Category: Whats Buzzing in the Streets

Frederick Anthony “Freddie” Jackson (born October 2, 1956) is an American Grammy-nominated singer. Originally from New York, Jackson began his professional music career in the late 1970s with the California funk band Mystic Merlin. Among his well–known R&B/Soul hits are “Rock Me Tonight (For Old Times Sake)” (1985), “Have You Ever Loved Somebody” (1986), “Jam Tonight” (1986), “Do Me Again” (1990), and “You Are My Lady” (1985). He contributed to the soundtrack for the 1989 film, All Dogs Go to Heaven with the Michael Lloyd-produced duet “Love Survives” alongside Irene Cara.

Born in Harlem section of New York City, Jackson was trained as a gospel singer from an early age, singing at the White Rock Baptist Church of Harlem. There he met Paul Laurence, who would later become his record producer and songwriting partner. After completing school, Jackson joined Laurence’s group LJE (Laurence Jones Ensemble) and played the New York nightclub scene. During the late 1970s, Jackson moved to the West Coast and sang lead with the band Mystic Merlin (with whom he released three studio albums, 1980-1982), but soon returned to New York to work with Laurence at the Hush Productions company.

Jackson sang on demo recordings of Laurence’s compositions, and also served as a backing singer for Melba Moore after she saw his nightclub act in 1981. In 1984, Jackson landed a recording contract with Capitol Records, and released his debut album, Rock Me Tonight in 1985. The Laurence-penned title track stormed the R&B charts, spending six weeks at number one, and made Jackson an instant hit on urban contemporary radio. “You Are My Lady” gave him a second straight R&B chart-topper, and also proved to be his highest-charting single on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #12. With “He’ll Never Love You (Like I Do)” and “Love Is Just a Touch Away” also hitting the R&B Top Ten, Rock Me Tonight topped the R&B album chart and went platinum. Jackson issued the follow-up Just Like the First Time 1986, on the heels of a number one R&B duet with Melba Moore, “A Little Bit More” (from her album A Lot of Love). Another platinum seller, Just Like the First Time continued Jackson’s dominance of the R&B singles charts; “Tasty Love,” “Have You Ever Loved Somebody,” and “Jam Tonight” all hit #1, while “I Don’t Want to Lose Your Love” went to #2.

The pace of Jackson’s success slowed with the 1988 release of Don’t Let Love Slip Away, which nonetheless featured another two R&B chart-toppers in “Hey Lover” and “Nice ‘N’ Slow.” The title track of 1990’s Do Me Again and “Love Me Down” duplicated that feat, and “Main Course” just missed, topping out at #2. Even so, Jackson’s earlier placings in the lower reaches of the Billboard Hot 100 had long since disappeared, and some critics charged that his albums were growing too similar to one another. Jackson appeared as a lounge singer on the 1989 The Golden Girls episode “Two Rode Together” and sang the Disney song “It’s a Small World” to Sophia. Also in 1989, Jackson sung the duet “Love Survives” with Irene Cara for the soundtrack to the film All Dogs Go to Heaven.

Seeking a new beginning, Jackson parted ways with Capitol/EMI in late 1993, and signed with RCA/BMG Records. His label debut, Here It Is, appeared the following year, with diminished commercial returns. Following a Christmas album, Jackson split with RCA and recorded Private Party for the smaller Street Life imprint of Scotti Brothers Records in 1995. Several years of silence ensued, until Orpheus issued Life After 30 in late 1999; the equally low-key release Live in Concert followed in 2000. After returning to the charts with It’s Your Move in February 2004 (Martland Entertainment), Jackson released his tenth studio album, Transitions, in September 2006 on the record label Orpheus Music. At the end of 2010, Jackson released a new album on the Entertainment One Music label, entitled For You, and produced by hit songwriter Barry Eastmond. The album featured the single “I Don’t Wanna Go”.

On August 26, 2014, Jackson released the single “Love & Satisfaction,” written by Dustin “Dab” Bowie, Gregory Bowman, Kameron Corvet, Betram Ford Jr, and Selasi “The African Kid,” and released by the entertainment company Climax Entertainment. The single received some positive reviews and airplay, and allowed Jackson to reintroduce himself as he toured internationally in support of the release, as well as appear with artists Jeffrey Osborne, Peabo Bryson, Melba Moore, and Stephanie Mills at various performances and festivals. In late 2016, Jackson announced that he was recording a new album and that a new single would be released early the following year to mark his true return to recording studio and on May 1, 2017, the lead single “One Night” from his forthcoming album Love Signals was released via Climax and reached #1 on the internet radio Indie Soul chart associated with the Internet Broadcasters Alliance on June 12, 2017, while reaching in the top 50 of independent R&B, smooth jazz, and soul charts around the US and Europe. In January 2018, Jackson appeared on the cover of STS Entertainment and Fashion Magazine. He performed in Albany, GA on April 21, 2018, at a Soul Music festival along with the 69 boys and various other performers. In August 2019, it was announced that Jackson would perform later that month as the headlining act of the 37th annual African World Festival, hosted by the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.

