In dance music, Shermanology is one of the most unique acts on the scene. Their style of House music combines funk, soul, R&B, hip-hop, dancehall, and salsa for a sound that is truly one of a kind.

Comprised of brother and sister duo Andy and Dorothy Sherman and hailing from the Caribbean nation Curaçao, both siblings wear multiple hats as DJs, singers, songwriters, and producers “presents an infectious world of 90’s nostalgia and funk reinvention.

Their discography of projects included The Phylosphy (2015), Soldier March (2020), Bon Bin (2020), and Champion Sound (2021).

So far, they’ve surpassed more than 250 million Spotify streams and they have brought their energetic live performances across the globe at events such as Kappa Futur Festival, the Martinez Brothers-curated Cuttin Headz, Miami's LaLaLand Festival, UK dance festival Beat-Herder, and Rio's The Town to a capacity crowd of 100,000. 

For #Unboxed Vol. 37, Bet.com spoke with Shermanology about their musical influences and mission to spread house music's good vibes worldwide.

The foundation of Shermanology is based on the relationship of Andy and Dorothy as siblings. They are brother and sister and the best of friends for as long as they can remember

“You know what's really funny, I understand that a lot of siblings don't get along. But we have always been way too close,” Dorothy laughed.  “Since we were really little,  we used to have the same friends. Before we started making music, we were working in offices sitting right next door to each other.”

Through their experiences from moving all over the world and the highs and the lows of the music industry, they have formed an unbreakable bond that would be the impetus for the creation of Shermanology.

“When we moved to the Caribbean, we couldn't speak the language of the island. So the first year we had a really rough time,” Andy said. “But in our life, we always had like it always brought us closer together whatever happened at school or work, and now our music careers.”

Growing up, Andy and Dorothy were surrounded by all the genres of music in their household. They both count their father, a noted singer/songwriter, as their greatest musical influence.

“Our dad Tony Sherman was a singer and he had a lot of hits in the 70s and 80s. He did a Stevie Wonder medley called “Stars and 45,” and people thought it was Stevie but it was him,” Andy recalled. “He had a lot of hits in the 80s doing soul, Motown, and disco together with his group The Sherman Brothers. So the only thing we saw as kids was them rehearsing or making their own clothes.  Music was around us 24/7.”

Living all over the world in places such as Holland and England exposed Shermanology to various genres of music and would be the fuel for their artistic creativity. In England, they were both drawn to the pulsating sounds of House music.

“We moved to England in 2001 and I replaced Craig David when he left Artful Dodger for a solo career,” Andy said.

“That’s where we were introduced to a different sound of House music,” Dorothy added.

“Also, that's when we saw that you could combine soulful vocals with electronic music. It was possible to do soulful vocals on a club record. We were like, “Oh, wait a second. This is not the more white side of House, but there's another side where, like Kerri Chandler and Dennis Ferrerr, they combined the soulfulness with House and that's when we knew there was space for us where we could do something fun.”

One of the key components of Shermanology’s sound is how they incorporate almost every genre of the Black music corpus. 

“Living in the Caribbean, we were influenced by Dancehall, reggae, hip-hop, R&B, you know, everything like everything,” Dorothy explained. “I used to be in salsa bands and so we just thought we would throw everything that we know in our music and see what comes up. We knew we could do something we haven't really heard before.”

Additionally, the duo is set on telling the story that Black music is the seedbed for all modern dance music. They believe this narrative is often disregarded throughout the globe.

“For the next couple of years, we asked ourselves, ‘How can we make this house sound more urban?’ Because there's a big gap when you hear the word ‘House.’ They think of trance or EDM,” Andy continued. “So for us, the challenge is to bring as many Black influences as we can bring into House music.”

Shermanology is touring the world and has performed in Miami, along with upcoming dates in Arizona and New York. Influenced by the House music that originated in Chicago during the late '70s to the mid-80s, the duo expressed their excitement about performing dates in America.

“What I like about the U.S. is that every city is different. Like in Miami, we can do a lot more of our Spanish stuff,” Andy said. “Every city has a different sound and I love that we can experiment in every city to do something different. I think that's the most beautiful thing.”

“I also think the energy in America is always so high. In Holland, if you don't play at the peak time of the party, which is early, the energy is going to be a bit low,” he continued. “Yeah, most of the qualities if you're doing the earliest that time for the party. But over here, as soon as the people come they're ready,” he went on.

On their latest release, Shermanology collaborated with legendary R&B group Boyz II Men for a House rendition of their classic song “Motownphilly.” The already energetic track was taken to another level when combined with the signature magnetic vibes of Shermanology. The duo shared how they were inspired to remix the song.

“When we began working on the Boyz II Men track, we didn't want to lose the original vibe of the song. Because if I was on the dance floor, and someone else played a version of it without the funk and the New Jack Swing in there, I would be really angry at the producer,” Andy said. ‘I wanted to emphasize the drums more, make it a bit more House, but I wasn't going to change the pattern of the song. So when I got all the parts of the original, and I saw all the little pieces, it was like a dream come true because I heard so many things that I didn't hear in the original song when that was in there.’

“We wanted to respect the original song,” Dorothy explained. 

Shermanology is on a mission to put the soul back into House music. With their enormous musical gifts and international influence, the dynamic duo is well on their way to rewriting the narrative of what dance music is and all the Black artists that created that sparked the genre's current popularity.

“Our goal is to reach a new audience and make them get that feeling that we had when we were younger with this different kind of rhythm, and to give the legends that inspired us their credit,” Dorothy said. “That's the challenge for us.”