Post by Rob Durkee on Nov 25, 2011 0:54:20 GMT -5
By ROCKIN ' ROBIN
Andrea True, who was best known for the summer-of-1976 #3-peaking disco-pop hit, "More More More (Part I)" died November 7, 2011 at a hospital in Kingston, New York. According to Los Angeles Times writer, Valerie Nelson, Wikipedia and the Gilpatric-VanVliet Funeral Home, she was 68.
True's passing was shrouded in mystery. News of her death took over two weeks to reach the general public and the cause of death has yet to be revealed. Over the years, this writer thought True was born in 1950 but actually she was born Andrea Marie Truden on July 26, 1943. She would change her last name to True to avoid embarrassment to her family since her early endeavors were as a porno movie star. Among the 40 such movies she appeared in was 1974's "Deep Throat Part II."
Andrea True was born the same day as Mick Jagger. Ironically, when "More More More" debuted at #34 on the Cash Box Top 40 the weekend of May 8, 1976, it was back-to-back with "Fool To Cry" by Jagger and the Rolling Stones (#33). Five weeks later for the Cash Box chart of June 12, 1976, the same chart irony repeated itself when "More More More" moved into the Top 10 at #8. "Fool To Cry" was at #9.
"More More More (Part I") became a hit by accident. True was in Jamaica to film a commercial. While there, political turmoil developed and no one was allowed to leave the island with any money. True didn't want to lose her hard-earned money, so she contacted a friend, writer-producer Gregg Diamond, to help her record a song. Diamond arrived in Jamaica with the song "More More More" in hand and the rest became music history.
"More More More" would become the #29 song of 1976 and the #45 most successful dance song by VH-1. Plus, the song's instrumental hook would be sampled by the group Lit with its 1999 hit song, "Steal My Sunshine."
True never had another Top 40 hit although from 1976-78 she had three other Cash Box pop chart hits: "Party Line" (#87), "N.Y., You Got Me Dancing" (#86) and this writer's favorite song by her, "What's Your Name, What's Your Number" (#99).
In a Los Angeles Times story with the headline "Porno's Loss Is Disco's Gain," True explained how she became a porno movie actress. "I had nothing better to do," she said. "I'd been turned down by an agent for a record deal and I got tired of working as an extra in pictures. Some of my friends asked me to join them in a porno film. So I figured I could learn about films and acting that way, so I did it. It was a tough call. I mean, how do you go home and say, 'Mom, I'm in porno films'?"
Once "More More More" became a hit, True vowed to never act again in a porno movie. "I'd be a waitress or a typist before I'd be in another porno film," she told the L.A. Times in the 1976 article. "Now I just want to record and perform. Don't look at me as a porno star anymore. Look at me as a recording star."
Andrea True, who was best known for the summer-of-1976 #3-peaking disco-pop hit, "More More More (Part I)" died November 7, 2011 at a hospital in Kingston, New York. According to Los Angeles Times writer, Valerie Nelson, Wikipedia and the Gilpatric-VanVliet Funeral Home, she was 68.
True's passing was shrouded in mystery. News of her death took over two weeks to reach the general public and the cause of death has yet to be revealed. Over the years, this writer thought True was born in 1950 but actually she was born Andrea Marie Truden on July 26, 1943. She would change her last name to True to avoid embarrassment to her family since her early endeavors were as a porno movie star. Among the 40 such movies she appeared in was 1974's "Deep Throat Part II."
Andrea True was born the same day as Mick Jagger. Ironically, when "More More More" debuted at #34 on the Cash Box Top 40 the weekend of May 8, 1976, it was back-to-back with "Fool To Cry" by Jagger and the Rolling Stones (#33). Five weeks later for the Cash Box chart of June 12, 1976, the same chart irony repeated itself when "More More More" moved into the Top 10 at #8. "Fool To Cry" was at #9.
"More More More (Part I") became a hit by accident. True was in Jamaica to film a commercial. While there, political turmoil developed and no one was allowed to leave the island with any money. True didn't want to lose her hard-earned money, so she contacted a friend, writer-producer Gregg Diamond, to help her record a song. Diamond arrived in Jamaica with the song "More More More" in hand and the rest became music history.
"More More More" would become the #29 song of 1976 and the #45 most successful dance song by VH-1. Plus, the song's instrumental hook would be sampled by the group Lit with its 1999 hit song, "Steal My Sunshine."
True never had another Top 40 hit although from 1976-78 she had three other Cash Box pop chart hits: "Party Line" (#87), "N.Y., You Got Me Dancing" (#86) and this writer's favorite song by her, "What's Your Name, What's Your Number" (#99).
In a Los Angeles Times story with the headline "Porno's Loss Is Disco's Gain," True explained how she became a porno movie actress. "I had nothing better to do," she said. "I'd been turned down by an agent for a record deal and I got tired of working as an extra in pictures. Some of my friends asked me to join them in a porno film. So I figured I could learn about films and acting that way, so I did it. It was a tough call. I mean, how do you go home and say, 'Mom, I'm in porno films'?"
Once "More More More" became a hit, True vowed to never act again in a porno movie. "I'd be a waitress or a typist before I'd be in another porno film," she told the L.A. Times in the 1976 article. "Now I just want to record and perform. Don't look at me as a porno star anymore. Look at me as a recording star."