Donny Edward Hathaway (October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979) was an American soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, and arranger. Hathaway has been described as a “soul legend” by Rolling Stone. His enduring songs include “The Ghetto”, “This Christmas”, “Someday We’ll All Be Free”, “Little Ghetto Boy”, “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know”. Hathaway is also renowned for his signature versions of “A Song for You”, “For All We Know” together with “Where Is the Love” and “The Closer I Get to You”, two of many collaborations with Roberta Flack. He’s been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame and won one Grammy from four nominations. Hathaway was also posthumously bestowed with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Hathaway, the son of Drusella Huntley, was born in Chicago but raised with his grandmother, Martha Pitts, also known as Martha Crumwell, in the Carr Square housing project of St. Louis. Hathaway began singing in a church choir with his grandmother, a professional gospel singer, at the age of three and studying piano. He graduated from Vashon High School in 1963. Hathaway then studied music on a fine arts scholarship at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he met close friend Roberta Flack. At Howard, he was also a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. Hathaway formed a jazz trio with drummer Ric Powell while there but during 1967 left Howard just before completing a degree, after receiving job offers in the music business.

Hathaway worked as songwriter, session musician and producer for Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom Records in Chicago. He did the arrangements for hits by the Unifics (“Court of Love” and “The Beginning of My End”) and took part in projects by the Staple Singers, Jerry Butler, Aretha Franklin, the Impressions and Curtis Mayfield himself. After becoming a “house producer” at Curtom, he also started recording there. Hathaway recorded his first single under his own name in 1969, a duet with singer June Conquest called “I Thank You Baby”. They also recorded the duet “Just Another Reason”, released as the b-side. Former Cleveland Browns president Bill Futterer, who as a college student promoted Curtom in the southeast in 1968 and 1969, was befriended by Hathaway and has cited Hathaway’s influence on his later projects.

That year, Hathaway signed to Atco Records, then a division of Atlantic Records, after being spotted for the label by producer/musician King Curtis at a trade convention. He released his first single of note, “The Ghetto, Pt. 1”, which he co-wrote with former Howard roommate Leroy Hutson, who became a performer, writer and producer with Curtom. The track appeared the following year on his critically acclaimed debut LP, Everything Is Everything, which he co-produced with Ric Powell while also arranging all the cuts.

His second LP, Donny Hathaway, consisted mostly of covers of contemporary pop, soul, and gospel songs. His third album Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway was an album of duets with former Howard University associate and label mate Roberta Flack that established him, especially on the pop charts. The album was both a critical and commercial success, including the Ralph MacDonald-penned track “Where Is the Love”, which proved to be not only an R&B success, but also scored Top Five on the pop Hot 100. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA on September 5, 1972. The album also included a number of other covers, including versions of Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend”, “Baby I Love You”, originally a hit for Aretha Franklin, and “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling”.

Perhaps Hathaway’s most influential recording is his 1972 album, Live, which has been termed “one of the best live albums ever recorded” by Daryl Easlea of the BBC. The album can also be found on the British online music and culture magazine The Quietus’ list of “40 Favourite Live Albums”. It was recorded at two concerts: side one at the Troubadour in Hollywood, and side two at The Bitter End in Greenwich Village, Manhattan.

Donny Hathaway is also known as the co-composer and performer of the Christmas standard, “This Christmas”. The song, released in 1970, has become a holiday staple and is often used in movies, television and advertising. “This Christmas” has been covered by numerous artists across diverse musical genres, including the Whispers, Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, Alexander O’Neal, Christina Aguilera, Chicago, Harry Connick, Jr., Dru Hill, *NSYNC, Gloria Estefan, Boney James, The Cheetah Girls, Chris Brown, Anthony Arnett (First Baptist Bracktown Christmas Celebration), Patti LaBelle and Mary J. Blige (A Mary Christmas), Seal, Train and CeeLo Green, among other artists.

