We Need a New Dance Diva

Douglas Foxworthy cowrote "His Other Woman," the B-side of "This Girl Is a Woman Now," which was a top-ten hit in 1969 by locals Gary Puckett and the Union Gap.

"My first check was for $60,000," says Foxworthy. "The royalties are the same for the A-side [songwriters] as with the [writers of] B-side [songs on 45 rpm vinyl]. Of course, they don't have B-sides anymore."

Foxworthy says that he has since written major-label material for other bands, royalties from which have netted him over a half-million dollars. The revenue helped him launch his Kearny Mesa--based Foxworthy Records. After seven years, his label just notched its first national chart hit -- a dance remix of "In the Mix" by local singer Mandy Gasparich (Miz Mandy).

"It's number 37 with a bullet on Billboard's dance club play chart," says Foxworthy. "We hired record promoter Brad Lebeau, who first broke Madonna in dance clubs in 1983." Foxworthy details the strategy to make Miz Mandy -- who works as a massage therapist and event planner -- a household name.

"Dance club hits typically don't make any money. Our game plan is to break it on the dance charts, then get her on Latin pop, which is the next-easiest chart to break through. Then we want to break her on straight-ahead pop." Foxworthy says this plan will enable him to work around the fact that he doesn't have the promo cash it usually takes to break a new artist.

"It takes between $1.5 million and $3 million; I'm a little short."

Although Miz Mandy is not of Latin descent, the song was produced with Latin rhythms, flamenco-guitar flourishes, and backup lyrics done in Spanish by Cardiff producer Pat Pickslay. The extended remixed dance version that charted was crafted by DJ Scotty K, who is known for the remixes he's done for Christina Aguilera, Seal, and Madonna.

"We need a new dance diva," says Pickslay. "When disco started, it was such a strong movement. I see an opening for someone to take that flag and raise it. Avril Lavigne is the pop rock diva. We need a dance diva. There is a vacuum right now."

"It's hard to break anything from San Diego if it's not alternative rock," says Foxworthy. "We see no reason San Diego couldn't grow a few pop artists."