Bas Noir - Superficial Love (1992)

Not much is known about their origins, but it's assumed that Mary Ridley and Morie Bivins teamed up as Bas Noir (French for black stockings) in the late 1980s. They teamed up with the Burrell brothers Rheji and Rhano, who as Burrell released an album in '88 and had some success with the track I Really Like . The Burrell brothers applied their smooth house sound to the ladies' first single (on the Nu Groove label), My Love Is Magic and became an underground club hit in the US. Ten Records picked the song up for the UK the following year and it reached the lower end of the UK pop charts. They followed it up with I'm Glad You Came To Me, which made an even bigger impact on the dance charts. This attracted the attention of Atlantic in the US, who commissioned the album Ah...Bas Noir with the Burrells producing most of the tracks. They also brought in Kerri Chandler and Dee Dee Brave; however, for the first single from the album they chose the song Superficial Love, the only track not to be produced by either team. It was produced by Michael "Nice" Chapman & Tomi Trent, and was definitely amore of a R&B track. This was probably released to attract a wider audience, but instead it seemed to alienate their existing fan base, who were hoping for another house stomper. (This fate befell another Atlantic house act, Jomanda, though Jomanda managed to have a few big hits before they turned to R&B and effectively ruined their career.)The Kerri Chandler remixes housed it up and the song did reach the top 20 of the Billboard pop chart and did well in dance charts, but it was too late for the album. Subsequent singles Shoe-B-Doo and Addicted 2 U had diminishing returns. They were dropped from Atlantic (along with a slew of other dance acts) and it seemed the end for the duo.
However, in 1995, the song What's My Name by Native Sol was attributed to the ladies, and it appeared that they were forging on together in a new direction, this time getting much more soulful and exploring Acid Jazz. the track was released on Talkin' Loud record, a label  founded by DJ's Gilles Peterson and Norman Jay in 1990.
Nothing else was heard from Native Sol, however, and nothing much can be found about either lady since.

- FVHK5K