Pretty Poison

Vocalist Jade Starling and keyboardist Whey Cooler formed the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based Pretty Poisonin 1981. Over the years, the band’s recordings featured musicians such as Lou Franco (guitar), Bobby Corea(Cooler‘s younger brother; drums), and David “Kaya” Pryor (percussion). Their 1981 debut single, “Gimme Gimme Your Autograph,” offered spiky new wave, but the group took on a darker, more synthesizer-oriented sound for “No Tears” (a Tuxedomoon cover) and “Expiration,” then settled into freestyle-inspired club music. “Nightime,” released in 1984, peaked at number 14 on Billboard’s dance chart. “Catch Me I’m Falling,” Pretty Poison‘s next single, didn’t arrive until 1987, but it topped the dance chart and reached the Top Ten of the Hot 100, helped in part by exposure from its placement on the soundtrack to Hiding Out. Catch Me I’m Falling, the band’s first album, was released on Virgin in 1988 and featured a remixed version of “Nighttime.” The second Pretty Poisonalbum, the house-oriented Euphoria, was released in 1998. Starling continued to perform and released her first solo album, Captive, in 2014.