Juicy

Juicy was the brother and sister duo of Jerry and Katreese Barnes who had a Top 20 R&B hit with “Sugar Free.” After having releases on Arista — Love’s a Merry-Go-Round (early 1983) — and Atlantic — Beat Street Strut from the movie Beat Street (summer 1984) — they signed with CBS-distributed Private I Records. After the singles — “Bad Boy, “It Takes Two — Juicy finally hit the big time with “Sugar Free.” “Sugar Free” sounded a lot like Mtume’s number one R&B gold single “Juicy Fruit.” It all added up to sweet success for the Barnes’, as “Sugar Free” went to number 13 R&B in early 1986. The duo had one other charting single, “Nobody but You, which hit number 59 R&B in spring of 1986 on the CBS associated label. Juicy had two charting LPs, Juicy (spring 1983) on Arista and It Takes Two (spring 1986) on Private I. ~ Ed Hogan