The Birth of Club Nouveau
Rumors Surround Timex Social Club
Splinter Group-Jet Set-Form
BY BRIAN CHIN
[Billboard Magazine
August 9, 1986 NEW YORK]
In a scenario about as convoluted
as the one described in the top 10 black single and top 50 crossover "Vicious
Rumors" by the Timex Social Club, the rights to the record and the control
of the group have been the subject of considerable backstage whispering in
recent weeks. The record has reportedly sold more than 500,000 copies.
Here is the story thus far: According to "Vicious Rumors" co-producer Jay
King, who is also the owner of the Jay label the record appears on, the members
of the Timex Social Club have already left his label even as the single continues
its journey up the charts.
Since no contract existed with Jay, the group was free to go elsewhere and
did so, signing with Danya Records, which is distributed by Fantasy, to record
an album.
But King has subsequently created a new group, Jet Set, which he says will
now be the outlet for the new material formerly meant for Timex Social Club.
The Jet Set has been signed to Tommy Boy and has a new single, "Jealousy,"
reportedly a sequel to "Vicious Rumors," set for release. Publishing rights
to "Vicious Rumors" are also in dispute because the three Timex Social Club
members who wrote the song transferred their publishing rights to Danya as
well.
According to King, it was a conversation with Warner Bros. black A&R
head Benny Medina that led to the Tommy Boy deal. "Benny didn't tell us what
kind of deal they would give. He asked us what kind of deal we were looking
for," says King.
Realizing that the lead time needed for Warner Bros. to release the single
wouldn't give Jet Set time to capitalize on the success of "Vicious Rumors,"
Medina suggested that the Tommy Boy/Warner Bros. link be exploited. (Warner
Bros. owns half of the Tom Silverman-founded street label.) Tommy Boy subsequently
ended up with "Jealousy," and Warner Bros. will eventually release the album.
Jet Set is composed of King, Thomas McElroy, and Denzil Foster (the production
team behind "Rumors"), with Valerie Watson, formerly of the Timex Social
Club, and lead vocalist Gregory Prater rounding out the group. "A lot of
people will say we sound like the Timex Social Club," says King, "but we
were the music, production, and ideas behind it."
Jay Records, distributed by Macola, will remain an active entity. It was
Macola, a West Coast-based operation, that supplied the muscle behind the
success of "Vicious Rumors.
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Here is the story thus far: According to "Vicious Rumors" co-producer Jay
King, who is also the owner of the Jay label the record appears on, the members
of the Timex Social Club have already left his label even as the single continues
its journey up the charts. 
