Cheryl Cooley of Klymaxx shares the story behind “Meeting in the Ladies Room” and the return of live funk.

From 80s chart success to rebuilding the band, this is the real journey of a funk pioneer.

In this episode of Musicians Reveal with Joe Kelley, Cheryl talks about bringing Klymaxx back on the road, recording Live at Pacifica, and the overwhelming fan response to classic hits like “I Miss You.” She also reflects on the evolution of the music business, going independent, and the hustle behind sustaining a career as a working musician.

We also dive into musicianship, the return of live instruments, and how Klymaxx continues to inspire a new generation of players—especially young women picking up guitars and stepping on stage.

Musicians Reveal with Joe Kelley is a long-running interview series featuring legendary and emerging artists from funk, R&B, jazz, and beyond. With over 40 years in broadcasting, Joe Kelley brings authentic conversations with the musicians who shaped the sound of generations.

And this is the Upper Room with Joe Kelly here on 88.5 WVOF in Fairfield, Connecticut.

And today is a really honor as we have Climax featuring Cheryl Cooley.

And Cheryl Cooley is stopping by the show right here.

They have a new live cd and it's really great performance.

And of course, you just listened to the kickoff track meeting in the ladies room.

Hey, that's right.

And that was live from the Pacifica out in Los Angeles.

And welcome you to the Upper Room.

Thanks, Cheryl.

Cool, thanks.

Yeah.

Hey.

And of course, a lot of people remember Climax from the early to mid-80s all through the 80s.

Right, right.

Well, we got a lot to talk about as far as, you know, coming up to today, but specifically, how about putting a live record together?

What were your thoughts on putting this package together?

Well, since there's so many old school bands out now, somebody just said, hey, why don't you guys get back together and do an old school tour?

And it was like, well, fine.

And it was like, well, Cheryl, if nobody can do it, you can do it.

You can put it together.

So I was kind of pushed into the situation of being the organizer, which is okay too, and just made calls for the girls to see if they wanted to do it and all of that.

And were they interested in doing some of the old school tours?

And at first everybody was like, oh, okay, maybe I'll try it.

Kind of not quite sure.

Not quite sure if the.

If the listening audience wanted to hear us anymore.

Okay, so how did you find the initial reception to you being back on the road again?

Oh, it's been awesome.

I mean, it has been awesome.

People just, you know, the reception has.

Oh, God, one show.

The reception was just so awesome.

I mean, it just brought me to tears because people still love that old school music, you know.

You know, and it doesn't.

It just doesn't matter, you know, as long as it's the good sound of the, you know, the 80s music.

And, you know, even some of the 70s bands, they're saying they're getting some great response too.

But we've been getting really, really good response to being out there again.

And all our listeners right now, they can do their homework and go right now to Cheryl Cooley and Climax's website, which is spelled K L Y M A xx dot com.

That's right.

And it's an independent release.

Wild Horse Records, your own record label.

Yeah, that's right.

And Also, it's on cd, baby dot com.

So they've been really nice to you.

Oh, yeah.

Just go there and type in Climax.

So, you know, you've been through a lot as far as the music business being, you know, with solar and that now is your own independent owner and getting the product out there.

You know, tell us what it's like to be doing that that way.

Well, actually, you don't have to make a lot of phone calls.

I mean, you know, before when there was, you know, so many executives in the way, you know, it would be like, okay, let me call this person, let me call that person.

But, you know, pretty much, you know, the direction or the answers to the questions, you know, they kind of fall on my shoulders, which is a unique position.

I'm learning as I go.

Right, but you enjoy it?

Oh, definitely.

Definitely.

Yeah.

I wouldn't do anything any different, I must admit.

I pretended to be an electrician for a few years.

I stopped playing because I had gotten so discouraged with the music business.

Not even so much music, but the music business.

I had just more or less said, well, I'm not going to play anymore.

I'm just not going to play.

And so I went.

Went out there and pretended to be an electrician for a few years, which was quite an interesting experience.

But it helped later on because I was able to build the rehearsal room that we actually use now.

Oh, so, yeah, there's a blessing out of that.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

So I got the girls together and asked everybody, like I said, if they wanted to do this.

And as things change, some people wanted to do it and some people dropped off.

