Giving Flowers to the Girl Groups of Freestyle, Part 3: Sweet Sensation

Some of you know me for Hell of a Hat, the newsletter I started in 2021 to promote my book Hell of a Hat: The Rise of ’90s Ska and Swing. This is something different. It’s a love letter to freestyle music, and if you’re not sure what that is, please check out the introductory article I published last year. This is the final installment of a three-part look at the girl groups of freestyle. Part 1 is all about Exposé. Part 2 centers on The Cover Girls.

Sweet Sensation

Exposé and The Cover Girls were inspired by The Supremes, but their contemporaries in Sweet Sensation took their reverence a step further and actually covered the Detroit legends. Sweet Sensation’s semi-freestyle, heavily Latinized 1990 version of Diana Ross and company’s 1968 chart-topper “Love Child” became a Top 20 pop hit, and around that time, following a club performance in the trio’s hometown of New York City, Sweet Sensation lead singer Betty LeBron (now known as Betty Dee) had the opportunity to meet Mary Wilson of The Supremes.

Wilson told Betty she loved the Sweet Sensation version, and she revealed that she discovered the remake thanks to her son. “Ma, I got this really cool record,” Wilson’s boy told her, completely oblivious to the original. “It’s like my favorite record right now!” Wilson had to set him straight: “Son, let me tell you a little bit about this song…”

While Sweet Sensation didn’t have as many hits as Exposé or The Cover Girls, let alone the mighty Supremes, they did manage to reach the summit of the Hot 100, thanks to the 1990 power ballad “If Wishes Came True,” and they gave the world at least a half dozen freestyle classics, including “Hooked On You,” as good a representation of the genre as has ever been committed to tape. To the extent they had an image, Sweet Sensation were younger, more energetic, and generally less glammy than The Cover Girls, though they were hardly schlubs. And their music put the Latin in Latin freestyle.

As with the previous two stories, this one involves a svengali manager type with the power to pluck young girls from obscurity and make them stars. In this case, the behind-the-scenes guy was David Sanchez, a producer and songwriter who, in the mid-’80s, was co-managing Sly Fox, the dance-pop duo behind the 1984 Top 10 hit “Let’s Go All The Way.”

Sanchez lived next door to teenager Margie Fernandez, who attended the Satellite Academy in Midtown Manhattan with Betty LeBron. Born into a musical Puerto Rican family, LeBron had studied opera at the High School of Music & Art, and she was always singing wherever she went. Margie liked Betty’s voice and thought she should meet Sanchez. So Margie arranged an audition at her house, and Sanchez recorded Betty singing a Stacey Lattisaw song. A week later, Margie called Betty with exciting news: Sanchez’s production company, Platinum Vibe, wanted to meet with her.

Betty and Margie went to Intergalactic Studios in Manhattan to meet Cherrie Shepherd, head of Platinum Vibe. That evening, the hip-hop group Boogie Boys were recording, and Betty and Margie got to chatting with rapper Joe “Romeo J.D.” Malloy. The three hit it off, and Malloy promised to write a song for the girls. He soon got back to them with a demo of a tune called “Could It Be.” Betty went into the studio, and with help from Sanchez, the song got a new chorus and became “Hooked On You.”

At some point, Platinum Vibes decided that LeBron should be part of a trio, and the company added Margie and her sister, Mari. But the timeline is unclear. In a 2007 interview with the California radio station 90.9 KHDC, Mari claimed that she and Margie had the original idea for the group, and that they bugged Sanchez, their neighbor, repeatedly before he gave them a shot. Mari said their friend Anna Maria was originally going to be the third member, but she got married and had a child, so they recruited Betty instead.

