Cheryl 'Salt' James (b. 8 March 1964, Brooklyn, New York, USA) and Sandra 'Pepa' Denton (b. 9 November 1969, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies) grew up in the Queens district of New York City. They became telephone sales girls and envisioned a career in nursing until fellow workmate and part-time producer Hurby 'Luv Bug' Azor stepped in. He asked them to rap for his group the Super Lovers (credited on record as Supernature) on the answer record to Doug E. Fresh 's 'The Show'. They started recording as Salt 'N' Pepa (correctly printed as Salt-N-Pepa) which was adapted from the Super Nature recording 'Showstopper'. At that time they were under Azor's guidance, and released singles such as 'I'll Take Your Man', 'It's My Beat' and 'Tramp', the latter a clever revision of the old Otis Redding / Carla Thomas duet. They also used the female DJ Spinderella aka Dee Dee Roper (b. Deidre Roper, 3 August 1971, New York, USA), backing singers and male erotic dancers to complete their act. Their big break came in 1988 when a reissue of an earlier single - 'Push It' - reached the UK number 2 spot and was also a hit on the US R&B chart. Later that year a remake of the Isley Brothers' 'Twist And Shout' also went into the Top 10. Between those two they released 'Shake Your Thang' (once again, a take on an Isley Brothers track, 'It's Your Thing'), which featured the instrumental group EU. Nominated for the first ever Rap Grammy in 1989, they refused to attend the ceremony when it was discovered that the presentation of that particular bauble would not be televised - withdrawing to show solidarity with hip-hop's growing status. Their most confrontational release was the 1991 'Let's Talk About Sex' manifesto, something of a change of approach after the overtly erotic 'Push It'. 'Do You Want Me' was similarly successful, encouraging the record company to put out A Blitz Of Salt 'N' Pepa Hits, a collection of remixes, in their absence. Both Salt and Pepa were otherwise engaged having babies (Pepa in 1990, Salt in 1991; DJ Spinderella would make it a hat-trick of single mothers in the group a short time later). In the interim they could content themselves with being the most commercially successful female rap troupe of all time, and the first to go gold. They subsequently enjoyed an invitation to appear at President Clinton's inauguration party. They returned to the charts in 1994 with their highly successful collaboration with En Vogue, 'Whatta Man'. It was a return to their 'naughty but nice' personas, typically suggestive and salacious. After a lengthy absence they returned with Brand New, which saw them struggling to assert themselves against the brasher style of the new rap queens Foxy Brown and Lil' Kim. In late 1999, a greatest hits compilation The Best Of was released, also featuring a couple of new tracks, featured the comeback hit single “Brick Track vs.Gitty Up” which sampled the Pink Floyd classic “Kids” - putting the girls back into the spotlight.