No big scandals, just some of the girls decided they had other responsibilities that they wanted to continue with.

So as they let me know that they were no longer interested, then I gradually had to replace the members as they dropped off, because I just had the fire in me to do it, and I didn't want to stop.

And I was getting so many, like, questions as far as, you know, are you going to do it?

Are you going to do it?

You know, come on, Cheryl.

You know, and, you know, really inspiration to continue it, you know, to continue the music of Climax, you know, no matter whether it was all of the original people or, you know, not.

It's just, you know, we love the sound of Climax, the music of Climax, you know, you just got to do it, Cheryl.

So with all the encouragement I was getting, I just continued to pursue on.

And Cheryl Cooley is, of course, one of the founding members of Climax, going way back to the early 80s and still today is the leader of the band.

And how about organizing the current configuration of Climax and the different players?

I know you have a host of talented ladies with you, but how did you go about choosing each person and maybe tell us a little bit about some of them and how they add to the band?

Oh, yeah, sure.

Well, actually it's still the same six member lineup.

I guess the first I could start off with is our drummer, Trish Lash.

So she's familiar with the Climax music.

You know, she's no stranger to it.

Our bass player, Karen Walker.

She and I have played in other musical situations.

She's actually.

She actually lives in Las Vegas and makes the trip back and forth to rehearsal.

That's about a four and a half hour drive.

But, you know, she's dedicated.

That's all the girls are dedicated, really.

And then there's Alicia Morgan, the keyboardist.

And actually when, you know, all of the original members were talking about putting it together, we knew that we were going to have to get another keyboardist.

So she actually came out of that auditioning session of trying to find a keyboardist.

Let's see, who's next?

Cherie Dunn.

I've actually played.

She's the lead vocalist.

I've actually played with her in another musical situation.

And also, let's see who's left.

Tracy Patrick.

I met her through Cherie Dunn.

So they're both lead vocalists.

I have two lead vocalists in the front line.

As before, we had the three lead vocalists.

So now we have the two lead vocalists and I guess that's it.

I think I got everybody, of course, yourself on guitar.

Oh, yeah, that girl.

Yeah.

Cheryl.

Yeah.

You just do a little something for the band, right?

Say that again?

I said you just do a little something for the band.

That's all right.

Just a little, you know, I give it all I can.

Yeah.

But you know, you know, it's really inspirational that, you know, myself growing up seeing musicians like Climax and Cheryl Cooley playing instruments, singing and actually giving a show, you know, dancing and everything being out there and.

And it's in rare supply these days, being from back in that era and still continuing it today.

What happened all in between the years when you came out to what's going on today and you see hope of that coming back?

Well, you know, as in all things, I guess, in life, you know, I think music had to go through a kind of a metamorphosis.

You know, there's always that fad of a certain style of music.

And it stays for a while and then it evolves into something else.

I mean, I think the live instrument playing was kind of passe for a while there and it's actually coming back into fruition again and coming back into.

Evolving back into what it was back in the 80s, back in the 70s.

So we've really been hearing a lot of people say, oh, I missed the live music, I missed the live music.

So I think it's just a thing that music had to go through.

You know, the beat boxes and the pre recorded music and the synthesized, you know, one man band type of idealism, you know, now it's just kind of coming back into back in the days when we had the bigger bands.

Right.

So why don't we get into something from the live CD from Climax?

And this is from Pacifica la.

Now where exactly is that club?

Because we're not here on the east.

Coast, but that's in Culver City.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

Which is.

Right.

Well, I guess it's like a suburb.

Of la, Right, Right.

So did you specifically choose this place to record it or do you have a bunch of shows?

You narrowed it down?

No, it was actually the specific place because we knew we could get a clean recording of it.

Yeah, that's.

I was going to compliment you on that.

Clean.

And everybody gets a showcase and playing their instrument too, so.

Oh, sure.

You're a generous band leader.

Oh, well, thank you.

Thank you so much.

Well, we want to get into one of the songs which I know a lot of people still love today.

I mentioned that I was having you on the show today and a lady by Judy listens to this show.

She wanted to hear I miss you.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

You never can get away with a song show without playing that one.

Right?

That's right.

That's right.

It was the number three Billboard character.

So it was very well loved when it was out.

