Martha Wash

In terms of longevity, Martha Wash is dance music history. Launching her four-decade long career during the disco age as one-half of Sylvester's background singing duo Two Tons of O Fun, the San Franciscan shared the flamboyant crooner's nightspot beside Two Tons' other big-boned half, Izora Rhodes Armstead (also one of the Weather Girls). As the Weather Girls, Martha and Izora hit it huge (no pun intended) with the '80s strip club standard "It's Raining Men," and since then Martha has been the big voice behind discotheque favs like Black Box's "Everybody Everybody" and C + C Music Factory's "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" (yes, it was her commanding wail to dance, not the starved super model in the famous music video). She remains an iconic legend among dance fans, and produced a hit in 2004 with the gospel-influenced "You Lift Me Up" as well as a role in the Broadway musical Gals Too Big for Broadway.