Hathaway followed this flurry of work with some contributions to soundtracks, along with his recording of the theme song to the TV series Maude. He also composed and conducted music for the 1972 soundtrack of the movie Come Back Charleston Blue. In the mid-1970s, he also produced albums for other artists including Cold Blood, where he expanded the musical range of lead singer Lydia Pense.

His final studio album, Extension of a Man came out in 1973 with two tracks, “Love Love Love” and “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know” reaching both the pop and R&B charts. However, it was probably best noted for his classic ballad, “Someday We’ll All Be Free” and a six-minute symphonic-styled instrumental piece called “I Love The Lord, He Heard My Cry”. He told UK music journalist David Nathan in 1973, “I always liked pretty music and I’ve always wanted to write it.” Added the writer, “He declined to give one particular influence or inspiration but said that Ravel, Debussy and Stravinsky were amongst whom he studied.”

He returned to the charts in 1978 after again teaming up with Roberta Flack for a duet, “The Closer I Get to You” on her album, Blue Lights in the Basement. The song topped the R&B chart and just missed the number 1 spot on the Hot 100 (reaching #2). Atlantic then put out another solo single, “You Were Meant For Me” shortly before his sudden death.

Liner notes for later releases of his final solo album explain: “Donny is no longer here, but the song “Someday We’ll All Be Free” gathers momentum as part of his legacy… Donny literally sat in the studio and cried when he heard the playback of his final mix. It’s pretty special when an artist can create something that wipes them out.” Edward Howard, lyricist of the song, adds, “It was a spiritual thing for me… What was going through my mind at the time was Donny, because Donny was a very troubled person. I hoped that at some point he would be released from all that he was going through. There was nothing I could do but write something that might be encouraging for him. He’s a good leader for young black men”.

Hathaway met his wife, Eulaulah, at Howard University and they married in 1967. They had two daughters, Eulaulah Donyll (Lalah) and Kenya Canc’Libra. Lalah has enjoyed a successful solo career, while Kenya is a session singer and one of the three backing vocalists on the hit TV program American Idol. Both daughters are graduates of the Berklee College of Music. Donny also has a third daughter, Donnita Hathaway.

During the best part of his career, Hathaway began to suffer from severe bouts of depression. It was found that he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and was known to take strong medication daily to try to control the illness. However, Eulaulah Hathaway has said that her husband was frequently less than diligent about following his prescription regimen. Over the course of the 1970s, Hathaway’s mental instability wreaked havoc on his life and required several hospitalizations. The effects of his depression and melancholia also drove a wedge in his and Flack’s friendship; they did not reconcile for several years, and did not release additional music until the successful release of “The Closer I Get To You” in 1978. Flack and Hathaway then resumed studio recording to compose a second album of duets.

Sessions for another album of duets were underway in 1979. On January 13 of that year, Hathaway began a recording session at which producers/musicians Eric Mercury and James Mtume were present. Mercury and Mtume each reported that although Hathaway’s voice sounded good, he began behaving irrationally, seeming to be paranoid and delusional. According to Mtume, Hathaway said that “white people” were trying to kill him and had connected his brain to a machine, for the purpose of stealing his music and his sound. Given Hathaway’s behavior, Mercury said that he decided the recording session could not continue, so he aborted it and all of the musicians went home.

Hours later, Hathaway was found dead on the sidewalk below the window of his 15th-floor room in New York’s Essex House hotel. It was reported that he had jumped from his balcony. The glass had been neatly removed from the window and there were no signs of struggle, leading investigators to rule that Hathaway’s death was a suicide. However, his friends were mystified, considering that his career had just entered a resurgence. Flack was devastated and, spurred by his death, included the few duet tracks they had finished on her next album, Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway. According to Mercury, Hathaway’s final recording, included on that album, was “You Are My Heaven”, a song Mercury co-wrote with Stevie Wonder.

Hathaway’s funeral was conducted by the Reverend Jesse Jackson. Later in 1979, the Whispers recorded the tribute song, “Song for Donny”, for their self-titled breakthrough album. The song reached #21 on the R&B chart. That same year, they used that tribute song’s arrangement to do a cover of Hathaway’s song “This Christmas,” turning the uptempo Christmas gem into a classic, sentimental love song, a staple of their well-received “Happy Holidays To You” Christmas album.

Franklin Joseph “Frankie” Lymon (September 30, 1942 – February 27, 1968) was an American rock and roll/rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, best known as the boy soprano lead singer of the New York City-based early rock and roll group The Teenagers. The group was composed of five boys, all in their early to mid-teens. The original lineup of the Teenagers, an integrated group, included three African-American members, Frankie Lymon, Jimmy Merchant, and Sherman Garnes; and two Puerto Rican members, Joe Negroni and Herman Santiago.

