💿 When Miami Met the Machines: The Story of Company B’s “Fascinated”

The Twelve Inch 185 : Fascinated (Company B)

I don’t know about you, but with some records I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing the first time I heard them. They’re always the ones that made a lasting impression, songs that seemed to “speak” to me from the very first moment. Company B’s “Fascinated” is one of those. I first heard it in 1987 on a Dutch radio dance program, the kind where songs were seamlessly beat-mixed three or four at a time. The second those keyboards hit, I was hooked. I had to own it.

So naturally, “Fascinated” had to be on my shortlist of tracks to cover in the newsletter. No question about it. Going in, I didn’t know much about it beyond the obvious, that it was a big club hit, brushed the pop charts, and came from a three-girl group shaped by the late-’80s trend of producer-led female outfits. I also knew there was a link to Foxy, the disco act behind “Get Off”, which topped charts in the Benelux back in 1978.

But I’d always had a few questions about it. Should we really call it Freestyle? It doesn’t quite line up with the classic New York or Miami Freestyle sound of the era. And more importantly: what exactly made “Fascinated” so infectious, and so downright… fascinating? 😁

So grab your Star Trek uniform and pointy Spock ears (yes, there’s a connection, I’ll explain), and let’s dive in.

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👋 Welcome, I’m Pe Dupre, thanks for stopping by.

This is The Twelve Inch, my newsletter about the history of dance music from 1975 to 1995, told one twelve-inch record at a time.

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🎤 Who Were Company B?

Company B weren’t a grassroots street act, they were assembled. The lineup featured Lori Ledesma, Charlotte McKinnon, and Susan Johnson, easily recognized by their distinctive platinum wigs. The project began in Miami in 1986 when producer Ish Ledesma’s wife asked him when he was finally going to create something for her.

At the time, Ish had just finished recording his second solo album in New York with John Robie. That collaboration became the spark for what would eventually become “Fascinated”:

“I did my second solo album in New York with John Roby. John Roby was the guy who did all the work Arthur Baker. He played on Planet Rock, IOU..etc…. Everything he did was a sequence. And when I got done with my album and went home, and I was waiting for it to come out, you know, My wife said, you know, you’ve had enough tries at trying to make something happen. Why don’t you make a group for me? Let’s get a couple of girls, and we’ll sing. And you do the music. And I said, okay. Let’s do it.”

It wasn’t that he had a clear vision from the start, but he knew which direction it had to take:

“Well, it’s it’s gonna have to be dance music. Because I don’t know what else to do with a bunch of girls. And we started recording, like, three or four different things, one of which was Fascinated. It was heavily influenced by John Roby’s sequencing. I had never done any sequencing or anything like that. You can just play something for two bars, and then it repeats. And it just goes on and on. I kinda emulated what he was doing.”

🎹 Ish Ledesma: Miami’s Hitmaker

To understand Company B, you first need to understand Ish Ledesma. Born in Cuba and raised in Miami, Ish had already tasted chart success with his band Foxy. Signed to one of TK Records’ sublabels, Foxy scored big in 1978 with “Get Off.”The track hit No. 1 on the R&B charts, broke into the Hot 100 Top 10, and, most impressively, topped the charts in the Benelux, becoming one of the year’s biggest hits there (though curiously, the rest of Europe didn’t follow). The follow-up “Hot Number” did reasonably well, but by the time Foxy released their third album Party Boys in 1979, the momentum was gone.

The band itself was already falling apart, and the album reflected it. Instead of the sleek R&B/dance sound that defined their earlier work, Party Boys leaned more toward rock. Not that the members lacked ability, far from it. Alongside KC’s musicians, Foxy had essentially become TK’s house band, playing on countless label releases and backing other artists recording in Miami. They even appeared on ABBA’s “Voulez-Vous,” the only ABBA track ever recorded outside Sweden. But without a song to match “Get Off,” the album fizzled.

I adore their third album (contrarian child, remember 😁😁), and the rights reverted back to Ish so you can buy it directly from him on Bandcamp. Listen to the ballad “Pensando en ti”, one of the most beautiful ballads of that era!

By late 1979, Ish tried his luck as a solo act. His debut produced a club hit, “Don’t Stop,” but it failed to cross over to the mainstream. Around the same time, disco’s backlash hit hard. The summer of ’79 wiped out several labels that had bet heavily on the genre, TK among them, leaving Ish without a deal.

