{{short description|American singer-songwriter}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2020}} {{BLP sources|date=June 2014}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Pepper MaShay | image = Pepper MaShay.jpg | caption = Mashay performing at Gay Pride in Washington D.C. in 2012 | landscape = yes | background = solo_singer | birth_name = Jean McClain | alias = Sista Jean McClain | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1953|03|08}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} | instrument = Vocals | genre = Dance, [[Gospel music|gospel]], [[Contemporary R&B|R&B]], [[Soul music|soul]], pop | occupation = Singer, musician, songwriter | years_active = 1977–present | label = | website = }}
'''Jean McClain''' (born March 8, 1953), known professionally as '''Pepper Mashay''', is an American [[Soul music|soul]], [[House music|house]] and [[dance music]] singer-songwriter.<ref name="Bonacich">{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/pepper-mashay-mn0000836356/biography|title=Pepper Mashay – Biography|last=Bonacich|first=Drago|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|accessdate=November 19, 2014}}</ref>
==Early life== McClain grew up in [[Muncie, Indiana]]. Growing up, her musical influences were [[Janis Joplin]], [[Joni Mitchell]] and [[Bob Dylan]]. She left Indiana in her 20s to pursue her career.
==Career== Mashay was contracted to sing back-up for the soundtrack of [[Tina Turner]]'s movie ''[[What's Love Got to Do with It (1993 film)|What's Love Got to Do with It]]''. She spent two days with Tina Turner saying, "She is rock n' roll".
In 1995, Mashay's manager at the time contacted Michael O'Hara to work on an initial demo for a possible recording deal. They wrote five songs together in her California home, but the songs never went anywhere. Mashay ended up writing a song called "Something to Feel" and it got picked up by Island Records. In her thirties, music labels in the '90s thought she was too old for a record deal but she never gave up.
Mashay has an extensive résumé of work as a background and session singer working, most notably, with [[Gladys Horton]] in a 1980s regrouping of [[The Marvelettes]]. Mashay's photo can be seen on the cover of the CD ''The Marvelettes: The Very Best of the Motor City Recordings''.
As a lead vocalist, Mashay has released many tracks that have performed well on the U.S. [[Hot Dance Club Play]] chart and the [[Hot Dance Airplay]] chart. Those singles include "Something to Feel" (1995), "Happiness" (1997), "Step into My Life" (1998), "Sextacy" (2000) and "Send Me an Angel" (2005). Her voice is probably best known from the "Let's get soaking wet!" chanting throughout the [[Barry Harris (Canadian musician)|Barry Harris]] track "Dive in the Pool", made famous by its inclusion in the American television series ''[[Queer as Folk (2000 TV series)|Queer as Folk]]''. Another collaboration with Harris, "I Got My Pride", hit number two on the U.S. [[Hot Dance Music/Club Play]] chart in 2001. In late 2006, Pepper Mashay earned her first solo chart-topper on the U.S. [[Hot Dance Music/Club Play]] chart with the song "Lost Yo Mind". It has attained moderate to heavy rotation on dance-oriented radio stations, charting well on the [[Hot Dance Airplay]]. Mashay issued her single, "Got to Give the People What They Want" in late January 2008 and "Does Your Mamma Know" during the fourth quarter of 2008. She toured with [[House (TV series)|''House'']]'s [[Hugh Laurie]] officially as part of his band, Hugh Laurie & The Copper Bottom Band.
Mashay also performs as Sista Jean & CB, has released two albums under that name. The first was the 2013 release Back to the Root. Next was the 2015 album ''Requiem for a Heavy Weight'', a tribute to [[Odetta]], an icon in the folk & blues genre.
==Discography==
===Singles=== * 1995: "Something to Feel" * 1995: "By Any Means Necessary" (with [[Lenny White]]) * 1997: "Happiness" * 1997: "Not Much Heaven" * 1998: "Into You" * 1998: "Right Back to Love" (with Subsystem) * 1998: "Step 2 Me" ([[Grant Nelson (disc jockey)|Grant Nelson]] feat. Jean McClain) - ([[UK Singles Chart|UK]] #92,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/7362/grant-nelson-ft-jean-mcclain/|title=GRANT NELSON FT JEAN MCCLAIN | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company|website=[[Official Charts Company|Official Charts]] }}</ref> [[UK Dance Singles Chart|UK Dance]] #7) * 1998: "Step into My Life" * 1998: "You've Got to Go" (with DJ Alexia) * 2000: "Sextacy" * 2000: "Here's to Life" * 2000: "Dive in the Pool" (with [[Barry Harris (Canadian musician)|Barry Harris]]) * 2001: "Love Pretender" (with Frank 'O Moiraghi) * 2001: "I Got My Pride" * 2001: "You and Me (Feels So Good)" (with Solar City) * 2002: "I Want You in My Life" (with Max Iron) * 2002: "I Pledge" * 2002: "Let's Runaway" (with Scott Michael) * 2002: "No More Drama" (with [[Mary J. Blige]], [[Thunderpuss]] Club Anthem Mix) * 2003: "Happy New Year" (with Ernest Kohl) * 2003: "I Can't Stop" * 2003: "You're My Inspiration" * 2004: "Electro Illusion" * 2004: "[[Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours]]" (with [[Colton Ford]]) (cover of the [[Stevie Wonder]] song) * 2005: "Send Me an Angel" (cover of the [[Real Life (band)|Real Life]] song) * 2005: "Beauty Shop" (featured in the film ''[[Beauty Shop]]'') * 2006: "Lost Yo Mind" * 2008: "Got to Give the People What They Want" * 2008: "Does Your Mamma Know" (with @djCoreyD ) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nnqIMQn8d_mt8l7ZNeOdCtSf98NDwAhUg Winner USA Songwriting Competition 2009: Best Dance/EDM song * 2009: "[[Freeway of Love]]" (cover of the [[Aretha Franklin]] song) * 2009: "Burning" (with World of Colour) * 2011: "Love S.O.S." * 2011: "Things U Do" * 2012: "Our World" (with Clemens Rumpf) * 2013: "Dance Florr" * 2014: "Does Your Mamma Know (You're A Freak)" (With @DJCoreyD ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7q-GQFDlSQ * 2016: "You Stop Breakin' My Heart" (With Anderson and Thatcher) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPsBysD_cfQ * 2022: "Dancin' Lights Pt 2" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpeVgm7edbw
== Session work appearances==
* 1989: [[Peter Frampton]] – ''[[When All the Pieces Fit]]'' * 1989: [[Lenny Kravitz]] – ''[[Let Love Rule (Lenny Kravitz album)|Let Love Rule]]'' * 1989: [[Cher (entertainer)|Cher]] – ''[[Heart of Stone (Cher album)|Heart of Stone]]'' * 1990: [[Lalah Hathaway]] – ''[[Lalah Hathaway (album)|Lalah Hathaway]]'' * 1991: [[Michael Bolton]] – ''[[Time, Love & Tenderness]]'' * 1991: [[Neil Diamond]] – ''Lovescape'' * 1991: [[Cher (entertainer)|Cher]] – ''[[Love Hurts (Cher album)|Love Hurts]]'' * 1991: [[Gladys Knight]] – ''Good Woman'' * 1991: [[Patti Austin]] – ''Carry On'' * 1992: [[Vonda Shepard]] – ''The Radical Light'' * 1992: [[Celine Dion]] – ''[[Celine Dion (album)|Celine Dion]]'' * 1992: [[Olivia Newton-John]] – ''Back To Basics'' * 1993: [[Tina Turner]] – ''[[What's Love Got to Do with It (album)|What's Love Got To Do With It]]'' * 1993: [[Mick Jagger]] – ''[[Wandering Spirit (album)|Wandering Spirit]]'' * 1993: [[Celine Dion]] – ''[[The Colour of My Love]]'' * 1993: [[Texas (band)|Texas]] – ''Ricks Road'' * 1993: [[Ray Charles]] – ''My World'' * 1993: [[Paul Rodgers]] – ''[[Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters]]'' * 1993: [[Bruce Hornsby]] – ''[[Harbor Lights (Bruce Hornsby album)|Harbor Lights]]'' * 1994: [[Victoria Williams]] – ''Loose'' * 1994: [[Phish]] – ''[[Hoist (album)|Hoist]]'' * 1994: [[Steve Perry]] – ''[[For the Love of Strange Medicine]]'' * 1994: [[Julio Iglesias]] – ''Crazy'' * 1995: [[Christopher Cross]] – ''Window'' * 1995: [[Haddaway]] – ''The Drive'' * 1995: [[Bobby Caldwell]] – ''Soul Survivor'' * 1995: [[Phyllis Hyman]] – ''I refuse To Be Lonely'' * 1996: [[Keb' Mo']] – ''Just Like You'' * 1996: [[Celine Dion]] – ''[[Falling into You]]'' * 1997: [[Michael Lington]] – ''Michael Lington'' * 1997: [[Michael Bolton]] – ''[[All That Matters (Michael Bolton album)|All That Matters]]'' * 1998: [[CeCe Winans]] – ''His Gift'' * 2002: [[Solomon Burke]] – ''Don't Give Up On Me'' * 2003: [[Joe Henry]] – ''[[Tiny Voices]]'' * 2005: [[Bobby Caldwell]] – ''Perfect Island Nights'' * 2005: [[Susan Tedeschi]] – ''Hope And Desire'' * 2007: [[Evelyn "Champagne" King]] – ''Open Book'' * 2007: [[Tiffany Darwish|Tiffany]] – ''Just Me'' * 2007: [[Bob Dylan]] – ''[[I'm Not There]]'' * 2008: [[Rodney Crowell]] – ''[[Sex & Gasoline]]'' * 2009: [[Irma Thomas]] – ''The Soul Queen Of New Orleans'' * 2010: [[Aaron Neville]] – ''I Know I've Been Changed'' * 2010: [[Sheryl Crow]] – ''[[100 Miles from Memphis]]'' * 2011: [[Hugh Laurie]] – ''[[Let Them Talk (Hugh Laurie album)|Let Them Talk]]'' * 2012: [[Jimmy Cliff]] – ''Rebirth'' * 2013: [[Hugh Laurie]] – ''[[Didn't It Rain (Hugh Laurie album)|Didn't It Rain]]''
==See also== *[[List of number-one dance hits (United States)]] *[[List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart]]
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{official|http://www.pnnmedia.com/pepper/home.htm}} *[https://www.myspace.com/frecklebandit Pepper Mashay's label site on Myspace] *[http://www.pridenation.com/pepper/discotography.htm Pepper Mashay fanpage]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mashay, Pepper}} [[Category:1953 births]] [[Category:20th-century African-American women]] [[Category:20th-century African-American musicians]] [[Category:21st-century African-American women]] [[Category:African-American women singer-songwriters]] [[Category:American women singer-songwriters]] [[Category:American house musicians]] [[Category:American pop musicians]] [[Category:American soul singers]] [[Category:American women in electronic music]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:People from Muncie, Indiana]] [[Category:UK garage singers]] [[Category:American session musicians]]