The Teenagers’ first single, 1956’s “Why Do Fools Fall in Love,” was also its biggest hit. After Lymon went solo in mid-1957, both his career and that of the Teenagers fell into decline. He was found dead at the age of 25 on the floor of his grandmother’s bathroom from a heroin overdose. His life was dramatized in the 1998 film Why Do Fools Fall In Love.

Frankie Lymon was born in Harlem, New York on September 30, 1942 to Howard and Jeanette Lymon. Howard worked as a truck driver and Jeanette worked as a maid. Howard and Jeanette Lymon also sang in a gospel group known as the Harlemaires; Frankie and his brothers, Lewis and Howie, sang with the Harlemaire Juniors (a fourth Lymon brother, Timmy, was a singer, though not with the Harlemaire Juniors). The Lymons struggled to make ends meet, so, at age 10, Lymon began working as a grocery boy.

At the age of 12 in 1954, Lymon heard a local doo-wop group known as the Coupe De Villes at a school talent show. He became friends with the lead singer, Herman Santiago, and he eventually became a member of the group, now calling itself both The Ermines and The Premiers. Dennis Jackson of Columbus, Georgia, was one of the main influences in Lymon’s life. His personal donation of $500 helped start Lymon’s career.

One day in 1955, a neighbor gave The Premiers several love letters that had been written to him by his girlfriend, with the hopes that he could give the boys inspiration to write their own songs. Merchant and Santiago adapted one of the letters into a song called “Why Do Fools Fall in Love”. The Premiers, now calling themselves The Teenagers, got their first shot at fame after impressing Richard Barrett, a singer with The Valentines. Barrett, in turn, got the group an audition with record producer George Goldner. On the day of the group’s audition, Santiago, the original lead singer, was late. Lymon stepped up and told Goldner that he knew the part because he helped write the song. The disc jockeys always called them “Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers”.

Goldner signed the group to Gee Records, and “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” became its first single in January 1956. The single peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard pop singles chart, and topped the Billboard R&B singles chart for five weeks.

Six other top blues 10 singles followed over the next year or so: “I Want You to Be My Girl”, “I Promise to Remember”, “Who Can Explain?”, “Out in the Cold Again”, “The ABC’s of Love”, “I’m Not a Juvenile Delinquent”, and “Baby Baby” were also popular Teenagers releases. “I Want You To Be My Girl” gave the band its second pop hit, reaching No. 13 on the national Billboard Hot 100 chart. “Goody Goody” (written by Matty Malneck and Johnny Mercer and originally performed by Benny Goodman) was a No. 20 pop hit but did not appear on the R&B chart. The Teenagers placed two other singles in the lower half of the pop chart.

With the release of “I Want You To Be My Girl”, the group’s second single, The Teenagers became Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers. An album, “The Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon”, was released in December 1956.

In early 1957, Lymon and the Teenagers broke up while on a tour in Europe. During an engagement at the London Palladium, Goldner began pushing Lymon as a solo act, giving him solo spots in the show. Lymon began performing with backing from pre-recorded tapes. The group’s last single, “Goody Goody” backed with “Creation of Love,” initially retained the “Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers” credit, but they were actually solo recordings (with backing by session singers). Lymon had officially departed from the group by September 1957; an in-progress studio album called Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers at the London Palladium was instead issued as a Lymon solo release.

As a solo artist, Lymon was not nearly as successful as he had been with the Teenagers. Beginning with his second solo release, “My Girl”, Lymon had moved to Roulette Records. On a July 19, 1957 episode of Alan Freed’s live ABC TV show The Big Beat, Lymon began dancing with a white teenage girl while he was performing. His actions caused a scandal, particularly among Southern TV station owners, and The Big Beat was subsequently canceled. There is no surviving footage because the episode was taped over, according to Judith Fisher Freed.

Lymon’s slowly declining sales fell sharply in the early 1960s. Within the span of one year, as a result of heroin use, his voice changed from his signature tenor to a much deeper baritone. His highest-charting solo hit was a cover of Bobby Day’s “Little Bitty Pretty One”, which peaked at No. 58 on the Hot 100 pop chart in 1960 and which had been recorded in 1957. Addicted to heroin since the age of 15, Lymon fell further into his habit, and his performing career went into decline. According to Lymon in an interview with Ebony magazine in 1967, he was first introduced to heroin when he was 15 by a woman twice his age. In 1961, Roulette, now run by Morris Levy, ended their contract with Lymon and he entered a drug rehabilitation program.