He bounced back when David Geffen signed him to the brand-new Geffen Records, where he launched the New Wave project OXO. Their debut single “Whirly Girl” cracked the Hot 100, but things quickly soured. Geffen wanted Ish to take Tommy Mottola as manager; Ish refused, and just like that, OXO was finished.

🎶 Fascinated & the Miami Winter Conference :

It took some time before Ish decided to finish “Fascinated.” At first, he wasn’t convinced. It took a push from Miami legend and TK Records founder Henry Stone to get things moving:

“I thought it’s garbage. I put it away, and then one one day, was back at TK. It wasn’t TK anymore. But it was Henry Stone and he was there. Henry and I always got along and he just let me work, do whatever, you know. I was in my room listening to stuff I had done, and I happened to be playing fascinated at that point. So he knocked on the door, and he said, what the fuck is that? And I go, it’s a song. You know? And he’s like, man, that’s fantastic. I want you to master that thing right away. The (miami) music conference is happening next week. So we need to have records of that song. So I said, okay. I had it mastered, took it to the Miami printing place, and Henry got them just in time, and he passed it out over at that music conference. By the end of the conference, Fascinated was, the big thing. Everybody was talking about it”

At first, the track came out on a small independent label. But once the buzz on the dancefloor became too big to ignore, Atlantic stepped in, secured the rights, and re-released the single.

🥁 What Made “Fascinated” So Different and why was it so infectious?

I never really considered “Fascinated” to be pure Freestyle. In Europe, Freestyle wasn’t nearly as big, while Synth-Funk was, and I could mix it seamlessly into my synth-funk sets (as you’ll hear in this week’s mix). The main reason lies in the beat. Pure New York or Miami Freestyle relies on a syncopated rhythm with heavy Latin percussion influences. That’s not really the case with “Fascinated.” Its beat sits much closer to Synth-Funk, though with one key difference: it lacks the driving funk-bass groove.

At the same time, the song carries several traits that make it feel more Miami Freestyle: the lyrical themes of obsession and longing, the vocal delivery that’s dramatic and almost theatrical, with stacked harmonies. Add to that the synth stabs and arpeggios, and it clearly echoes other Freestyle records of the era. Part of the difference comes down to Ish himself. He wasn’t a typical Freestyle producer and didn’t go on to make or produce many other Freestyle tracks for different artists.

But the question that has always stuck with me is: what made this record so infectious that I fell in love with it the very first time I heard it? As it turns out, there’s a precise musical reason. Ish explains:

“The one thing that the song does have is that it goes from a minor progression to a major progression. When it goes to the chorus, when it goes to the “I.” it turns major. And when you change from a minor key a major key, it’s like a huge release. A major key is a positive thing. Minor key, is sad. So changing from minor to major is one of the big things about the song. It’s subliminal. Nobody knows it. I didn’t do it on purpose.”

If you want to recreate the song yourself, here’s the simple (but effective) recipe!

And then there’s the story of the title, which came from an unusual source. Inspiration sometimes strikes in strange ways, and in this case it was thanks to Mr. Spock and Star Trek. Ish, a fan of the show, recalled:

“Spock from Star Trek, was continuously using that word fascinated. I mean, fascinating. Fascinating is a word he used for the unexpected. And I thought it was a great word, but I mean, just I it just came out. I didn’t plan it”

The timing was critical: just before Charlotte McKinnon, who was set to sing the song, was due in the studio, Ish still hadn’t written any lyrics. The title and inspiration came in that moment, quick and unplanned.

📈 How Big Was “Fascinated”?

In the US, “Fascinated” stormed the Billboard Dance Club Play chart, hitting No. 1 in March 1987 and holding the top spot for four straight weeks. It even crossed over to the Hot 100, peaking just outside the Top 20 at No. 21. That was a remarkable feat for an independent Miami act, though Atlantic Records, gave the single a full national push.

Outside the US, the story was different. Europe never embraced Freestyle the way America did. In theory, the slightly different beat and feel of “Fascinated” could have worked in the group’s favor, but it never managed to break through outside of the European dancefloors.

Even at home, Company B’s momentum didn’t last. Later singles failed to cross over, and they couldn’t keep pace with other Freestyle heavyweights like Exposé or the Cover Girls.

🔄 Why Didn’t Company B Match Exposé or the Cover Girls?

There were three main reasons:

Lineup Chaos – Company B went through constant member changes. By the time the follow-up singles arrived, fans could hardly recognize the group. Exposé, by contrast, built loyalty around Jeanette Jurado’s distinctive voice, which gave them a stable identity.

