these two weren't the only ones in the middle of a lip-syncing scandal in the early 90s
so were cnc music factory the group exploded onto the worldwide music scene with their very first
song little did fans know however the woman they were seeing on their tv screens in the music video
mouthing the words wasn't actually the one belting out the catchy hug
american musical group cnc music factory was formed in 1989 by johnson city tennessee born
david cole and brooklyn new york native robert clavellas they became friends in the late 80s when
they both performed at better days a historic dance club in manhattan with robert as the
resident dj and david as the resident keyboardist in 1987 they formed a short-lived house music
group called two puerto ricans a black man and a dominican the group also included fellow producers
david morales and chep nunez they released a few songs including the minor uk hit do it properly
before disbanding robert and david then continued to record music together under the name the 28th
street crew which previously used the alias the done properly posse in 1989 the duo released an
album titled i need a rhythm and its title track and lead single became a top five hit
on the dance chart continuing on with the pattern of creating a new name to go with every iteration
of their group robert and david along with rapper freedom williams formed the crew in 1990. robert
and david met the brooklyn-born queen's raised freedom at new york's quad recording studios
where he was working as a janitor while attending school they released a single called get dumb for
your body the song featured an unauthorized sample of musician and producer boy jarvis's 1983 song
the music got me boyd filed a lawsuit against david and robert as well as the record company
and the court ruled in his favor this wouldn't be the last time that robert and david would get
accused of stealing not giving credit where credit was due and ending up in court because of it
while creating their own music robert and david also produced for many other artists
including the cover girls lisa lisa and cult jam and mariah carey they even created their own girl
group called seduction the group didn't last very long but they did manage to land on the hot 100
with a handful of tracks off their debut album including their number two hit
two to make it right and their very first chart entry you're my one and only true
love an interesting fact about the latter track was that the members of seduction
are only heard on the backup vocals the lead vocal was sung by disco veteran martha wash
the same martha wash that was previously one half of the duo two tons of fun who served as
disco r b singers sylvester's official backup singers as well as the weather girls most known
for their number one dance hit its reigning men david had already known martha for a while
since they worked together during her time in the weather girls so he asked her to sing
on a demo for the seduction song as well as others remember that little tidbit for later
he however chose to also leave her vocals on the final version and in the liner notes
she was only credited as a backup vocalist that didn't fly with martha and she sued
crazy enough martha would also soon play a very similar role in the stories of cnc music factory
as well as italian house music group black box but we'll say the latter for another video
later that same year robert and david once again decided to form a new group this time they chose
to incorporate their surnames and settled on calling themselves cnc music factory and signed
a multi-album deal with colombia the whole idea for the group was that robert and david would be
the only consistent members and that they'd work with different vocalists in december cnc music
factory released their debut album gonna make you sweat their debut single of the same name released
the month before became an international hit and peaked at number one on the billboard hot 100.
the song also featured a rap by freedom former member of their previous group the crew as well
as an unknown artist who would make herself known through the courts cnc music factory would be hit
with a lawsuit by martha wash that's right those uncredited vocals on the chorus belong to her
even though it may not appear to some martha insists that she wasn't the lawsuit-happy type
in fact after discovering that the group was using liberian singer zelma davis in
the music video she attempted to negotiate with robert and david her sleeve credits and
royalties they weren't having it so martha did what she had to do and in december 1991
filed a lawsuit in the los angeles superior court against the duo charging the producers and their
record company sony music entertainment with fraud deceptive packaging and commercial appropriation
allegedly it all boiled down to record labels and producers believing that her look wouldn't sell
so the music videos featured much smaller women pretending to be her
freedom even said as much in an interview with a current affair stating i tell you this i don't
mean to be rude harsh callous i'm a lion or vilifying but i'd rather look at them on stage
after the case was settled sony made an unprecedented request to mtv
to add a disclaimer to the beginning of the gonna make you sweat video whenever they aired it that
it was actually martha's vocals being heard and not zelma's as far as zelma was concerned she
wasn't doing anything wrong in a 2014 interview with rolling stone magazine she revealed what
she was told from people behind the scenes the record label production company and management
told me that it was okay to lip-sync in the video as long as i sing live in public i was 19
inexperienced and extremely gullible on the video set i told members of the crew that it wasn't
me singing this particular song as words spread throughout the set that i was revealing this fact
label representatives and our management pulled me aside and asked that i stopped speaking about
whose vocals they were later on robert and david claimed that they planned to make martha a part of
cnc but that her lawsuit over the seduction track made them bulk at the idea then again at various
points they also said that martha didn't want to be part of the group nevertheless the song has
gone on to become a major pop music cliche today it's still a go-to anthem at sporting events and
wedding parties and has soundtracked countless movies and tv shows over the years including
space jam the fresh prince of bel air the simpsons and the office even in the midst of the lawsuit
drama the group forged ahead and continued their string of success with the release of two top ten
singles here we go let's rock and roll and things that make you go hmm inspired by a phrase uttered
periodically by late night talk show host arsenio hall both tracks reached goal status in the us