After losing Lymon, the Teenagers went through a string of replacement singers, the first of whom was Billy Lobrano. In 1960, Howard Kenny Bobo sang lead on “Tonight’s the Night” with the Teenagers; later that year, Johnny Houston sang lead on two songs. The Teenagers, who had been moved by Morris Levy to End Records, were released from their contract in 1961. The Teenagers briefly reunited with Lymon in 1965, without success.

Over the next four years, Lymon struggled through short-lived deals with 20th Century Fox Records and Columbia Records. Lymon began a relationship with Elizabeth Mickey Waters, who became his first wife in January 1964 and the mother of his only child, a baby girl named Francine who died two days after birth at Lenox Hill Hospital. Lymon’s marriage to Waters was not legal because she was still married to her first husband. After the marriage failed, he moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1960s, where he began a romantic relationship with Zola Taylor, a member of the Platters. Taylor claimed to have married Lymon in Mexico in 1965 although their relationship ended several months later, purportedly because of Lymon’s drug habits. Lymon, however, had been known to say that their marriage was a publicity stunt, and Taylor could produce no legal documentation of their marriage. In Major Robinson’s gossip column of June 6, 1966, Zola said the whole thing was a joke that she went along with at the time (October 1965).

He appeared at the Apollo as part of a revue, adding an extended tap dance number. Lymon recorded several live performances (such as “Melinda” in 1959), but none rose on the charts. His final television performance was on Hollywood a Go-Go in 1965, where the then-22-year-old singer lip-synched to the recording of his 13-year-old self singing “Why Do Fools Fall in Love.”

The same year, Lymon was drafted into the United States Army and reported to Fort Gordon, Georgia, near Augusta, Georgia, for training. While in the Augusta area, Lymon met and fell in love with Emira Eagle, a schoolteacher at Hornsby Elementary in Augusta. The two were wed in June 1967, and Lymon repeatedly went AWOL to secure gigs at small Southern clubs. Dishonorably discharged from the Army, Lymon moved into his wife’s home and continued to perform sporadically.

Traveling to New York in 1968, Lymon was signed by manager Sam Bray to his Big Apple label, and the singer returned to recording. Roulette Records expressed interest in releasing Lymon’s records in conjunction with Big Apple and scheduled a recording session for February 28. A major promotion had been arranged with CHO Associates, owned by radio personalities Frankie Crocker, Herb Hamlett and Eddie O’Jay. Lymon, staying at his grandmother’s house in Harlem where he had grown up, celebrated his good fortune by taking heroin; he had remained clean ever since entering the Army three years earlier.

On February 27, 1968, Lymon was found dead of a heroin overdose at the age of 25 on the floor of his grandmother’s bathroom. Lymon, a Baptist, was buried at Catholic Saint Raymond’s Cemetery in the Throggs Neck section of The Bronx, New York City, New York.

“I’m Sorry” and “Seabreeze”, the two songs Lymon had recorded for Big Apple before his death, were released later in 1968.

John Royce “Johnny” Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standard music, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status and 73 making the Billboard charts to date. Mathis has received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for three separate recordings.

Although he is frequently described as a romantic singer, his discography includes traditional pop, Brazilian and Spanish music, soul, rhythm and blues, show tunes, Tin Pan Alley, soft rock, blues, country music, and even a few disco songs for his album Mathis Magic in 1979. Mathis has also recorded six albums of Christmas music. In a 1968 interview, Mathis cited Lena Horne, Nat King Cole, and Bing Crosby among his musical influences. 

Born John Royce Mathis in Gilmer, TX., he is the son of Clem Mathis and Mildred Boyd. He was raised in San Francisco, and is one of the last and most popular in a long line of traditional male vocalists who emerged before the rock-dominated 1960s. Johnny Mathis studied with an opera coach as a young boy, and was almost lured into the profession. His other inspirations were crossover jazz vocalists of the 1940s, Nat King Cole, Billy Eckstine, and Lena Horne. Mathis concentrated on romantic readings of jazz and pop standards. 

Though he started with a series of singles-chart activity, Mathis later made it big in the album market, where a dozen of his LPs hit gold or platinum and over 60 made the charts. While he focused on theme-oriented albums of show-tunes and traditional favorites, he began incorporating soft rock by the 1970s and remained a popular concert attraction well into the 1990s. 

