See Her on July 17 at City Winery
Martha Wash is a powerhouse vocalist and trailblazing figure in music history. Even if you don’t instantly recognize her name, you’ll certainly recognize her chart-topping sound. Wash’s vocals are a force of nature—rich, powerful, and unmistakably soulful. Her voice is characterized by its booming gospel-influenced tone, incredible control, and emotional depth. Wash delivers with clarity and conviction, often evoking a sense of urgency and triumph.
She’s also been a devoted friend to the LGBTQ+ community all her life, including during the early years of the AIDS crisis, when it felt we didn’t have a friend in the world.
Martha Wash’s latest album, Love & Conflict
In 1976, Martha Wash began her career as a backup singer for disco sensation Sylvester, performing at iconic venues such as Studio 54. Raised in liberal San Francisco, being around gay people was never unusual for her. “Growing up, I had friends and teachers that were gay,” Wash said during our June 9 call—an emotional conversation that brought me to tears at times. “Sylvester was an openly gay Black man. That was kind of frowned upon. The business side didn’t like it, and people wanted to change him. He didn’t care. He wouldn’t change.”
As half of the duo The Weather Girls, Wash’s career hit a new high with their 1983 smash, “It’s Raining Men,” which soared to number one on the dance charts and became a campy gay anthem that still electrifies dance floors today.
Soundtrack of the 1990s
I first became aware of Wash’s voice in the early 1990s, when I would climb out my window every Friday and Saturday night to sneak into an after-hours club that didn’t ID. If you were in a club in the ‘90s and heard Martha Wash belt out “EVERYBODY DANCE NOW!” you knew it wasn’t a suggestion—it was a command. “The Queen of Clubland” had spoken, and the rush of dopamine and adrenaline made it impossible not to move. Her exhilarating vocals—front and center on Black Box’s “Everybody Everybody” and “Strike It Up”—were the soundtrack of my youth.
What I didn’t realize at the time was that Wash wasn’t actually a member of Black Box or C+C Music Factory. Because she was plus-sized, she was paid a pittance (less than $1,000 for the demo used in the #1 hit “Gonna Make You Sweat”), and was often uncredited while thin models lip-synched her vocals. When the truth came out, Whitney Houston condemned the industry while praising Wash’s unmistakable “gigantic, fabulous, tremendous voice.” C+C’s Freedom Williams, however, added insult to injury, dismissing Wash as merely being a backup singer and saying he’d rather see the thin models perform.
In response, Wash filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against the music industry, taking a stand after being erased from her own work. She sued for fraud, deceptive packaging, and improper credit. Though the case was settled out of court, it sparked a national conversation about image-based exploitation in the music industry. Wash’s fight led to new FTC regulations requiring proper credit for vocal performances, affirming the rights of vocalists—especially those marginalized by an industry obsessed with image.
St. Louis Performances
1997: Martha Wash performs at St. Louis PrideFest. Photo by Scott Lokitz
St. Louis loves Martha Wash, and the feeling is mutual. In 1997, she was the first national headliner to perform at St. Louis PrideFest, returning again in 2019. Over the years, she’s also graced the stages of local clubs like The Complex and Twist.
She returns to us for one night only on July 17, bringing her Love & Conflict tour to City Winery. Her Love & Conflict album is a bold fusion of pop-soul, blues, jazz, and rock. The New York Times raves “Martha applies her full gospel-rooted grit and a mounting fury to ‘Never Enough Money,’ a pounding funk-Afrobeat indictment of greed.” Rolling Stone proclaims “‘Never Enough Money’ is a stomping, rough-around-the-edges blues rocker anchored by a righteous vocal performance from Wash, who skewers reckless and unchecked thirst for wealth and attention.”
An Unwavering Friend
In these turbulent times, when the LGBTQ+ community has seen how shallow many supposed allies’ support really was (some act like they don’t even know our last name), we hold dear those who have always stood with us. That part of our conversation had me in tears then—and again while writing this.
Wash recalled how, during the AIDS crisis, the world turned its back on us. “It was awful, absolutely awful,” she said. “There were so many lost in the business, personal friends. The community was so stigmatized. Just about everything was blamed on being gay. People said it was a plague from God—crazy nonsense. I was almost scared to pick up the phone, because it was probably going to be bad news. During that time, gay people could really only rely on themselves.”
And we could rely on Martha. With hospitals often refusing proper care to AIDS patients—sometimes leaving them to rot in their own waste, as the late Daniel Flier of St. Louis Effort for AIDS sometimes recalled—the LGBTQ+ community opened our own hospices. Wash not only raised funds nationwide but also visited those hospices.
“I was touring one in Texas,” she said, “and I remember people were so happy just to have someone visit them. One sweet guy was crying, and I grabbed his hand and comforted him. A week later I was told he passed.”
Closing Thoughts
As we wrapped up the interview, I asked if there was anything else she’d like to say. “I’m glad to still be here!” she said with a laugh.
“I just want people to come and have a good time. This country we’re living in is crazy as hell. It seems to get crazier by the day, crazier by the hour, crazier by the minute. You have to steady yourself or you can go crazy yourself. Come and take a break from the madness of the world. Have fun. Sing, clap—and if they let you dance, then dance.”
Let’s give a big welcome to our dear friend on July 17.