Yeah.

And the video was nice too.

Bringing the kids in there.

Oh, yeah, yeah, that was great.

That was all of our family members and stuff.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, we got a chance to get everybody involved.

Right.

So, sir, Cheryl Cooley from Climax is my special guest today here on the Upper Room.

And we'll come back, talk more about Cheryl and the band and talk about some future things with Climax.

This is I Miss yous.

And that was a classic song from Climax, I Miss yous.

And it sounds great live.

And that is from their new cd, Live at Pacifica la.

And Climax's website once again is K L y m a xx.com and you can also purchase it@cdbaby.com and Cheryl Cooley, original member of the band and leader of the band, is with me today here on the Upper Room.

And, you know, you guys have been out playing live and getting great response and people buying the CD at the shows as well.

How's the summer been like for Torrant out east?

It's been really wet and weather's playing havoc here.

For live show, how about out your way?

Oh, the weather has been great.

Not to make anybody jealous.

Right?

Yeah, the weather has been just awesome.

I mean, you know, we're having 80 and 90 degree weather, you know, which makes people come out, you know, come out and see the shows, come out to the, you know, the parks and stuff and, you know, keep that economy going, you know.

Right, that's right.

And Climax, they're a group of talented ladies, independent musicians.

So when you come to the show, bring some extra scratch and buy the CD and whatever else is being sold.

Oh, yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

So you have some upcoming dates I know that we should let our audience know about.

Oh, yeah, actually, we're going to be in Florida at the Suncoast Resort.

But I'm not sure if it's a private resort or not.

But we're trying to get a couple more dates out there while we're on the East Coast.

So actually we have a street fair that we're going to do August 23rd, which is actually kind of near where I live.

I am donating the band's music to try to pump up the area, pump up the neighborhood kids.

Yeah, that's great.

So we're doing that this Saturday the 23rd.

I'm not sure when this will air, but, you know, we have some dates that are, you know, kind of spot dates on and off, and we're trying to keep those going and stuff.

We are also going to be playing with Zap at the Fox Theater in Bakersfield Saturday the 27th.

They just came by last week.

Yeah.

Yeah, they're doing well.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Heard you kind of hung out with them.

What's up with that?

Well, we were, you know, passing information.

I was telling about you guys and they were, you know, they're glad to be back on the road.

In fact, Lester Troutman was like, you know, I was telling him to come on the radio show.

He's like, we gotta play, we gotta play.

He didn't want to do an interview.

He just wants to play.

They're just hungry to play out Loud.

Yeah, I understand it, I understand it.

I definitely understand that hunger.

I mean, like I said, that's why I had to do this, because the hunger of performing and playing my instrument is just always there.

Always there.

How about with the current configuration of Climax?

Have you been writing songs together?

Yeah, we're in the process of writing now because a lot of the industry people that I know, they're like, well, you know, you gotta get us some new material.

Let's see what can happen when we put it out there.

So, yeah, we're actually in the process now putting new material together and collaborating with a lot of songs and stuff.

And we'll see what happens with that.

Now you spoke a little bit about doing some of the old school tours with different groups.

And what's that like reuniting with different groups who are off the charts and doing extremely well commercial wise, back in the 80s and coming back together and doing package tours.

How's it feeling?

Oh, it's great.

It's just like old homecoming.

Like, oh, I remember this and I remember that.

And you kind of, you know, for the few minutes that you're together, you know, reminisce about different shows that you did together and stuff like that.

And oh, man, it's just been great.

It's been awesome.

I mean, people are just so happy to be back out there again.

That's just a good feeling.

You know, you see somebody that you saw from way back and you see that they're still playing, they see that you're still playing, you know, and it's kind of a pat on the back in a sense.

Well, I'm sure as being a female musician and everybody in the band being female musicians, that must be really inspiring to a lot of your crowd.

How about the younger kids these days?

Oh, yeah.

What's that like coming up to you?

Oh, you know, we've been doing quite a few festivals and stuff and it's amazing since there's so many kids there, they just, they just come and talk to us and, oh, it doesn't even matter that the music is from the 80s, maybe the time that they weren't born, they don't even care.

It's the fact that we're up there, we're playing, we're showing that this can be done.