Mathis was an exceptional high-school athlete in San Francisco, but was wooed away from a college track scholarship and a potential spot on the Olympic squad by the chance to sing. He was signed to a management contract by club owner Helen Noga, who introduced the singer to George Avakian, jazz producer for Columbia Records. Avakian signed him and used orchestras conducted by Teo Macero, Gil Evans, and John Lewis to record Mathis’ self-titled debut album in 1957. Despite the name talent and choice of standards, it was mostly ignored upon release. 

Columbia A&R executive Mitch Miller decided the only recourse was switching Mathis to Miller’s brand of pop balladry, and the formula worked like a charm; the LP Wonderful, Wonderful spawned a Top 20 hit later in 1957 with its title track, which was followed by the number five It’s Not for Me to Say and his first number one, Chances Are. From that point on, Johnny Mathis concentrated strictly on lush ballads for adult-contemporary listeners. 

Mathis moved away from show-tunes and traditional pop into soft rock during the 1970s, and found his second number one single, Too Much, Too Little, Too Late, in 1978. Recorded as a duet with Deniece Williams, the single prompted Mathis to begin trying duets with a variety of partners (including Dionne Warwick, Natalie Cole, Gladys Knight, and Nana Mouskouri), though none of the singles enjoyed the success of the original. 

Mathis continued to release and sell albums throughout the 1990s, in his fifth decade of recording for Columbia, among them 1998’s “Because You Loved Me: Songs of Diane Warren.” Mathis has more than 50 gold and platinum records and has the longest run for an album on the billboard pop charts, 480 weeks. 

Mathis received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003, by the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. This Special Merit Award is presented by vote of the Recording Academy’s National Trustees to performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artist significance to the field of recording. In 2013 Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters honored Mathis with the Art Gilmore Career Achievement Award, presented at a luncheon in Studio City, CA.

Marilyn McCoo (born September 30, 1943) is an American singer, actress, and television presenter, who is best known for being the lead female vocalist in the group The 5th Dimension, as well as hosting the 1980s music countdown series Solid Gold. Since 1969, she has been married to singer Billy Davis Jr., the founder and co-member of the 5th Dimension.

McCoo has a four-octave vocal range.

Marilyn McCoo was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, to Waymon and Mary McCoo, who were both physicians.[1] At the age of seven, she moved with her parents, two sisters, and brother to Los Angeles, where she commenced singing, piano and dance lessons. (Note: on the October 23, 1976, episode of Soul Train, McCoo told host Don Cornelius that she spent her first seven years in Columbus, Georgia.) At the age of 15, she made her television debut on Art Linkletter’s Talent Show and began modelling. After graduating from high school, she enrolled in UCLA, where she earned a degree in business administration. In 1962, McCoo entered the Miss Bronze California beauty pageant where she won “Miss Grand Talent”

In the early and mid-1960s, McCoo was a member of the Hi-Fi’s, who often opened for Ray Charles. She had been invited to join the group by photographer Lamonte McLemore, who would himself join McCoo in the 5th Dimension. Other Hi-Fi members included Harry Elston and Floyd Butler, who would go on to form the Friends of Distinction. She met Billy Davis, Jr. in 1966 when he established the 5th Dimension, then called The Versatiles, which would also include Ron Townson and Florence LaRue. The group’s first big hit was with 1967’s “Up, Up and Away”, written by Jimmy Webb. The song won four 1968 Grammy Awards and was the title track to 5th Dimension’s first hit LP. A year later the group recorded Laura Nyro’s “Stoned Soul Picnic”. A medley of “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” (from the musical Hair) reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in April to May 1969 and won the Grammy for ‘Record of the Year’. The group’s recording of another Nyro composition, “Wedding Bell Blues”, featuring McCoo’s most prominent vocal of that period, topped the Hot 100 in November 1969.

By the early 1970s, McCoo began to sing lead on the group’s remaining chart-topping singles, “One Less Bell to Answer”, “(Last Night) I Didn’t Get to Sleep at All”, and “If I Could Reach You”.

In 1975, McCoo and Davis left the 5th Dimension and began performing as a duo. Landing a contract with ABC Records, they recorded their 1976 debut album, I Hope We Get to Love in Time. The first single was the title track, which was a mid-chart hit. Their follow up, “You Don’t Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)” was an even bigger hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1977. McCoo and Davis were awarded a gold single and a gold album as well as a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. They became the first African American married couple to host a network television series, The Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr. Show, on CBS in summer 1977. They released one more album on ABC in 1978, produced by Frank Wilson and containing the popular ballad “My Reason To Be” by songwriters Judy Wieder and John Footman. The pair signed with CBS Records the following year and released their last album as a duo until October 2008 when the pair released The Many Faces of Love, a collection of hit songs from the 1960s and 1970s.

