Aurra

Aurra was a group associated with Slave (both groups often shared musicians). The leader of the group was Steve Washington and the two lead singers were Starleana Young and Curt(is) Jones.

The band had other members (which frequently changed) including musicians such as Steve Arrington, Charles Carter and Buddy "Hank" Hankerson.

Their debut album "Aurra" was released in 1980 on Dream Records. Steve Washington helped the group get a contract with Salsoul Records where they released 3 albums that were dancefloor friendly and helped bring the label into the 80's.

These 3 albums were "Send Your Love", "A Little Love" and "Live And Let Live". In this period 2 of their best known songs "Are You Single" and "Make Up Your Mind" were released.

Around the time of "Live And Let Live" in 1983 there were soime disputes within the band regarding finances with singers Curt Jones and Starleana Young unsure whether they could trust Steve Washington.

This led to Steve Washington deciding to leave the band and trying to sell the trademark for Aurra to the 2 singers. They never bought it and so Steve brought in new members into the band to record a new album.

Legal issues instigated by Starleana and Curt meant the record was never released in the end.

Starleana and Curt recorded another album with Ten Records, an offshoot of Virgin and the song "Like I Like It" resulted in their first UK hit. This was the last material released under the name Aurra.

Starleana and Curt continued to record but to avoid legal problems changed their name to Déja. The biggest hit of the duo was "You And Me Tonight" which reached number 2 on the R&B charts in 1987.

The couple split up in 1988 with Starleana going solo. Curt continued Déja with Mysti Day however by this time Aurra/ Déja was in its last days.