And the kids come up and they go, oh, I want to be able to do that.

I mean, I got an email from a little girl about a month ago and she was like, I'm starting to play guitar.

I saw you play and now I'm starting to play guitar, those kind of things.

To hear the young kids getting back into playing live music again.

Oh, it's just a great feeling inside.

And Cheryl Cooley is my special guest in case you tuned in.

And if you're catching it here at WVOF, we'll be re airing it for three days and three nights at upper roomwithjoekelley.com and let's talk some about your background getting into music.

And how did you get started playing guitar?

Or did you start with another instrument way back?

Oh, no, guitar has always been my instrument.

My sister, she actually studied choreography at Juilliard, and she married a musician who had a guitar.

His name was Hubert Laws.

From the Laws family.

Yeah.

And he had a guitar at our house.

And I just kind of picked at it.

Like, this is kind of interesting, but even with that, it seemed like every other Christmas my parents were always buying me one of those little toy guitars since when I was four years old.

It was always like a little toy guitar just kind of around the house.

And my sister saw me kind of picking at it and she thought, oh, how'd you like to get some guitar lessons?

And I was like, okay.

And I have guitar lessons and been playing ever since.

How about on stage?

Your current guitars in the studio, what have you been playing for?

For our guitar players out there, as far as equipment wise?

Okay.

As far as equipment, okay.

I usually play that in the studio for no particular reason.

I mean, it's just I'm comfortable with it.

You know, I can get a nice fat sound out of it and stuff.

Now on stage, I use a Fender Telecaster Squire, and I just change the pickups to EMG pickups so it'll have that bright punch sound because, you know, climax sound is clean, so it has to have a clean guitar sound.

And I find that I don't panic if one of those falls, but if the Gibson were to fall, I would be a little traumatized.

Try to replace that.

Right, right, exactly.

So, yeah, I always take the Telecasters.

I have a blond Telecaster that the band actually bought for me back in the 80s.

And I have a black Telecaster that I bought recently just because I play so hard that I break strings really easy.

So I find that I have to have two guitars on stage because as soon as a string breaks, I got to change it right back.

So I made sure that the two guitars had really, really close, similar sounds.

Well, did you grow up on the west coast or were you back here?

Actually, I was born in Chicago and my family moved out here when I was in grade school.

All right.

So I've been out here most of my life.

And Cheryl Cooley of Climax.

Their CDs available at climax.comk, l, y, m a double x.com also cd, baby.com.

How about your listening taste growing up?

And what do you listen now besides your own music that you're making?

Oh, you know, I'm one of those channel switchers, you know.

Now with digital radio, all you got to do is push a button and you go to this music or that music, this station.

So I'm definitely a channel surfer.

One day I could be into the classical station, and the next day I'm into cool jazz.

And the next day I'm into really hard rock kind of sound.

And it just varies from day to day, week to week.

But I'm definitely into syncopated rhythms, hard driving, and they don't even have to be so much catchy as much as they, you know, if it's interesting, you know, like, oh, I've never heard that before.

You know, just.

Definitely just interesting.

Intricate patterns and stuff is what I'm really into.

And of course, those chords, you know, I mean, I'm so glad that chord structures nowadays are not so limited like they used to be.

I mean, it doesn't.

You know, the rules of theory are out the window nowadays, and people come up with some very creative chord structures, which are awesome.

Creativity should have no limit.

Oh, exactly.

I definitely agree with you on that one.

How about you remember the first concert you ever attended?

Let's see.

No, no, because then it'll get to.

When was that?

And then we'll get into the age thing.

I don't know if I want to go there with you, brother.

Man, what the crack?

Well, you grew up in Chicago, had some great music out there.

Oh, yeah, awesome music.

Yeah, mostly.

When my family lived in Chicago, we were really a jazz household.

My family was really into the jazz thing.

Yeah.

And I think that's where interesting chord structures are not intimidating to me.

I grew up on that.

But my first concert.

Oh, my gosh, I don't even know if I can remember now.

Well, that'd be for the second interview.

Yeah.

Right.

Okay.

So besides working with your current bandmates recording new material, if you had some wish list of maybe working on some other musicians ever to collaborate with, do you have some people in mind?

Oh, gosh, Bean, I have never thought of it like that.