She was the first to record “Saving All My Love for You” in 1978, later sung by Whitney Houston. The album Marilyn and Billy featured that track as well as a disco hit, “Shine On Silver Moon”.

The pair decided to go solo professionally in the early 1980s with McCoo hosting the popular American syndicated television series Solid Gold from 1981 through 1984 and again from 1986 through 1988. She also created a successful nightclub and concert act, and went on to appear as Tamara Price on Days of Our Lives in 1986, as a friend of Marlena Evans who sang at her wedding. Price later became involved with James Reynolds’ character Abe Carver. McCoo left the series in 1987.

Her 1991 album, The Me Nobody Knows, was nominated for a Grammy. She also released a Christmas album in 1996. McCoo won her eighth Grammy for her contributions to Quincy Jones’ Handel’s Messiah.

McCoo has acted in a number of movies, including Grizzly Adams and the Legend of Dark Mountain (1999), My Mom’s a Werewolf (1989) and several television movies, often playing herself. She has appeared on stage in productions of Anything Goes, A…My Name is Alice, Man of La Mancha, and the Broadway production of Show Boat in 1995 through 1996. McCoo appeared together with Davis on The Jamie Foxx Show as Fancy’s parents, the Monroes. McCoo also guest-starred on a Canadian game show in the 1990s, called Acting Crazy.

McCoo is married to fellow 5th Dimension bandmate Billy Davis Jr. On July 26, 2019, they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. The couple shared their story of love and faith in the 2004 book, Up, Up and Away. They continue to perform together in venues around the country. McCoo is a member of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority. As of January 2010 she is Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Mission.

McCoo and Davis are born-again Christians.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed McCoo and Davis among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Patrice Louise Rushen (born September 30, 1954) is an American jazz pianist and R&B singer. She is also a composer, record producer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and music director. Her 1982 single, “Forget Me Nots”, received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Rushen had great success on the R&B and dance charts. “Haven’t You Heard” went number 7 on the R&B charts, with “Forget Me Nots” as her only top 40 pop hit.

Rushen is the elder of two daughters born to Allen and Ruth Rushen. In her teens, she attended south LA’s Locke High School and went on to earn a degree in music from the University of Southern California. Rushen married Marc St. Louis, a concert tour manager and live show production specialist, in 1986. They have one son Cameron. Her nickname is “Babyfingers,” a reference to her small hands. In 2005, Rushen received an Honorary Doctorate of Music degree from Berklee College of Music. She has been a member of jazz fusion band CAB.

Her song “Hang it Up” was featured on the 2005 video game Fahrenheit.

The chorus from “Forget Me Nots” was used as the music for the 1997 song “Men in Black”. The song was a number one hit in ten countries, and was the top most played song on American radio. Rushen was credited as writer and composer, along with Will Smith and Terri McFadden.

The same chorus can also be heard in George Michael’s song “Fastlove”

Willard Carroll Smith Jr. (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, rapper and media personality. In April 2007, Newsweek called him “the most powerful actor in Hollywood”. Smith has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards and two Academy Awards, and has won four Grammy Awards.

In the late 1980s, Smith achieved modest fame as a rapper under the name The Fresh Prince. In 1990, his popularity increased dramatically when he starred in the NBC television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which ran for six seasons until 1996. After the series ended, Smith transitioned from television to film and went on to star in numerous blockbuster films. He is the only actor to have eight consecutive films gross over $100 million in the domestic box office, eleven consecutive films gross over $150 million internationally, and eight consecutive films in which he starred open at the number one spot in the domestic box office tally.

Smith has been ranked as the most bankable star worldwide by Forbes. As of 2014, 17 of the 21 films in which he has had leading roles have accumulated worldwide gross earnings of over $100 million each, with five taking in over $500 million each in global box office receipts. As of 2016, his films have grossed $7.5 billion at the global box office. For his performances as boxer Muhammad Ali in Ali (2001) and stockbroker Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), Smith received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor

In the late 1980s, Smith achieved modest fame as a rapper under the name The Fresh Prince. In 1990, his popularity increased dramatically when he starred in the NBC television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which ran for six seasons until 1996. After the series ended, Smith transitioned from television to film, and has gone on to star in numerous blockbuster films. He is the only actor to have eight consecutive films gross over $100 million in the domestic box office, eleven consecutive films gross over $150 million internationally, and eight consecutive films in which he starred, open at the number one spot in the domestic box office tally.