and remained lawsuit proof since zelma actually did sing lead on them in august 1991 the album's
final single just a touch of love was released and earned the group their fourth number one dance hit
the song was also featured on the soundtrack of the musical comedy film sister act the following
year the group released the single keep it coming dance so you can't dance no more featuring deborah
cooper and rapper q unique on vocals the single became their fifth song to top the billboard dance
chart and was also featured on the soundtrack of the comedy horror film buffy the vampire
slayer by the end of that year the group had earned a total of four american music awards
cnc were loving their success and no doubt feeling themselves so much that not only did they mention
the yet to be settled lawsuit filed by martha but downplayed the whole thing on live television at
the 1992 american music awards i really am deeply grateful to you all for believing in us and not
falling prey to to this whole lip-syncing thing because we are not a lipstick group
we are for real 100 and miss zellman right here can sing that yeah
in 1994 cnc music factory experienced a lineup change martha whose lawsuit with the group
had just been settled out of court was asked surprisingly to join as a full-time vocalist
freedom left the group to pursue a solo career and was replaced by new york-based freestyle act
trilogy in august the group released their second album titled anything goes the lead single do
you want to get funky which featured vocals from zelma martha and trilogy made it into the top 40
and earned the group their sixth number one dancehead sadly on january 24th 1995
david cole passed away from spinal meningitis he was 32 years old it's been widely speculated that
aids was the real cause of his death but that was never confirmed in november 1995 cnc music
factory released their self-titled third album the record was released by robert using the cnc name
though it didn't feature any musical contributions from david zelma or martha the album's lead
single i'll always be around became their seventh number one dancehead the second single don't stop
the remix which didn't chart at all would be the group's final release before officially disbanding
with the timing of martha's lawsuit also happening during the height of the milly vanilli lip-syncing
scandal zelma found herself being accused of not having any real talent and only featured by the
group because of her looks in the same rolling stone interview with martha zelma spoke candidly
about how difficult it was to move past all the drama for 20 years i blame myself i experienced
severe depression no record label would touch me i was branded a model and fraud my career was over
i was blacklisted chewed up and spit out i felt horrible about myself for the part i played
as a child i was a fan of martha wash i still am i apologized to her several years after the scandal
placed blame on myself and claimed responsibility for my role martha's vocals were used as lead and
i believe she had the right to sue for proper compensation over the years she's continued
to sing and release the odd single here and there while also dabbling in the acting world
the year after david's passing robert released an album of new material under the name robbie
robb's club world as well as a compilation album containing past singles and unreleased material
recorded by cnc music factory he also released a couple of albums as a member of the new york-based
hip-hop group mvp before taking an extended sabbatical he decided to briefly reform cnc music
factory in 2010 with dj record producer songwriter and keyboardist eric cupper replacing david they
released a couple of songs over the next year featuring singer scarlett santana before quietly
fading away again he popped back up five years later for the first time as a solo artist with
the release of the tracks set me free featuring vocals by kimberly davis of the band chic
his latest effort came in 2021 when after some encouragement from his teenage son he decided
to get back to making music again he produced and released the song yo soy latino vamos a balar by
latinos del mundo freedom released his self-titled solo debut album and only one to date in 1993
however it failed to garner him anywhere near the type of success he'd experienced with cnc after
also giving acting a try he went off the radar for a while in 2005 he made a bold move and acquired
the federal trademark to use the name cnc music factory using the word and for live performances
even though his name doesn't have a single c in it he was apparently able to accomplish this
because he'd been performing solo shows across the country under the group's name since the late 90s
essentially establishing common law trademark rights another fact in freedom's favor was
neither robert nor david trademarked the name back in the 90s when they came up with it
robert did reveal that he asked freedom to bill himself as freedom williams
formerly of cnc music factory while touring and he did honor that request for a little while until he
started presenting himself as an actual member of cnc by 2014 freedom had renewed his trademark
to cnc music factory with an ampersand he now owns the trademark rights for the name for all
related efforts not just live performances founding member robert was understandably
furious about it and let his feelings be known in a lengthy facebook post in july
2016. in the letter he revealed that he's prepared to take the matter to court and asks freedom why
he's stealing and profiting from their hard work how did freedom respond by blocking him
according to robert freedom signed a contract to become one of cnc music factory's featured
artists under the terms of that contract which was essentially an open-ended development deal he and
david would provide freedom with opportunities to record and perform with their group as well
as other groups that they managed the agreement did not frame freedom as a founder or owner of the
group that designation was reserved exclusively for robert and david as of the making of this
video there doesn't appear to be any evidence that robert did file any kind of lawsuit on freedom in
the summer of 2019 freedom made a definitive response about the issue to whatsup.com i'm
the only one that really kept going he's not an artist he doesn't perform and he quit the business
once you quit the business if you own a trademark you lose it he's semi-retired he wasn't using it
he got mad because he wanted to have it he wants me to give him money that's not going to happen
today freedom continues to perform and tour under the name cnc music factory and he's also taken up
construction as a side gig thanks for watching please like share and comment also don't forget
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