Well, unlimited studio time for you, too.

Oh, Aren't you nice?

Let's see.

Well, of course, I always enjoyed working with Jimmy and Terry.

I mean, they were always so very encouraging when we were in the studio and stuff like that.

I'd love to be able to write with them someday.

Did you record up at Flight time with them?

No, they didn't have flight time during the time that we recorded with them.

Yeah, actually Climax was the very first band that Jimmy and Terry produced and a lot of people don't know that, but we were like their first project and the song that they produced was called Wild Girls.

Okay.

And that was out In, I think, 83, 82.

And that was actually our first, you know, workings with them and stuff.

So in essence, you're tied into their careers, Right?

Jump starting it, right?

Exactly, exactly.

Yeah.

And.

Oh yeah, I'd love to work with them.

I'd love to work with.

I'd love to work with Howard again.

I mean, that was great to have him in the studio and doing.

I'd still say yes.

That was awesome.

Yeah.

Gosh.

But I hadn't really thought of it like that.

That's an interesting question.

I'll have to meditate on that one.

And when you're on the east coast, bring the whole band by.

Oh, definitely.

We have in house performances here as well.

That's great.

Right, so just to refresh our listeners about coming out to see play live, I know the best thing for them is to check the website.

Yeah, definitely.

Climax.com.

But this week, if they're listening before the 23rd, you have something going on out in LA.

Right, right.

The Pickfair Street Fair, which is in Los Angeles on Fairfax Avenue.

And Airdrome, which is right off of Venice.

Venice and Fairfax in Los Angeles.

Yeah, yeah.

So when you're getting the band together for rehearsal these days, take us into what goes on with the band and getting prepared for a show.

Okay, well, first of all, let me explain the room.

The room, of course, is pink.

Oh, okay.

It has to be pink.

Come on now, Climax colors are pink and black.

They have to be pink.

There's some black trim.

You know, it's really cute.

Cute little girl thing.

You know, there's a little refreshment bar in there.

So, you know, it's hot days.

So we come in there and everybody's grabbing a water or whatever.

And of course we always kick over what's the new and funny news of the day or the week or whatever, or, you know, who's got a new what, a new toy, a new instrument, new clothes or whatever.

I mean, you know, it's always girl talk at first.

Come on now, gotta have the girl talk that's important.

You know, we may kick around the last performance, you know, talk about that and you know, any kind of things that we need to discuss about, you know, what to clean up in the show.

You know, that's always a good thing to be able to have open dialogue about, you know, what you liked about the show, what you want to change.

And, you know, I'm always open to, you know, ideas.

I never like to run a rehearsal where it's only going to go the way I say it's going to go.

I always like to ask everybody, you know, is there something you want to go over, something you want to try?

You know, we're all here together, we're all here to contribute our creativity.

I mean, it's a group effort.

It's all, it's a band, it's all one unit.

And it takes, you know, six people to make the unit work.

Right.

So I always make sure that everybody feels comfortable to give out their ideas.

I mean, there's no, no one man is an island here.

So, you know, once we kind of kick around some ideas and stuff, you know, we try some things, go over our show, you know, clean, you know, either add songs or take songs away and just kind of go over different shows.

Because we had, since we have such different situations, we might have a 30 minute show, a 45 minute show, a 60 minute show, you know, 75 minute show.

We had one time.

So we have to kind of practice all those different configurations of showtime just so that we don't make the promoters mad and go over our time limit.

Right, right.

And then, you know, just kind of play around sometimes because, you know, just playing around with some of the grooves, the music, you know, you find new ideas, it's like, oh, let's play it like that.

You know, we don't have to play this song the same way each time, you know, because the record has already made its money.

We don't have to go out there and sound, you know, note for note exactly like the record.

You know, you got to have some room there for creativity.

Yeah.

And that's what I like about the live record.

I mean, the sound is great and you know, obviously you could tell all the sisters can play live, but it's, you know, straight through, it's a great listen.

And you know, starting out with meeting the ladies room and right through the men, all paws, right?

Yeah, you got everything in there and it's funky and, you know, I'm sure live, it's even a much better show just to see.

Oh, thank you.

Of course.

You know, the energy.

You know, a live audience always makes that energy.