Either way, Betty, Mari, and Margie formed a three-piece initially called Sweet Temptation. When lawyers for The Temptations came calling, they changed the name to Sweet Sensation, unaware there had been a British group by that name. “Hooked On You” arrived on Next Plateau Records in 1986 and began selling in places like Miami and California before it finally blew up in New York City. It reached No. 64 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Hooked On You” is teenage sexual awakening set to music. The drums that open the song are enormous and engineered for the club, and before the first verse, one of the girls—possibly Margie—says, “You’re sexy, baby,” or maybe, “You’re sexy real,” if the lyrics on Genius are correct. In any case, the song begins bold and confident, but then Betty starts singing, and she’s a confused young person experiencing emotions she’s not ready for. Her opening line tells us that the whole song is an attempt to express that which cannot be expressed: “I can’t explain what I’m going through/Wish I could find the right words to say.”

She’s fallen in love, or at least lust, and it feels like an addiction. The best line comes in the pre-chorus, where a self-aware Betty admits that she’s unsure of her own intentions. Is she here for a silly adolescent crush, or is this something deeper?

Could it just be that I’m curious

And I wanna make you play my game?

But something tells me that it’s serious

Because I go insane when I hear your name

The wonderfully guileless music video finds Sweet Sensation on the basketball court, swooning over a bunch of dudes. The ladies are dressed in casual street clothes—not the revealing outfits of Exposé or The Cover Girls—and they look exactly like the young people who would’ve been buying their records.

Sweet Sensation returned in 1987 with their second single, “(Goodbye Baby) Victim of Love,” also on Next Plateau. This time, Betty plays a character with a bit more life experience than her wide-eyed “Hooked On You” protagonist. On “Victim of Love,” her boyfriend has left her for someone else, and even though she’s hurt, she knows she’s not the only loser in this situation. There’s a confidence in the drums and jagged synth line that signals she’ll be OK.

So goodbye, baby, say goodbye

I know it won’t be easy

‘Cause you need me

A victim of love

A victim of love (Victim of love)

“Victim of Love” scraped the lower reaches of the club charts, and Sweet Sensation snagged a deal with ATCO, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records. In between tour dates, the ladies recorded their debut album, Take It While It’s Hot, the title of which is perfect for an upstart club act trying to capitalize on a couple of underground hits. The next single was the LP’s title track, one of the era’s more Latin-sounding Latin freestyle songs. The synths blast like brass instruments, percussion pings throughout the tune, and there are even snatches of Afro Cuban piano. Lyrically, Betty continues her evolution and tells her boyfriend she’s ready to go all the way.

Time passes by just like birthdays come and go

So light the candles, babe, and I’ll make a wish and blow

I love the way you groove, I’m gonna make this move

It’s time to live, I wanna give you what you’re waiting for

“Take It While It’s Hot” stalled at No. 57 on the Hot 100, but it reached No. 14 on the Dance Club Songs chart, so it was clearly having its desired effect where it arguably mattered most. Sweet Sensation had their biggest-ever club success with the album’s next single, “Never Let You Go,” a freestyle triumph that employs virtually every studio trick available at the time. Producer Ted Currier’s drums are massive, and he uses sampled bits of Betty’s vocals to create cool stuttered sequences. There are also orchestra hits and Afro Cuban piano segments, and the lead synth riff glows like a neon light.

Lyrically, “Never Let You Go” is “Hooked On You” as sung by a woman who’s been around and seen some stuff. She’s been with a bunch of men who’ve treated her like garbage, and now that she’s found someone decent, she’s looking to lock him down. In the music video, there are shots of Sweet Sensation looking cute in workout clothes and learning the choreography. But there are also sequences with them in tight black dresses. This image shift was one reason Mari left the group at the end of 1988.

“Not to be disrespectful to anyone, but we were becoming too much like The Cover Girls,” Mari told KHDC. “The Cover Girls had an image, they had the name, and that’s what they wanted to be recognized as. Sweet Sensation was supposed to be young, energetic, and make music that would be positive to the youth. I wanted it to be a group that young girls and guys could relate to. I didn’t want it to become something where kids thought that we thought we were too good or where people would have to go to extremes just to become what we were.”

