Nona

After a few years doing session work, Hendryx, with help from the band Material, came up with this winner that drops the hard rock of her debut for a more Talking Heads-tinged pop/funk. Although the songwriting could be a little sharper, Hendryx's powerful voice gives the record focus and always commands your attention. Extra musical emphasis provided by Sly Dunbar, Jamaaladeen Tacuma and Nile Rodgers.

Hendryx’s biggest commercial success came with 1987's single "Why Should I Cry?", a top 5 R&B hit which also reached #58 on the Billboard 100. The accompanying album, Female Trouble, boasted an impressive list of contributors, including Dan Hartman (who also served as a producer), Peter Gabriel, Prince ("Baby Go Go"), George Clinton, David Van Tieghem and Mavis Staples. Around this time, she became a member of the Black Rock Coalition, founded by Vernon Reid of Living Colour.

It is amazing how polarizing (for listeners) Bill Laswell's Material side projects can be. They are either fresh and inventive or stale and uninspired. Unfortunately, Nona Hendryx's 1984 Material-produced album "The Art of Defense" falls into the latter category another case of some very talented folks making a very bland record. Nona and the Material crew are obviously capable of great things, but despite the formidable pedigree of the artists involved, "The Art of Defense" falls short of expectations.

After Labelle's breakup in early 1977, Patti LaBelle, Nona Hendryx, and Sarah Dash took very different paths as solo artists. LaBelle became a middle of the road urban/adult contemporary superstar, Dash recorded the occasional R&B album with little commercial success, and Hendryx favored rock-minded albums that came the closest to Labelle's free-spirited wildness. Hendryx's solo career started out on a hard rock note with her self-titled debut album of 1977, but she took a more new wave-influenced turn in the '80s, and 1985's The Heat brings together rock and synth funk with memorable results.