The Gyrlz

The first genuine ‘New Jill Swing’ act, the Gyrlz were formed in the USA during 1987 by Terri, Monica and Tara. Their initial demo tapes were produced by the omnipresent Teddy Riley and Kyle West. ‘When we recorded our demos with Teddy he was still living in the St. Nicholas Projects in Harlem. Those were the good old days’, remembers Terri. They then met up with Uptown Records’ representative Andre Harrell, who asked them, via the intervention of Heavy D, to record an album. They enjoyed minor success with ‘Wishing You Were Here’, before joining Al. B. Sure as backing singers on his Heartbreak tour. From there they became the opening act for Bobby Brown and New Edition, but split at the end of the tour. ‘We were lost rebels without much of a cause and with nowhere to go’, is how Monica painfully recalls the experience. Terri returned to New York, briefly singing for Key West, another Uptown band who never released an album, before moving back to Philadelphia. There she decided to reunite with Monica, as Terri And Monica, with Tara becoming their manager.