Wardrobe was only part of the issue. Mari was mostly upset that Betty was being marketed as the lead singer, while she and her sister were pushed to the background. Mari had envisioned a group where all three members would have a shot in the spotlight—like TLC the following decade—and that’s not what Sweet Sensation became. Mari also claims the production company fired Sanchez, and she was not OK with that.

“Despite what anybody might think, you have to remain loyal to those who sacrificed in order to put us in front,” Mari said. “David was in the music industry way before Sweet Sensation was even a thought. He was in numerous Spanish bands. He was responsible for producing a lot of records. And for me to just turn a blind eye to what was going on, I don’t think I could have ever looked at myself in the mirror after that.”

Margie stayed on, however, and Sheila Vega took her sister’s place. Vega can be seen in the video for the next single, “Sincerely Yours,” which made it to No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Sweet Sensation their first Top 20 pop hit. With its acoustic guitars, congas, and horn-like synths, this was the most Latin-sounding of the trio’s singles, and it presented the most complex romantic situation Sweet Sensation had tackled to date. Betty sings to an estranged love she can’t see for unspecified reasons. She’s been reduced to sending him love letters, only dude never writes back. It’s a snail-mail love song in the vein of “Please Mr. Postman” and “Return to Sender,” and the pre-chorus tells the whole story.

You promised we would be together

But you still haven’t answered my letters

“Sincerely Yours” was co-written by Joe “Romeo J.D.” Malloy, and he also gets a feature credit, as he shows up for a rap section that adds a twist to the story. Romeo plays the boyfriend, and it turns out he is writing back, but the girl’s father keeps stealing the mail before it reaches his daughter. Romeo never says why he’s unable to simply call her. But one of his letters evidently makes it past her old man, because Betty’s final pre-chorus signals a happy ending.

Now I know we’ll be together (Together, baby)

‘Cause you just answered my letters (Oh-woah)

In the “Sincerely Yours” music video, Sweet Sensation performs with a live band on the kind of giant stage you’d expect to see in a Poison or Bon Jovi video. Betty rocks ripped jeans and a leather jacket—an outfit that sets her apart from the other two girls, who get matching miniskirts—and the crowd goes bonkers.

For the final single, ATCO released a remixed version of “Hooked On You,” and they commissioned a new music video that’s a far cry from the original. Instead of hanging at the local basketball court, the ladies strut down a runway in various sleek and sexy outfits. The sophisticated vibe undercuts the innocent tone of the lyrics, though there are moments of comic relief, like when some of the men working behind the scenes at the fashion show try to impress the ladies with their dancing. Also, the clip ends with Betty, Margie, and Sheila defacing each other’s portraits with spray paint. “Hooked On You” reached No. 23 on the Hot 100. Sweet Sensation were a genuine group.

Following the success of the first album, ATCO did exactly what you’d expect and pushed the trio further into mainstream pop territory. Sweet Sensation’s sophomore album, 1990’s Love Child, still contains plenty of freestyle beats and Latin flourishes, but there are also forays into house and rock balladry. Betty wasn’t necessarily cool with the new direction.

“They were grooming us to be a pop act, which was crazy, because at this time and age, it would’ve been great if Sweet Sensation was the breakout Latina group,” Betty told rapper Mellow Man Ace for his podcast in 2021. “Deep in my heart and my soul, I wanted to be a breakout Latina artist.”

“Love Child,” the Supremes cover, was the album’s lead single, and even though it’s not exactly done as a freestyle tune—there’s no syncopation in the kick drum—the song feels partially at home in the freestyle universe. The protagonist is a young woman who was born out of wedlock and into poverty. Her father ran off, and she grew up wearing rags and feeling ashamed. Given this history, she asks her boyfriend not to pressure her into sex, as this might lead to another “love child” and a perpetuation of the cycle. It’s heavier subject matter than freestyle usually tackles, but it recalls Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam’s “I Wonder If I Take You Home,” a lighter exploration of a similar topic released five years earlier.

