C+C Music Factory

C+C Music Factory was a New York dance-pop project built around producers David Cole and Robert Clivillés, who met while working at Manhattan clubs and had already made their names as remixers and producers for artists including Mariah Carey, Chaka Khan, and Fleetwood Mac before starting a project of their own. Rather than a fixed band, C+C Music Factory functioned as a rotating cast of vocalists and rappers assembled around Cole and Clivillés's productions, which fused house piano riffs, hip-hop beats, and gospel-inflected vocal power into a glossy, radio-ready dance sound typical of early-1990s crossover club music.

Their breakthrough single, «Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)», became a global smash, reaching the top five in numerous countries. It featured rapper Freedom Williams and powerhouse vocals from Martha Wash, though the female vocal credit and video appearance went to dancer Zelma Davis, a mismatch that later led to a lawsuit from Wash over uncredited work. The song's parent album became a multi-platinum, chart-topping success, and the group followed it with hits like «Here We Go, Let's Rock & Roll» and «Things That Make You Go Hmmmm...».

C+C Music Factory is remembered as one of the defining acts of the New Jack Swing/dance-pop crossover era, a project whose commercial peak was cut short by David Cole's death in 1995. Its music remains a touchstone of early-90s dance culture, sampled and referenced widely in later pop and hip-hop.