One Hit Wonder: The Weather Girls (1983)

It's Raining, Men

Single: Weather Girls

Album: Success

Released: September 10, 1982

Genre: Hi-NRG, post-disco, synthpop

Songwriters: Paul Jabara, Paul Shaffer

"It's Raining Men" is by the musical duo of Martha Wash and Izora Rhodes under the group name, The Weather Girls. It was a number-one dance hit in the United States and reached the top ten in various countries worldwide. 

In 1983, the 26th Annual Grammy Awards nominated the track for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. VH1 voted it number 36 of the 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 1980s. They rank the tune number 55 of the 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of All Time.

Weather Girls (1983)

Sylvester with Martha Wash & Izora Rhodes

Martha Wash and Izora Rhodes debuted on Billboard as Sylvester's backing vocalists. Although he referred to them as "the girls," Wash and Rhodes formed a musical duo called Two Tons O' Fun. Two Tons' background vocals featured in Sylvester's hit, "Dance (Disco Heat)." 

Wash and Rhodes got their deal with Fantasy Records and released two albums before recording "It's Raining Men." Paul Shaffer, David Letterman's bandleader, and Paul Jabara wrote the song. Jabara wrote "Last Dance" and "No More Tears" for Donna Summer. When they completed a "...Raining" demo, Jabara offered it to Summer. She hated it. Seriously religious, she thought the line "It's raining men, hallelujah" blasphemous, according to Paul Shaffer.

Donna Summer

Jabara pitched it to Barbra Streisand and Diana Ross, but both turned it down. He then played it for Wash and Armstead, who were still recording as Two Tons O' Fun. Although Wash initially resisted, the duo agreed to record the number. After its success, they changed their name to The Weather Girls.

RuPaul (1998)

American drag queen and singer RuPaul teamed up with Weather Girls member Martha Wash in 1998 to record a retitled cover, "It's Raining Men... The Sequel."  On page 77 of Billboard magazine's November 1, 1977 edition, columnist Larry Flick wrote that Martha Wash: "sounds like she's having a blast as she revisits a hit from her heyday as half of the Weather Girls. The novel hook of this new recording is the appearance of RuPaul, whose freewheeling vamps are saucy good fun." 

He noted that "the novel hook of this new recording is the appearance of RuPaul, whose freewheeling vamps are saucy good fun." Producer Gary "Headman" Haas "doesn't deviate far from the original recording's disco sound, leaving a posse of remixers to investigate various more trendy ideas."

Gerri Halliwell

Geri Halliwell released "It's Raining Men" as the lead single from her second solo album. It was also the lead single for the soundtrack to the 2001 film Bridget Jones's Diary. Halliwell's cover debuted in the United Kingdom at number 1 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming her fourth UK chart-topper. That made her the first solo British female artist to top the chart four times. Initially, "Feels Like Sex" was slated as the lead single from Halliwell's Scream If You Wanna Go Faster LP. According to her: 

"It was odd because I was ready to go with my new album. I had the single, I had the video idea already, and then the movie producers said, 'do you want to record Its Raining Men for the soundtrack?' I thought it would be fun and I love Bridget Jones cos I've read both books, so I did it quickly. They all loved it and wanted it to be a single, and I thought it was a bit of a gift, so I released it."

In Britain, "It's Raining Men" was the 13th best seller of 2001. Worldwide, it's Halliwell's most successful solo single. She was inspired by the 1980 film Fame and the 1983 film Flashdance for the video.