Aurra

Career

Aurra started off in 1979 as an offshoot of the funk band Slave, Aurra was created by Steve "The Fearless Leader" Washington which featured Curt Jones, Starleana Young, Charles Carter, and Buddy Hankerson on the first LP. Aurra initially signed with Dream Records and then Salsoul Records when Steve Arrington and Thomas Lockett became members of Aurra with the addition of Phil Field. During the early 1980s, the group found success with hits such as "Are You Single" at number 16 on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, "Checkin' You Out" and "Make Up Your Mind", which was its biggest US hit under this moniker- reaching number six on the R&B chart and number 71 on the pop chart. Legal issues with Steve Washington over the name Aurra made the duo change its name to Déjà, after which the group had a big hit with "You and Me Tonight", which reached number two R&B and number 54 pop in the US. A deal with Virgin affiliate 10 Records in the UK resulted in the song reaching number 12 on the UK Singles Chart, their best showing on that chart.

As Déjà, the group later cracked the upper reaches of the US Billboard R&B chart with the Teddy Riley-produced hit "Made To Be Together" in 1989. Starleana Young left the group to go solo and was replaced by Mysti Day.

In 2013 Family Groove Records recovered the lost tapes for the unreleased "5th" Aurra album Satisfaction originally recorded in 1984 scheduled for release by the end of this year. The direction of this album is being supervised by Steve Washington, Amuka Kelly (also known as Sheila Horne Washington) and Daniel Borine.

Albums

Singles

Albums