3 One-Hit Wonders From the 1980s With Tragic Backstories

Tragedy happens to everyone, including talented and successful musicians. The following three one-hit wonders from the 1980s have particularly tragic stories. Get ready for some serious bummers ahead.

“It Takes Two” by Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock

This song is a legendary one in early hip-hop history. “It Takes Two” by Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock was an ultra-successful debut single, and people still bump it today. Sadly, it was the duo’s only song to make it to the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The pair would release their final album in 1994, though they were technically still working until 2014.

Sadly, this hip-hop duo’s story doesn’t have a happy ending. Around 1994, DJ E-Z Rock, real name Rodney “Skip” Bryce, suffered a decline in his health. He was previously diagnosed with diabetes and struggled to maintain his health while battling the disease. In 2014, after a lengthy hospitalization, he passed away at only 46 years old from complications. The hip-hop partnership of Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock died with him.

“Angel Eyes” by Jeff Healey

Remember “Angel Eyes” by Jeff Healey? This 1989 tune was a standout release from The Jeff Healey Band, and it ended up being Healey and the group’s only Top 40 (at No. 5) hit on the Hot 100 chart. And, tragically, Healey’s story is a heartbreaking one.

Years after the success of “Angel Eyes”, Healey was diagnosed with lung cancer and several sarcomas in his legs. Despite undergoing surgery to fight the disease, Healey succumbed to cancer in 2008, at the age of only 41. He died just a month before his comeback album, Mess Of Blues, hit the shelves.

“We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off” by Jermaine Stewart

This famous one-hit wonder made it big with a song that was, more or less, all about modesty. “We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off” by Jermaine Stewart was released in 1986, and this funk-pop tune made it all the way to No. 5 on the Hot 100. Stewart never had another Top 20 hit again, though some would call him a two-hit wonder, considering the 1987 song “Say It Again” made it to the Top 40.

Stewart’s story is still heartbreaking to hear about to this day, and he deserves a spot on this list of one-hit wonders from the 1980s with tragic backstories. It’s widely assumed that “We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off” was written as a response to the AIDS crisis, encouraging a modest outlook towards sex at the time for the sake of safety. Tragically, Stewart himself was diagnosed with the disease and died at only 39 years old in 1997 from AIDS-related cancer of the liver. His family did not pay for his headstone or burial, due to the stigma surrounding his sexuality. Thankfully, in 2014, Stewart’s grave site finally received a headstone.

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