They then became resident songwriters for EMI and wrote New Edition's "Let's Be Friends" and Sister Sledge's "You're Fine".

[4][1] Encouraged by this success, the group dubbed themselves Surface and began recording their own material, releasing several post-disco/early-1980s-style tracks under the name.

Copeland left the group, with Conley and Townsend meeting Bernard Jackson in 1984.

[3] The three met when Jackson moved from Stamford to New York to pursue a music career.

After leaving Surface, Karen Copeland faded into obscurity, eventually becoming a schoolteacher working at Our Lady Help of Christians, a Catholic school in East Orange, New Jersey.

[3] The trio then moved to Los Angeles, California, in search of more mainstream success.

The song "Let's Try Again" came to the attention of Larkin Arnold of Columbia Records, who signed the band and released this track as a single in 1986.

[7] Also in 1986, Jackson met Brian Simpson, and recorded a demo tape of a track he had written, titled "The First Time".

The band's follow-up album 2nd Wave was released in 1988, and included some of the group's most successful hits.

The song "The First Time", originally recorded by Jackson in 1986, was featured on the band's third album 3 Deep in 1990, and was its first single.

[4] Surface recorded "A World of Our Own", which was featured as the theme song of the romance sequel Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991).