Sisters Underground

Background

Brenda Makamoeafi and Hassanah Iroegbu were both 13 when they met at Hillary College in Ōtara, South Auckland. Iroegbu had moved to New Zealand from the United States, with a background that included Nigerian, Arab, and German heritage. By 1990 they were performing together around Auckland as Sisters Underground. Music producer Alan Jansson connected with them and recorded two songs, "In The Neighbourhood" and "Ain't It True," for the compilation album Proud.

"In The Neighbourhood" came out as a single with a music video directed by Greg Semu. It reached number 6 on the New Zealand singles chart and stayed there for 12 weeks. In Australia it peaked at number 62 on the ARIA singles chart and spent 10 weeks inside the top 100. In 1995 the duo played all six dates of the Big Day Out festival across Australia and New Zealand, and the single hit number 2 on Triple J’s charts.

That same year they won Most Promising Group at the New Zealand Music Awards. Without the pair knowing, Jansson had been offered them an album deal with Sony Music Australia, but they moved to the United States and the album never happened. In 2001 the song was voted number 58 on the APRA Top 100 New Zealand Songs of All Time list. It appeared on the Nature's Best 2 compilation CD in 2002, and the music video was included on the Nature's Best DVD in 2004.

TV2 used the track for station promotions in 2002, which led Jansson to remix it. Makamoeafi and Iroegbu reunited to record new vocals, and the song returned to radio playlists. At the 2013 Silver Scroll Awards, they reunited again to perform "In The Neighbourhood" as the closing act. Makamoeafi, now known as Brenda Pua, lives in Australia, while Iroegbu lives in Florida.