Deeply rooted in Latin Freestyle music, a subgenre of electronic dance music born in New York in the 80s, Company B is an all-girl dance-pop trio created by Miami-based producer Ish “Angel” Ledesma in 1986. Initially composed of Lori Ledesma, Charlotte McKinnon, and Susan Gonzalez Johnson, the group burst into Miami’s booming club scene with their white wigs and blue leather outfits. “Fascinated,” their debut single, arrived in 1986 via the independent label The Summer and received heavy airplay on local radios, catching the attention of Atlantic Records. With a major label’s support, the track made its way to the top of Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart and peaked at Number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100. Preceded by subsequent singles “Full Circle,” “Perfect Lover,” and “Signed in Your Book of Love,” their eponymous studio debut saw the light in 1987 and reached Number 143 on the Billboard 200. Follow-up albums Gotta Dance (1989), 3 (1996), and Irresistible (1998) failed to meet the success of Company B’s heyday, sending the group into an indefinite hiatus. In 2006, McKinnon and Gonzalez Johnson regrouped for a new incarnation of Company B, adding vocalist Rachel Leslie and releasing the singles “Soldier Boy” (2009), a cover of Bananarama’s “Cruel Summer” (2017), and “Last Christmas” (2019). The 2019 version of Company B featured Susan Gonzalez Johnson, Dalia Chirinos, and Siddy Betancourt.
