Bennett & Parrish 1

Sydney Parrish

Mrs. Field

LNG322

20 April 2011

Salt-N-Pepa

Salt-N-Pepa was one of the original all-female hip-hop groups. It consists of Cheryl James (Salt), Sandra Denton

(Pepa), Pamela Latoya Greene (the Original Spinderella), and Greene’s replacement in 1987 Deirdre Roper (Spinderella). Both

Cheryl and Sandra grew up in Queens, and both attended Queens Borough Community College. They were originally

discovered when they both got jobs at Sears as telephone operators in the customer service department. A co-worker of theirs,

Hurby Azor, needed help with a class assignment and asked them to record a response to “The Show” by Slick Rick and Doug E.

Fresh. Originally, it was just Cheryl and Sandra in the group, and they were called Super Nature. Then, Azor decided they

needed another lady to complete the all girl group, and along came-the Original-Spinderella.

Cheryl and Sandra grew up in households that were nothing alike. Cheryl was born on March 28, 1969, in Brooklyn,

New York, while Sandra was born on November 9, 1969, in Kingston, Jamaica. Similarly, Cheryl was raised in a small family with

her parents, and older brother, and a younger sister, while Sandra was raised in a huge family with seven sisters, one brother,

and her parents. Though you cannot tell from their music, Cheryl did not grow up performing in front of people often, and

Sandra had self esteem issues. Another interesting fact about the group is that the second Spinderella, Deirdre, joined when

she was only 16, and the whole group contributed to convincing her parents to let her join the group.

By 1994, all three women were single mothers; Cheryl has a daughter named Corin, Sandra has a son, Tyran, and

Deirdre has a daughter, Christenese. All three said that “being single parents had helped all three of them deepen their

‘sisterhood’ relationship, although it has also complicated their working lives.” (2). Throughout the years, they had many

Grammy nominations and awards given to them, and were one of the most famous original all-girl hip-hop groups.

1. "Salt-N-Pepa." DISCovering Biography. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Discovering Collection. Gale. Columbia County
Board of Education. 28 Apr. 2011.Web.
2. "Salt-N-Pepa." UXL Biographies. Online ed. Detroit: UXL, 2003. Discovering Collection. Gale. Columbia County Board Of
Education. 28 Apr. 2011. Web.