Unlimited Touch was an R&B group with club leanings from Mt. Vernon, NY & Brooklyn. They weren’t disco, and they weren’t exactly straight-up R&B; like their Prelude labelmates D Train, Unlimited Touch combined the two forms into what is often referred to as post-disco. They enjoyed minor success on the R&B charts, but they were embraced more by DJs — such as the Paradise Garage’s Larry Levan — and became one of the countless inspirations behind house music. Their singles were often full-blow songs, with verses and a chorus, and they were often made with the dancefloor in mind.
The group’s formation was sparked from the efforts of Crown Heights Affair’s William Anderson and Raymond Reid. The sextet — bassist Sandy Anderson, drummer Tony Cintron, guitarist Phil Hamilton, vocalist Stephanie James, keyboardist Lenny Underwood, and vocalist Audrey Wheeler — broke out on Prelude in 1980 with “I Hear Music in the Streets,” a single that didn’t do much commercially but fared much better in U.K. and U.S. clubs. A handful of other singles were issued, including the number 29 U.K. chart hit “Searching to Find the One,” prior to the release of a self-titled LP that packaged the singles together. The less successful Yes I’m Ready followed in 1983, and the group dissolved shortly thereafter. Unidisc would later issue the Searching to Find the One compilation in the early ’90s. | |
