyed near-immediate success with "Love Won't Let Me Wait," a No. 5 hit in 1975. Unfortunately, he failed to come within shouting distance of that success again — but his lone hit proved to have an enviable shelf life, spawning covers by Johnny Mathis with Deniece Williams, Luther Vandross, and Seal. In 2011, Harris got together with a few of his old bandmates in The Delfonics; the following year, he died of congestive heart failure at the age of 65.

Bobby Caldwell has always commanded the respect of R&B aficionados; his undeniably smooth, textured voice is of the variety that should have anchored dozens of hit records. Instead, somehow, it graced only one: "What You Won't Do For Love," a No. 9 hit in 1978. In a 2005 interview with NPR, it was pointed out by interviewer Ed Gordon that during the '60s and even '70s, many record labels would not picture Black artists on their record covers, for fear that white audiences wouldn't buy their music. For Caldwell, however, it was the opposite, as his label was depending on the support of Black radio to launch his career. "[My label] really didn't want it to be well-known that I was white," Caldwell explained. "Today, as we speak, there are still a few holdovers that don't know that."

Caldwell was active in the music business both before and after his brush with top-10 success, starting out as a guitarist for the legendary Little Richard, and penning tunes later in his career for the likes of Peter Cetera, Boz Scaggs, and Neil Diamond. His signature tune has been covered dozens of times, and even sampled by Tupac for "Do For Love," a posthumous No. 21 hit for the rapper. Caldwell's final album, the brilliantly titled "Cool Uncle," was released in 2015; in March 2023, his wife Mary announced via Twitter that he had died at his home, at the age of 71, after years of health issues.

The songwriting team of Gene McFadden and John Whitehead were essential to Philly Soul music in the '70s; together, they penned hits for the likes of the O'Jays and Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, and later in their careers, they worked alongside such legends as Freddie Jackson, Gloria Gaynor, and Melba Moore. In 1979, they took a crack at success as recording artists, releasing their self-titled debut album, which showcased their formidable vocal abilities in addition to their well-established songwriting chops. The album charted well within the Top 40, and its lead single became not only a hit, but an R&B touchstone: the bright, uplifting anthem "Ain't No Stopping Us Now," a No. 13 hit on the pop chart.

The pair's commercial fortunes dwindled after the early '80s, and unfortunately, theirs is a story that ends in tragedy. In 2004, Whitehead was working on his car outside his Philadelphia home when witnesses say he was attacked by three men, who shot him to death. (While the killing has never been solved, Whitehead's family told Fox 29 Philadelphia that they heard through the grapevine that the singer was targeted erroneously, and that those responsible are no longer living.) Not even a year and a half later, McFadden joined his partner in death, dying from cancer at the age of 56. In a statement at that time, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff — founders of their label, Philadelphia International — said, "Their talent was indispensable ... As artists and producers we admired them in the studio. As songwriters, we appreciated them for sharing our commitment to creating lyrics of motivation and strength."

There are plenty of one-hit wonders that are still fondly remembered years after the fact, but not many that can induce listeners to recall the entirety of the lyrics upon simply hearing the opening line. Exhibit A: "I wanna rock right now," the phrase from the No. 36 Billboard smash "It Takes Two" by rap duo Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock. Before dropping that nuclear bomb, Base (real name Robert Ginyard) and E-Z Rock (real name Rodney Bryce) had been up-and-comers, dropping their first single "Make It Hot" on a small indie label and subsequently signing with Profile, home to platinum hitmakers Run-D.M.C., in 1988. "It Takes Two" was chosen as the lead single, and — thanks in large part to an incredibly distinctive, vocal hit-laden break beat sampled from "Think (About It)" by Lyn Collins — the tune blasted the pair to worldwide stardom.

It was a short-lived ride. Bryce sat out the next round, with Ginyard releasing 1989's "The Incredible Base" as a solo effort, and their reunion for 1994's "Break of Dawn" was in service of a record that barely registered a blip on the cultural radar. While Ginyard continued to perform, he never recorded another album — and after years of de facto retirement, Bryce died after a diabetic seizure in 2014. Ginyard posted a simple tribute to his musical partner on Instagram, writing, "R.I.P Skip (DJ E-Z Rock) my friend. My brother."

