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Yarbrough & Peoples recorded “Don’t Stop The Music” as the reworking of a demo song for Lonnie Simmons who had already signed The Gap Band to his Total Experience record label. Charlie Wilson saw Cavin Yarbrough performing with the Grand Theft band in their native Texas and introduced him to Simmons who gave Yarbrough and Peoples a deal. Together with Alisa Peoples, who Cavin had known since childhood, they co-wrote “Don’t Stop The Music” with Jonah Ellis. The use of a drum machine, synthesizer and chipmunk-sounding backing vocals with their live singing gave the song an electro meets organic type of feel. Their style was a balance of technology and real singing that pushed the future of the funk with bands like Zapp and Parliament. The song helped their debut album, The Two Of Us go Gold and started their lucky streak having 4 more R&B hits. “Heartbeats,” “Don’t Waste Your Time” “Guilty” and “I Wouldn’t Lie” kept Yarbrough & Peoples on the charts, radio and clubs until they left Total Experience in 1986 after recording 4 albums. The video for “Don’t Waste Your Time” features an unknown Ice-T as the lead actresses’ love interest. Yarbrough and Peoples have been married since 1987 and their music has been sampled by several artists including Tupac, Alicia Keys and Beyonce. The couple most recently appeared in the 2009 off-Broadway production Blind Lemon Blues with Cavin starring as late blues legend Blind Lemon Jefferson.
