[Music] foreign
all female singing groups were a dime a dozen an all-female band now that
was practically unheard of climax a six-member all-female pop r b band
from Los Angeles California came out of the gate swinging in 1979 proving
beyond a shadow of a doubt that women could bring the funk just like the men
the group was created and formed by drummer vocalist and producer Bernadette Cooper after the
idea came to her while sitting in her accounting class as a 17 year old first-year college student
she knew that starting a band was what she really wanted to do not pursue higher education she
already had a great foundation in music being the drummer in her church choir growing up she also
enjoyed listening to Industry Giants Isaac Hayes Sly and the Family Stone and Aretha Franklin after
breaking up with her boyfriend who didn't like the idea of her playing the drums and disappointing
her mother by dropping out of school Bernadette went on a mission scouring the LA area looking
for other female musicians she could jam with soon she stumbled upon guitarist Cheryl unruly Cooley
her interest in singing and playing musical instruments started when her parents got her
a toy guitar every other Christmas beginning when she was four she received a real one at 11 began
taking lessons and never looked back together Bernadette and Cheryl decided to play some
newspaper ad ads in an effort to solicit more band members one of the people who answered Those ads
was keyboardist Lynn Mosby she was a child prodigy on the keys as well as being a gifted songwriter
who'd already spent time in various other bands all male of course over the next couple of years
the band continued to perfect their sound while also experiencing various members come and go
then one day vocalist Lorena Stewart came in for an audition the moment she opened her mouth she
secured the job after putting a demo tape together the band would get noticed by r b label solar
records their undeniable Talent made the decision to sign them a very easy one as the 70s gave way
to the 80s other female bands like the Go-Go's and the Bangles crept up on the music scene
climax though was adamant about not following in their footsteps they wanted to be different
another member that would play a major role in making that happen was bass player and vocalist
Joyce fenderella Irby whose nickname paid homage to the popular guitar manufacturer and voice
had an uncanny resemblance to Michael Jackson's after begging her mother to buy her a guitar for
some time Joyce finally got one when she was 12. she'd find though that she couldn't get her hands
to hold the cords properly so she opted to pick the base notes out on the lower strings of the
instrument naturally that led her to eventually acquiring a bass guitar as well as a teen she'd
form a friendship with George Clinton who would take an interest in her as a musical artist the
last piece to the puzzle came in the form of another band veteran that could play every
instrument by the name of Robin Grider now they were set to take the Music World by storm their
label however never imagined how difficult it would be to get the women to conform to
the look they thought the band should have which consisted of mini skirts high heels and a whole
lot of makeup they just weren't about that live climax's debut album titled never underestimate
the power of a woman would be released in 1981. it went nowhere as did the follow-up girls will
be girls the ladies were the least bit discouraged by those results and kept on further zeroing in
on what they wanted their signature sound to be after going back to the drawing board and
deciding to take matters into their own hands the band's third album 1984's Meeting in the
Ladies Room would finally give climax the success they were yearning for the first single off the
project written by Bernadette and Joyce called the men All Paws peaked at number five on the r
b chart another single the title track Meeting in the Ladies Room also became a top 5 r b hit
surpassing the men All Pause by climbing to number four but that wasn't all climax would experience
what would go on to be the biggest hit of their career with a song that wasn't even supposed to
be an official single release called I miss you radio stations began playing The Ballad and fans
couldn't get enough the song written by Lynn gave the band their best placing ever on the Billboard
Hot 100 peaking at number five it also went on to become the third best-selling pop song of 1986.
IMAX had done it they got the respect they demanded as an all-female band dominated
the r b charts and then became international pop stars [Music] while on tour though things
started to go left Lorena became pregnant and instead of being happy and supportive
her bandmates conspired to kick her out of the group believing she would hinder their success
she refused to leave and continued on the tour right up until one week before she delivered two
years later the band's fourth and self-titled album dropped the project did produce a couple
of top 20 pop hits but by that time the tension that had been building between the members was
about to boil over the first to make a move was Bernadette the timing was actually perfect for
her since she was wanting to take advantage of opportunities to write and produce for other
artists due to climax's success the offers were rolling in and she was beginning to be in high
demand then Joyce after apparently ruffling too many feathers with all the offers coming
her way to also go solo was unceremoniously kicked out of the band The Action floored
her as she explained in the band's 2009 unsung episode it was like I was sitting in the room
and got run over by a truck I had no clue it was emotionally devastating it was very painful and
very stunning to me Lynn was next out the door she was disappointed that the members
weren't standing up for themselves and allowing outside influences to take them down a path she
didn't want to go climax would officially disband in 89 but determined to keep the boat afloat the
remaining three members released an album the very next year called the Max's back unfortunately
while on tour to promote the project they were dropped by their label Lorena tried to secure
a solo record deal to no avail while Robin stayed out of the spotlight completely Cheryl also backed
away from music and became an electrician Joyce and Bernadette did make a go of a solo career
both releasing debut solo albums in 1989 and 1990 respectively Joyce then went on to start her own
production company which people started paying a lot of attention to after she signed future
Superstar songwriter and record producer Dallas Austin she also played a major role in developing
R B singer Sammy Bernadette continued to produce other artists as well as creating r b girl group
Madame X Lynn went on to become a software where developer in 2002 Cheryl fell the stage calling
her again and embarked on a mission to get the original members back together she ultimately
ended up creating a whole new version of the band and began performing live shows under the climax
name which she had trademarked without permission [Music] when the other original members of climax
found out they were not happy a couple of years later on a 2004 VH1 special called bands reunited
everything came to a head when the ladies minus Robin were able to confront Cheryl face to face
about her unauthorized use of the band's name according to Cheryl she felt abandoned by the
other members and decided to trademark their name to protect it from being taken by someone
else eventually a legal decision was made that in order to use the name climax each member had
to differentiate their particular version of the ban by adding their names on June 25th 2021 climax
was inducted into the women's songwriters Hall of Fame in Washington DC Bernadette and Lynn though
accused the organization of honoring the touring lineup featuring Cheryl whose contributions were
minimal Bernadette told billboard.com Cheryl wrote minimally and none of the hits presenting
herself as climax 4 of all things a songwriting award would be laughable if it weren't just plain
fraudulent and she knows that she's crossed the line the other climax members allege
that Cheryl has actually managed to change songwriting credits and Publishing shares in
ascap's database the American Society of composers authors and publishers
the ladies also only found out about the induction after billboard published a story that climax were
among the honorees in an effort to write the egregious wrong Joyce wrote an email to Sony
music publishing explaining what happened and what should be done about it ASCAP needs to get
on its job not only has Cooley stolen large parts of my Lin and Bernadette's shares but
she has removed the names of other legitimate co-writers ASCAP has also failed to list the
submitter in the details section which would of course Point directly back to Cheryl Cooley
or those acting on her behalf some additional information that many people may not know about
is that Cheryl and women's songwriter Hall of Fame founder Janice McLean DeLoach are friends
so naturally the chances of the other members concerns falling on deaf ears was even more likely
the last word the other members received from the organization was an offer of acknowledgment
of their presence in the audience if they decided to show up Joyce Bernadette Lorena
Lynn and Robin all declined to attend a ceremony today all the original members
have the right to perform under the name climax currently there are three versions making the
rounds on the music scene one led by Cheryl one led by Bernadette and one led by Joyce