Chaka Demus & Pliers’ ‘Murder She Wrote’ Certified Gold In The UK

Murder She Wrote, the hit song by Chaka Demus & Pliers, is now certified Gold in the United Kingdom (UK) 30 years after its release.  According to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the song was issued a BRIT Certified Gold award on Friday (June 3), after it sold over 400,000 copies in the UK, as measured by The Official Charts Company.

Murder She Wrote was recorded with several producers before it was taken up by Sly & Robbie and Lloyd “Gitsy” Willis on the infectious Bam-Bam rhythm in 1992.  The song later appeared on Chaka Demus & Pliers’ 1993 album, Tease Me. 

It peaked at No. 57 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it spent 17 weeks in 1993.  It also reached No. 27 on the UK Singles Chart in 1994.

In late 2019, Chaka Demus, whose real name is John Taylor, told the Jamaica Star that the song came about because Pliers (real name Everton Bonner) “was fooling around a girl named Maxine,” who later informed him that she was carrying his child.

“Him wait nine months, 10 months and no baby can’t come. So me say well this is ‘murder she wrote’ and so Pliers go and do a song with that title for producer Harry J,” Chaka had said.

The music video featured Dancehall Queen Carlene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-av7F1JBmj4

Last November, Billboard named the song among the “50 Best Song Interpolations of the 21st Century” for its use in American singer Omarion’s hit song Post to Be.  Lines from the opening verse of Murder She Wrote as well as the hook “murder she wrote”, were interpolated in the 2014 song, which featured Chris Brown and Jhené Aiko.

“The entire “Post to Be” pre-chorus swipes the melody and rhythm from the classic “Murder She Wrote” “I know this little girl, her name is Maxine…” section,” Billboard noted.  “But Chris Brown’s guest verse takes it one step further, tracing back the roots of the Omarion-fronted West Coast anthem to the Caribbean by name-dropping Chaka Demus and Pliers’ redefining dancehall smash: “Murder she wrote/You wanna know how I know what I know?” 

The song has also been sampled in numerous other hip-hop and reggaetón hits including French Montana and Nicki Minaj’s Freaks, Pitbull’s El Taxi, and Daddy Yankee’s Que Tire Pa’ ‘Lante.

In February 2022, the duo kicked off DJ Cassidy’s special edition of Pass The Mic: BET Afterparty 2022 with a rendition of the song.

Murder She Wrote was just one of several hit singles off Chaka Demus & Pliers’ Tease Me album.

The title track Tease Me had peaked at No. 3 on the UK chart and is currently certified Platinum in the UK for sales exceeding 600,000 units.

Twist and Shout peaked at No. 1 and was certified Gold in the country.

She Don’t Let Nobody peaked at No. 4 and is currently certified Silver in the UK, while Gal Wine peaked at No. 20 on the chart.

As for the Tease Me album, the 14-track set peaked at No. 1 on the UK Albums chart.  It is currently certified Platinum in the country for sales exceeding 300,000 units.