A Taste Of Honey was formed in 1971 with members Janice Marie Johnson, Carlita Dorhan, Perry Kibble and Donald Ray Johnson in Los Angeles. Dorhan left in 1976 and was replaced by Hazel Payne. Johnson played bass and contributed to the songwriting and Payne played guitar which was unusual and the first time a female duo fronted an R & B band. It was during their earlier travels before they signed with Capitol Records in 1978 when they performed for a military crowd they could not impress and Johnson told them they were not too cool to boogie which sparked an idea for a song. Kibble and Johnson took the line and a bass pattern that Johnson played while warming up one day and “Boogie Oogie Oogie” was born.The song was the first single to go double platinum and earned them a Grammy for best new artist. They released three more albums and the group eventually only consisted of the two women. “Sukiyaki” from their third album Twice As Sweet was their second biggest song and “Rescue Me” which has been sampled by hip-hoppers was also on that set. Other R&B essentials include “You’re In Good Hands,” “I’ll Try Something New,” “If We Loved,” “You,” “World Spin,” “Disco Dancin” and “Let’s Begin.” The band broke-up by the ’80’s and Johnson went solo and released four albums with the most recent recording being released in 2002. Hazel Payne became a stage actress and Johnson and Kibble moved to Canada in the ’90s. Kibble died in ’99 and Johnson still resides in Canada and works as a blues performer with several albums in his discography. The ladies reunited in 2004 to perform “Boogie Oogie Oogie” for the PBS documentary Get Down Tonight: The Disco Explosion.
