Long after initial success, Pretty Poison, coming to Wind Creek, still telling listeners 'Catch Me'

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Jade Starling, vocalist for the 1980s Philadelphia-based hit dance group Pretty Poison, was incredulous when told it's been 40 years since its first hit, "Nighttime."

"Did you just say 40 years?" Starling said in a phone call from Miami, where she was attending a music convention.

"I don’t think I’m quite there yet," she said with a laugh.

But math doesn't lie, and, indeed, it was 1984 when "Nighttime" hit No. 14 on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart.

Perhaps even more astonishing is that Pretty Poison just recently re-released "Nighttime" as a remix single that Starling said got Grammy Award consideration — showing the staying power of Pretty Poison's music.

The group, which also includes Starling's songwriting partner and keyboardist/guitarist Whey Cooler and percussionist Kaya Pryor, plays a free show at midnight today, April 4, at Wind Creek Casino's Molten Lounge.

After accepting the amount of time that has passed — Starling notes that the group's biggest hit, "Catch Me (I'm Falling)" didn't come out till 1987 — the singer said, “It’s an amazing feeling."

"You never think about that at the time when we were creating music," she said. "All we could do was hope it connected with the fans."

But perhaps the biggest indication of Pretty Poison's continued success is that it's continuing to release new music — 40 years later.

Hits still live in movies, TV

The Wind Creek appearance and re-release of "Nighttime" aren't the only measures of the continuing popularity of Pretty Poison's music.

The group recently got a huge boost from "Catch Me (I'm Falling)," which was Pretty Poison's only Top 10 hit and hit No. 1 on the Dance chart when first released, being used in Netflix's top-rated series "Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story."

That series got a combined nearly 200 million hours watched in more than 60 countries.

That song also was used in the Netflix series "A.J. and the Queen," starring drag queen RuPaul.

"He actually did a lip sync to ‘Catch Me,’" Starling said, excitedly. "I mean, that is the ultimate compliment, when someone like RuPaul impersonates you — had a red wig on, was doing the moves.

"I mean, it’s just a dream-come-true pinch-me moment.”

But those are far from the only places "Catch Me" has appeared. Its initial success, after all, came with its appearance in the 1987 film "Hiding Out" with Jon Cryer.

More recently, it appeared in the ABC-TV police drama "Will Trent," and “it looks as though it’s going to be used in a commercial," Starling said.

"I can’t talk too much about it, but coming possibly this year or next year, there’s something pretty big in the works," she said.

“We’re getting requests all the time. In fact, last week we just got another license for ‘Rupaul’s Drag Race.’ So I mean, it’s really rewarding and amazing to see that our songs get used in television and movies."

Remix 'years in the making' — and new music

Starling said the "Nighttime" remix — decades after it, too, topped the Dance chart — came about because "a lot of DJs had requested we re-do that song."

"And it’s been years in the making," she said. "So we worked with great DJs to do remixes of that song."

But that's just one piece on new music for Pretty Poison, she said.

A follow-up new single, "8 Days," also got Grammy consideration, she said, and a new single, "Freedom," is scheduled to drop April 18.

“I think ‘Freedom’ is an anthem, and right now more than ever, we need a positive message out in the world — something that’s going to unite us," Starling said.

"I think we’ve always tried to deliver the message of love and unity. This song, in particular, really does deliver that message.

"And as I said, I feel like in the world right now we definitely need to be more loving and compassionate of one another and lift each other up.

"And this is certainly a song that’s going to bring people together.”

Starling said Pretty Poison has performed the song in Miami for Miami Music Week, and were heading to the Electronic Dance Music Awards, where they also would play it.

“So much support here in the DJ community," she said. "And when I performed the song, the DJs were, like, ‘Oh my God, when can I get my hands on this?’

"So it looks like all positive reaction to the new song. So we are absolutely stoked."

A new album, and 40 years

Starling said it looks like Pretty Poison will have a full album coming at the end of the year, with both new and classic hits — "a little bit of everything to make everyone happy.”

The disc would be the group's first full album in 27 years, though it has released singles — seven of which have hit the Dance chart, most recently "Better & Better" peaking at No. 3 in 2015.

Starling also has released solo music — four albums, with the latest being 2014's "Captive."

All of that has given Pretty Poison more than 35 million streams on Spotify, she said.

"It’s just been an incredible career," she said. "And we’re still able to do it now, drop new music, still have the fans follow us booth for new music and, of course the classic hits.

“And our fan base is so wide, with the people who have followed us out whole career and then a while new generation of fans.

"I never would have thought back in the day when we were creating this music that we would have such an amazing career span of classic hits and new music."

Forty years later.