Aurra is an offshoot of the Dayton, Ohio funk band Slave. Steve Washington the founder of Slave
was originally from Newark and East Orange, New Jersey and he used to tour with his uncle Ralph “Pee Wee” Middlebrooks who was a member of The Ohio Players. The lineup of Aurra changed a lot and Steve Arrington the lead singer of Slave was in the first incarnation of the group. As time went on members of Aurra joined Steve Arrington’s Hall of Fame, Mtume and Surface but Curt Jones and Starleana Young became the base of the group. Aurra’s first self-titled album came out in 1980 with the featured “In The Mood To Groove” and “When I Come Home.” At this time Starleana’s brothers performing in their group Young and Company released the dancefloor classic “I Like What You’re Doing To Me.” The 1981 album Send Your Love proffered the essential “Are You Single” and “Kingston Lady.” A Little Love succeeded in 1982 with the strength of the hit “Make Up Your Mind” and the track named after the album. Live and Let Live followed in 1983 adding “Such A Feeling” and “Baby Love” to their catalog of prized songs. Like I Like It was their last recording as Aurra in 1985 and the self-titled single and “Happy Feeling” helped the project find success in England. Soon after this last effort the group changed their name to Deja because Steve Washington owned Aurra and Young and Jones did not purchase it. As Deja they had their greatest chart success with “You And Me Tonight” in 1987 from their last outing as duo for the collection Serious. “That’s Where You’ll Find Me” was the other R&B hit from the album Serious that was produced by former Time keyboardist Monte Moir. Starleana left the group in 1988 and released a solo album in 1991 and she also sang back-up on solo albums by her husband JT Taylor who was the lead singer for Kool And The Gang. Curt Jones continued with Deja and hired Mysti Day to replace Young and their 1989 album Made To Be Together had production from Teddy Riley and Gene Griffin. The title track and “Going Crazy” were the two hit songs from the Made release. These days Curt does wedding gigs and Starleana owns a beauty salon.
