
Point of No Return Part 1
Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
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The Mexican by Jelly Bean Benitez
The Mexican, featuring vocals by singer Jenny Ha was a number one club hit for Jelly Bean in the fall of 84. A cover of a 70s rock song by British band Babe Ruth, the Mexican featured more prominent Latin percussion than either Madonna's holiday or Shannon's Let the Music Play. That R&B chart peak suggested that Shannon had established freestyle as a firmly black-driven genre but another 1984 single by Jelly Bean Benitez suggested a different direction. The birth of what came to be called Latin freestyle.
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