Maureen Mason

Before hooking up with V4Visions, Mason sang in Tongue N Cheek, a Britsoul outfit formed by production duo Bootsie & Snudge. The group scored a Top 20 hit in 1990 with “Tomorrow”, released via EMI sub-label Syncopate, while other singles enjoyed success in UK clubs during the late ’80s. Mason achieved anonymous immortality when snippets from Tongue N Cheek’s 1988 single “Nobody” reappeared as samples in Acen’s 1992 rave classic “Trip II To the Moon.” Plucked from the 12-inch a cappella version, Mason’s sensual midtempo singing was sped up into an electrifying hyper-soul shriek: “Music takes me higher… more than ever before… I can’t BELIEVE these feelings.”

After working with V4Visions, Mason briefly fronted the outfit Smoove on “Take That To the Bank” and featured solo on the 1994 compilation Black to the Future with a cover of the Terry Lewis song “Tell Me If You Still Care” and a sound similar to Jam & Lewis era SOS Band. But after that— silence. Yet another Black British talent who never got the opportunity to flourish fully in the music industry of that time.