Peak UK Chart Position: #39 in September 1992.

Celebrating today is Salt – born Cheryl James, in Brooklyn, New York City – who turns 51 today. Salt-N-Pepa – originally known as Super Nature – were formed in 1985, and together with the generally uncredited DJ Spinderella (who joined a year later) scored a succession of pop-rap hits and achieved global success doing so. “Push It” started that particular ball rolling; the track was originally a B-side to “Tramp”, but after a remix by San Francisco DJ and producer Cameron Paul, it became a top ten hit in most territories (perhaps surprisingly not in America though, where it only made Number 19).

“Let’s Talk About Sex” was statistically their most successful single, topping the charts in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, and becoming their joint biggest hit in the UK by making number two (matching the peak of “Push It”). Other high-charting singles included “Do You Want Me”, “Shoop”, and their duet with En Vogue, “Whatta Man”. They were the first Female Rap act to have gold, platinum, and multi-platinum albums, and the first female rap act to win a Grammy. The group disbanded in 2002 but reformed in 2007, when ‘The Salt-N-Pepa Show’ on VH-1 chronicled events in the lives of the duo as they worked out past issues and returned to the recording studio.

Here’s the music video to “Start Me Up”, which spent two weeks at number 39 in the UK – their lowest performing single since the original release of “Expression” got to number 40 in 1990. The song is one of many to sample the 1973 track “Impeach The President” by the Honey Drippers, and was taken from the 1992 American adventure comedy film “Stay Tuned” which starred the late John Ritter along with Pam Dawber, Jeffrey Jones, and Eugene Levy.