Pepper MaShay

In 1995, Mashay's manager at the time contacted Michael O'Hara to work on an initial demo for a possible recording deal. They wrote five songs together in her California home, but the songs never went anywhere. Mashay ended up writing a song called "Something to Feel" and it got picked up by Island Records. In her thirties, music labels in the '90s thought she was too old for a record deal but she never gave up.

As a lead vocalist, Mashay has released many tracks that have performed well on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart and the Hot Dance Airplay chart. Those singles include "Something to Feel" (1995), "Happiness" (1997), "Step into My Life" (1998), "Sextacy" (2000) and "Send Me an Angel" (2005). Her voice is probably best known from the "Let's get soaking wet!" chanting throughout the Barry Harris track "Dive in the Pool", made famous by its inclusion in the American television series Queer as Folk. Another collaboration with Harris, "I Got My Pride", hit number two on the U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 2001. In late 2006, Pepper Mashay earned her first solo chart-topper on the U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart with the song "Lost Yo Mind". It has attained moderate to heavy rotation on dance-oriented radio stations, charting well on the Hot Dance Airplay. Mashay issued her single, "Got to Give the People What They Want" in late January 2008 and "Does Your Mamma Know" during the fourth quarter of 2008. She toured with House's Hugh Laurie officially as part of his band, Hugh Laurie & The Copper Bottom Band.

Mashay has an extensive résumé of work as a background and session singer working, most notably, with Gladys Horton in a 1980s regrouping of The Marvelettes. Mashay's photo can be seen on the cover of the CD The Marvelettes: The Very Best of the Motor City Recordings.

Jean McClain (born March 8, 1953), better known as Pepper Mashay, is an American soul, house and dance music singer-songwriter who has had success as a touring and studio performer.