The One-Hit Trap – Atlantic was chasing another “Fascinated,” but Freestyle had already begun to shift. By 1988 the sound leaned back toward New York’s romantic Latin influence, while Company B’s more mechanical Miami edge didn’t translate into repeat pop success.

A Crowded Market – The scene was saturated with similar acts. Radio interest was fading, even if club DJs kept supporting their tracks.

But beyond these factors, it was also about strategy.

Company B’s music was crafted for the dancefloor. “Fascinated” happened to cross into the pop charts, but later singles weren’t designed with radio in mind. As the group pivoted toward house, they lost the image that had first set them apart, which made further mainstream breakthroughs harder.

Exposé, on the other hand, blended Freestyle with strong pop sensibilities, delivering a run of gold- and platinum-certified albums supported by major airplay. Their songs were polished, accessible, and heavily promoted.

The Cover Girls also managed to break into the pop charts. Their success was boosted by single-focused marketing and collaborations with heavyweight producers like Louie Vega and David Cole (later of C+C Music Factory). Their tracks consistently landed on both dance and pop charts, giving them staying power Company B never achieved.

📉 After “Fascinated”

Despite high hopes and Atlantic Records’ backing, follow-up singles like “Full Circle,” “Perfect Lover,” and “Signed in Your Book of Love” failed to gain mainstream pop radio traction, though they did find an audience in the clubs. Several factors played into Company B’s one-hit status:

• The group functioned more as a producer-led project than a star-driven band, which meant frequent lineup changes and less media focus on any one recognizable member.

• Their striking image, the wigs and flashy visuals, was iconic, but it may have overshadowed the music itself and reinforced the perception that the singers were interchangeable.

Meanwhile, Ish Ledesma continued producing but never recaptured the same level of success. He used the exact same formula for the studio act Promise Circle, whose “Be Mine Tonight” sits perfectly alongside “Fascinated” (you’ll hear it in this week’s mix). He also produced another late-’80s dancefloor favorite, Blue Moderne’s “Through The Night.”

✨ Legacy of “Fascinated”

“Fascinated” remains one of Freestyle’s most distinctive tracks precisely because it blurred genre lines. More mechanical than Exposé, more polished than the Cover Girls, it proved that Freestyle could borrow Synth-Funk’s icy precision without losing its pop heart.

Thirty-five years after its release, the track has gone from a spontaneous studio idea to a bona fide classic, something that still surprises Ish:

“And Anytime something works, it is a happy accident. If I knew what was gonna work every single time, then every single thing that I do would work. But I had no idea it was gonna work, especially not like that. I had no no idea it was gonna become so big. And it hasn’t really faded either. A lot of people know that song. .”

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❓Your Turn

Do you remember hearing “Fascinated” on the radio or in the clubs? Did you think it was freestyle, synth-funk, or something else entirely? And which lineup of Company B do you recall best? Drop your memories—I’d love to know where this Miami machine-pop classic fits into your dancefloor story.

Further reading (or should I say watching)

There are a number of interesting video’s/links :

1. The promo video

So You Wanna Hear More ?

I thought you would !

It’s fun to write about music but let’s be honest. Music is made to listen to.

Every week, together with this newsletter, I release a 1 hour beatmix on Mixcloud and Soundcloud. I start with the discussed twelve inch and follow up with 10/15 songs from the same timeframe/genre. The ideal soundtrack for…. Well whatever you like to do when you listen to dance music.

Listen to the Soundtrack of this week’s post on MIXCLOUD

Or on Youtube :

So what’s in this week’s mix ?

This week I dive into what was moving US dancefloors in 1986–87.

We open with the irresistible “Fascinated” by Company B, followed by Promise Circle’s “Be Mine Tonight”, another gem from Ish Ledesma.

The first half leans into the era’s synth-funk: Nile Rodgers’ Outloud – “It’s Love This Time”, Motown hopeful Georgio – “Lover’s Lane”, then a smooth shift via Roy Ayers into Colonel Abrams – “The Truth” and New Order – “Bizarre Love Triangle.”

The last half hour is pure Latin Freestyle heaven: Nocera, Debbie Deb, Sa-Fire, Judy Torres (with the stunning “Love You, Will You Love Me”) plus the legendary Latin Rascals reworking disco classic “Mandolay.”

⚡ This is a full-on dancefloor assault. If you’re still sitting down when it’s over, either you’re not alive — or you need to call your doctor immediately!

Enjoy! 🎶

Next week, one of America’s biggest singers, who seems to have discovered the secret of eternal youth, invites you to take her home.