You know, the factor that needs to have the live show make it be successful is the fans that are out there.

So do musicians get the goosebumps on stage?

I mean, you were talking about tears, but.

Oh, definitely.

You know, there's always some, you know, fear of, oh, my God, it's going to be the perfect show.

Is something going to go wrong?

Is a mic going to stop working?

There's those kind of fears.

As far as, you know, the fear of, you know, are we going to play?

Well, no, there's not that fear.

The fear is always.

Are the technical difficulties going to work themselves out?

Well, I guess I was meaning, like, those moments where you're playing on stage and you're like, this is incredible.

The sound we're playing and the moments in a concert, you know, the goosebumps on your arm yet.

Oh, yeah, they still have.

Definitely.

Yeah, definitely.

Because I know we get them from watching y' all play, so.

Oh, yeah, sure.

I mean, you know, the audience is just so wonderful because when we think something is traumatic, the audience is like, hey, it's great.

You know, you just kind of go, oh, okay, okay, I can deal with this.

Okay, let me just play my heart out.

Because they're enjoying it, we're enjoying it.

You know, it's just that energy exchange.

It's just.

That's the greatest feeling in the world, just to be able to have that energy exchange with the audience when they're enjoying your music and you're enjoying playing your music.

And you'll be able to see climax throughout the latter part of this summer and also into the fall.

So that's great, being a busy working musician.

Oh, yeah, definitely.

I mean, we're going to take this as far as our fans will let us take it.

You know, we have no limits on it.

If our fans support us, you know, we're there for them.

We're also going to be playing in October.

We're going to be playing in Tustin, California, and Monrovia, California, on the October 11th.

So, I mean, we're out there playing every weekend we're doing something.

So there's a lot of places to play out there in California.

Oh, yeah, right, sure.

Yeah.

I mean, we've also played Arizona, so, I mean, you know, we're getting out there.

As the booking agents hear about us, you know, they call us up or email us@claxlimax.com and hey, you know, you guys available?

Because being an independent now, you know, it's not like you have to just have one booking agent.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

You got to put it all together, right?

And that's what's really awesome, because maybe if one booking agent can't find something for you, there's another one that's there that, you know, says, oh, yeah, I can fill that spot for you.

And that is what's just so awesome about being independent.

It's just you have so many more avenues to go and you keep the.

Lion's share of the money.

So that's good.

Oh, yeah.

Other days it might not have been that way.

Oh, yeah.

So, you know, we're gonna go out with a couple songs off the record.

I think we'll go.

We'll give everybody a taste.

And never underestimate the power of a woman.

Yeah.

That was actually written by myself and Brianette Cooper.

We wrote that together.

Oh, wow.

So Bernadette still.

Still involved in music?

I don't know.

You know, she.

When I asked her if she wanted to do it, she said she, you know, was not interested, so.

Or she left a message.

I wasn't able to actually talk to her, but she sent a message to one of the other girls and said she absolutely was not interested.

But what people tend to forget is that she was.

She first got out of the group way back in 86, 87.

No, she has had other things that.

She's been into and everybody's got their own journey, so I'm glad Cheryl Cooley has gotten the.

The band Climax back together with some great musicians she's working with.

And, you know, they're out on the road, they're playing.

They have a great new live CD, Live at Pacifica, La.

And the band climax website, k l y m-xx.com and go there.

There's a link on where to buy the cd.

Also the background on Cheryl and also all the members of Climax.

And you can also purchase the cd@cdbaby.com but go out to the show they're playing all this fall and the latter part of the summer.

I'm sure going to be playing year round.

And it's all the tour dates are@clax.com so I gotta thank you, Cheryl.

It's a pleasure to have you on.

And, you know, after watching the band for so long, to have you on the show, it's really great.

Oh, you're so sweet.

Thank you so much.

You know, and I thank the fans for being out there, you know.

That's right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's the most important factor.

So to see the band out there playing that, that's most important.

So real music by real musicians.

All right.

Hey, thanks.

So we're going to go out with two cuts off the record.

Never underestimate the power of a woman and go into a really great song.

The men all pause.

That's right.

Yeah.

All right.

Thanks, Cheryl.

Okay.

Okay.

Bye.

Bye.

Bye.

Bye.