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#628 SUKIYAKI A Taste of Honey
Feeling trapped in the declining disco genre, A Taste of Honey's bass player Janice Marie Johnson was searching for an old song to shake off the 'dance' label that stuck to them following the success of "Boogie Oogie Oogie". She then remembered the international 1963 hit ballad by Kyu Sakamoto. That version was in Japanese, so Johnson endeavoured to get a translation to search out the meaning behind its foreign lyrics. She wrote new (English) words. Legalities prevented her from being credited as a writer, so the new version only mentions Rokusuke Ei and Hachidai Nakamura as its co-writers. 
George Duke produced the song which was included on the 'Twice as Sweet' album. The label didn't want to release the track. Johnson was proved right when the ballad was issued in 1981. It reached #1 on both the R&B and Adult Contemporary charts & #3 Pop in America. By now, the group had become a duo, consisting solely of Johnson and Hazel Payne.