“Love Child” hit No. 13 on the Hot 100—one better than “Sincerely Yours” had done—and set the stage for Sweet Sensation’s biggest pop moment. Steve Peck, executive producer of Love Child, asked her to sing a pair of ballads on the album, one of them being “If Wishes Came True,” which owes more to the hair metal band Warrant’s “Heaven” than it does anything in the freestyle canon. Russ DeSalvo, one of the song’s co-writers, imagined “If Wishes Came True” as a kind of sequel to “Thinking Of You,” a hit ballad he co-authored for another freestyle singer, Sa-Fire.

Betty was a huge fan of Heart, a rock band that knew its way around a power ballad, so she had no fundamental problem with the genre excursion. She just doubted her own ability to pull it off.

“I didn’t know how to approach this song at first,” Betty told Fred Bronson for The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits. “When you get a girl who’s so used to doing uptempo songs and jumping up and down, then give her something like this, you look at it and say, ‘What do I do with this mess?’”

Betty did just fine in the studio, and in fact, she elevates the material. “If Wishes Came True” is a pretty nondescript song about wanting to get back together with an ex. The lyrics offer virtually no information about what happened between these two people, and unless you count the wailing guitar, Betty’s voice is the only thing with any real emotional heft.

Still, reading through the comments on the music video on YouTube, it’s clear “If Wishes Came True” soundtracked a lot of crucial adolescent moments. “I remember hearing this in the Staten Island Mall the night before my family moved to Ohio,” one fan named Maureen Koscinski writes. “I was walking around the mall with my boyfriend and my 13-year-old heart was breaking because I had to move and leave him. lo and behold, 26 years later we found each other again!”

Maureen posted that comment nine years ago, and there’s no update on what happened, despite requests from other YouTube commenters. Here’s hoping those crazy kids got married and made it work. “If Wishes Came True” certainly brought good luck to Sweet Sensation. It went all the way to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and when they heard the news, Betty, Margie, and Sheila cried for weeks.

It should be noted that Betty is even more proud of the album’s other ballad, “He’ll Never Know,” a deep cut about how her ex-lover made a big mistake. “He’ll never know about the finer things,” she sings. “Like happy ever after.”

The album’s final two singles—“One Good Man” and “I Surrender,” both solid freestyle tunes that may have arrived after the genre’s sell-by date—missed the charts, as did 1991’s Time to Jam! collection, featuring remixes of Sweet Sensation’s biggest hits. Around the time, Margie and Sheila left, and Betty continued performing with three new girls, among them Belle Ritter and Jeanette “Jenae” Colón. Sweet Sensation split up that same year, and in the mid-2000s, Betty revived the group as a touring act with Ritter and Colón.

Betty admits that she was never a Whitney Houston-style belter. She used to get bummed out reading reviews that mentioned her “child-like voice,” but she’s made peace with it. “I learned to love myself a little more over the years,” Betty told Mellow Man Ace. “Did they make me feel underrated at that time? Yes. But I feel like I made a contribution to something that was so beautiful and so impactful that it makes me feel good. I’m very proud of the work that I did.”

While Betty feels freestyle has never been given the respect it deserves, she’s played enough shows, met enough fans, and perhaps even read enough gushing YouTube comments to know what the music has meant in people’s lives.

“We sang about love and dancing and heartbreak,” Betty told Daily Boom in 2018. “I can’t find a freestyle song that’s not about one of those things. It’s all about love and tears, and that music created a bond 30 years ago, and it’s still there now. We all share that same bond now, and I’m humbled by it. Understanding the genre and growing up with the people that listened to it, I totally get it. We hold on to this music and the time in our lives that it takes us back to until it’s ingrained in our DNA. It’s literally who we are.”