Izora Armstead, 62; Was Half of Disco-Pop Duo Weather Girls

Izora Armstead, half the disco-pop duo the Weather Girls who were best known for their irreverent 1982 hit “It’s Raining Men,” died Sept. 16 of heart failure in a San Leandro hospital. She was secretive about her age, but is believed to have been 62.

Armstead and her singing partner, Martha Wash, first billed themselves as Two Tons of Fun because they were both overweight. The Weather Girls name was adopted later from the lyrics of one of their first recordings. They teamed up in 1979 after singing together for five years in the San Francisco gospel group News of the World (NOW).

Weight loss followed fame -- only because, Armstead quipped, she got tired of “sewing two sheets together to make a costume.”

The duo attracted attention with their spandex pants and sequined sweaters, but it was their singing that made them popular on the 1980s club and recording scene.

Their albums included “Success,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and “Weather Girls.”

Born in Texas and reared in San Francisco, Armstead earned a teaching credential at the city’s Conservatory of Music. The mother of 11, she worked as a cabdriver and bartender before becoming a professional singer. In the 1990s, she relaunched the Weather Girls with her daughter, Dynelle Rhodes, recording such songs as Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy.”