Randy VanWarmer was a guy who knew his way around a tune, and even if his efforts as a recording artist didn't leave much of an impression on the pop culture landscape, his songwriting certainly did. He's penned country hits for the likes of Alabama ("I'm in a Hurry And Don't Know Why") and the Oak Ridge Boys ("I Guess It Never Hurts to Hurt Sometimes"), and his tunes have been recorded by legends like Chet Atkins, Conway Twitty, and even the famously prolific songwriter Dolly Parton. VanWarmer recorded nearly a dozen albums of his own, and while most of the material went right under the radar of mainstream listeners, one solitary tune most certainly did not: "Just When I Needed You Most," a No. 4 hit in 1979, and one of the saddest freaking songs ever recorded. 

After failing to even approach that tune's success, VanWarmer relocated to Nashville and embraced his country side, penning tunes and scoring a couple of moderate hits on the country charts. Unfortunately, he didn't live long enough for the nostalgia circuit to come calling. In 2004, it was reported that VanWarmer had died of leukemia; he was only 48 years old. In an interesting footnote, the remains of VanWarmer — who had evidently been something of a space travel aficionado — were launched into space in 2012 aboard a SpaceX rocket, alongside the ashes of Star Trek actor James "Scotty" Doohan.

For Tommy Page, a handsome and talented teen promoting his self-produced demo EP in New York City in the mid-'80s, success came a little more easily than it did for the likely hundreds of others fitting that description at the time. While working at a nightclub, Page was introduced to Mark Kamins, who was producing for a pretty darned popular young singer by the name of Madonna, and his boss, legendary Sire Records executive Seymour Klein. After landing a contract with Sire, Page dropped his self-titled debut album, which pretty much went nowhere — but then, luck struck again in the form of a chance meeting with red-hot boy band New Kids on the Block, with whom he shared a ride in a limo. Taking a liking to Page, the New Kids resolved to boost his fortunes.

The Kids enlisted Page to open on for them their "Step by Step" tour, and they armed him with some new material: "I'll Be Your Everything," featuring backing vocals by the New Kids' Donnie Wahlberg, Danny Wood, and Jordan Knight. The tune shot to No. 1 on the pop chart, but despite huge pushes by Sire's parent company, Warner Bros., Page was unable to duplicate his success. Abandoning his pop career, Page became a successful executive, first at Warner Bros., then heading up the artist partnerships division of Pandora, before joining Billboard in 2011. He was apparently, though, experiencing mental health issues that few knew about; he died by suicide in 2017, prompting an outpouring of grief online from his musical collaborators and his past and present employers.

Rap duo Kris Kross may have been a borderline novelty act — comprised as they were of two barely teenagers who wore their clothes backward — but their recipe for success contained two pretty undeniable ingredients. In 1990, future super-producer Jermaine Dupri — just 18 at the time — discovered the pair, 13-year old Chris "Mack Daddy" Kelly and Chris "Daddy Mack" Smith, while the boys were shopping for new shoes at an Atlanta mall. Dupri would later tell Billboard that the pair were simply made out of charisma: "People were paying attention [to them]," he said. "I said, 'If you have that captivation over people right now, if you had a record out, this might be ridiculous.'" Dupri had been sitting on a hot track, the idea for which came from watching the crowd jumping in unison at a concert, and after enlisting his young future stars, he brought on the second ingredient: up-and-coming MC Treach of Naughty by Nature, who wrote the duo some lyrics.

The result: "Jump," a big, fat No. 1 hit that stayed perched atop the chart for eight weeks and propelled Kris Kross' debut album, "Totally Krossed Out," to quadruple platinum sales. The LP produced additional tracks that climbed up the rap charts, but "Jump," as huge as it was, proved to be the only top-10 pop single the pair had in them, and subsequent albums failed to make a mark. In 2013, it was reported that Kelly had died of a drug overdose; he was only 34 years old.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, mental health issues, or is struggling or in crisis, contact the relevant resources below:

• The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

• Contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

• Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org