The Ones are an American

electronic dance music Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and List of electronic dance music festivals, festivals. It is generally ...

group. Their 2001 hit single " Flawless" peaked within the top ten of the charts in Belgium and the United Kingdom. The trio consisted of three male

vocalists Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

Paul Alexander, JoJo Americo, and

Nashom Wooden Nashom Benjamin Wooden (October 9, 1969 – March 23, 2020) was an American performing artist. Wooden was a member of the electronic dance music group the Ones and performed as a drag queen under the stage name Mona Foot. Biography Wooden was ...

, who met while working at the

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

boutique

Patricia Field Patricia Field (born February 12, 1942) is an American costume designer, stylist, and fashion designer working in New York City. Early life Field was born in New York City to an Armenian father and a Greek mother, who emigrated from Plomari, L ...

. Each of them has a background in performing, DJing, and being stylists within the underground New York club and

fashion Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...

scenes. Their debut single, "Flawless", was inspired by the 1999 film, which Nashom appeared in alongside

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and film producer. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of List of awards and ...

. It was first released on the New York based A Touch of Class Recordings label in 1999, and was popular among New York DJs even before its official release. In 2004, "Flawless" was

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: * Sample (graphics), an intersection of a color channel and a pixel * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of something * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample ...

and had

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, ...

added to it by English singer and former

Wham! Wham! were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981 consisting of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They were one of the most successful pop acts during the 1980s, selling more than 30 million certified records worldwide from 1982 to ...

member

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

for his song " Flawless (Go to the City)". Michael's version peaked at number eight on the UK Singles Chart in July 2004, almost three years after the original had peaked at number seven on the chart. The group released a follow-up single, "Superstar", which reached number 45 in the same country. In November 2006, they released "Ultramodern", with a

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

and clips available on A Touch of Class's website. The Ones signed to Peacebisquit management in 2007. They tweaked their look and sound and released a 2008 single, "When We Get Together", with a video clip featuring cameos from the

Scissor Sisters Scissor Sisters are an American pop rock band formed in 2000. The band's current line-up consists of Jake Shears (vocals), Babydaddy (various instruments), Del Marquis (guitar, bass) and Randy Real (drums). Former members include vocalist A ...

Debbie Harry Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble, July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie (band), Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1 ...

Jody Watley Jody Vanessa Watley (born January 30, 1959) is an American singer, songwriter and producer whose music crosses genres including pop, R&B, jazz, dance and electronic soul.Paoletta, Michael (February 22, 2003) "Watley Relaxes In The Setting of The ...

Fischerspooner Fischerspooner was an electroclash duo and performance troupe formed in 1998 in New York City after meeting in school. The name is a combination of the founders' last names, Warren Fischer and Casey Spooner. Career Originally a duo formed by ...

Ultra Naté Ultra Naté (born March 20, 1968) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, DJ, and promoter who has achieved success on the pop charts with songs such as "Free (Ultra Naté song), Free", "If You Could Read My Mind" (as part of Stars o ...

Peppermint Peppermint (''Mentha'' × ''piperita'') is a Hybrid (biology), hybrid species of Mentha, mint, a cross between Mentha aquatica, watermint and spearmint. Indigenous to Europe and the Middle East, the plant is now widely spread and cultivated in m ...

, Cazwell, Colton Ford, and many others.

Nomi Ruiz Nomi Ruiz is an American singer, songwriter, actress, essayist, DJ and producer, who is known for her work as Jessica 6 (band), Jessica 6. She is also known for voicing Tabi Ramirez in ''Primos (TV series), Primos''. Early life Nomi Ruiz was bor ...

collaborated with the Ones on their single "Let's Celebrate!" from their fourth album ''Blast from the Past''. In August 2013,

Cher Cher ( ; born Cheryl Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Goddess of Pop", she is known for her Androgyny, androgynous contralto voice, Music an ...

released the video "A Woman's World" and almost immediately fans of the Ones complained of similarities to the Ones' video "Face & Body" which was released months earlier the same year. The band saw the comparison more as a compliment than controversy. Nashom Wooden died on March 23, 2020, after reportedly contracting

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

Discography

Singles

References

External links

A Touch of Class official site
*
Discography on Discogs
American musical trios Electronic music groups from New York (state) Musical groups established in 1998 {{US-electronic-band-stub