Smith has been ranked as the most bankable star worldwide by Forbes. As of 2014, 17 of the 21 films in which he has had leading roles have accumulated worldwide gross earnings of over $100 million each, five taking in over $500 million each in global box office receipts. As of 2016, his films have grossed $7.5 billion at the global box office. For his performances as boxer Muhammad Ali in Ali (2001) and stockbroker Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), Smith received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Smith was born on September 25, 1968 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Caroline (Bright), a Philadelphia school board administrator, and Willard Carroll Smith Sr., U.S. Air Force veteran and refrigeration engineer. He grew up in West Philadelphia’s Wynnefield neighborhood, and was raised Baptist. He has an elder sister named Pamela and two younger siblings, twins Harry and Ellen. Smith attended Our Lady of Lourdes, a private Catholic elementary school in Philadelphia. His parents separated when he was 13, but did not actually divorce until around 2000.

Smith attended Overbrook High School. While it has been widely reported that Smith turned down a scholarship to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he never applied to college because he “wanted to rap.” Smith says he was admitted to a “pre-engineering [summer] program” at MIT for high school students, but he did not attend. According to Smith, “My mother, who worked for the School Board of Philadelphia, had a friend who was the admissions officer at MIT. I had pretty high SAT scores and they needed black kids, so I probably could have gotten in. But I had no intention of going to college.

Smith started as the MC of the hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, with his childhood friend Jeffrey “DJ Jazzy Jeff” Townes as turntablist and producer. Townes and Smith were introduced to each other by chance in 1985, as Townes was performing at a house party only a few doors down from Smith’s residence, and he was missing his hype man. Smith decided to fill in. They both felt strong chemistry, and Townes was upset when his hype man finally made it to the party.

Soon after, the two decided to join forces. Smith enlisted a friend to join as the beatboxer of the group, Clarence Holmes (Ready Rock C), making them a trio. Philadelphia-based Word Up Records released their first single in late 1985 to 1986 when A&R man Paul Oakenfold introduced them to Word Up with their single “Girls Ain’t Nothing but Trouble,” a tale of funny misadventures that landed Smith and his former DJ and rap partner Mark Forrest (Lord Supreme) in trouble. The song sampled the theme song of “I Dream of Jeannie.” Smith became known for light-hearted story-telling raps and capable, though profanity-free, “battle” rhymes. The single became a hit a month before Smith graduated from high school.

Based on this success, the duo were brought to the attention of Jive Records and Russell Simmons. The duo’s first album, Rock the House, which was first released on Word Up in 1986 debuted on Jive in March 1987. The group received the first Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance in 1989 for “Parents Just Don’t Understand” (1988), though their most successful single was “Summertime” (1991), which earned the group their second Grammy and peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Smith and Townes are still friends and claim that they never split up, having made songs under Smith’s solo performer credit.

Smith spent money freely around 1988 and 1989 and underpaid his income taxes. The Internal Revenue Service eventually assessed a $2.8 million tax debt against Smith, took many of his possessions, and garnished his income. Smith was struggling financially in 1990, when the NBC television network signed him to a contract and built a sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, around him. The show was successful and began his acting career. Smith set for himself the goal of becoming “the biggest movie star in the world”, studying box office successes’ common characteristics.

In 1989, Smith was arrested in relation to an assault on his record promoter William Hendricks which had left him almost blind in one eye.

Smith’s first major roles were in the drama Six Degrees of Separation (1993) and the action film Bad Boys (1995) in which he starred opposite Martin Lawrence. The latter film was commercially successful, grossing $141,407,024 worldwide – $65,807,024 in North America and $75,600,000 overseas. However, critical reception was generally mixed. In 1996, Smith starred as part of an ensemble cast in Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day. The film was a massive blockbuster, becoming the second highest-grossing film in history at the time and establishing Smith as a prime box office draw.

In the summer of 1997, he starred alongside Tommy Lee Jones in the hit Men in Black, playing Agent J. The film was released on July 2 by Columbia Pictures, and grossed over $589.3 million worldwide against a $90 million budget, becoming the year’s third highest-grossing film, with an estimated 54,616,700 tickets sold in the US. It received worldwide acclaim, with critics highly praising its humor, as well as Jones and Smith’s performances.

During the summer of 1997, Smith also began his solo music career with the release of “Men in Black”, the theme song for the film, which topped singles charts in several regions across the world, including the UK. “Men in Black” (and second single “Just Cruisin'”) was later included on Smith’s debut solo album Big Willie Style, which reached the top ten of the US Billboard 200 and was certified nine times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The third single from the album, “Gettin’ Jiggy wit It”, became Smith’s first Billboard Hot 100 number one when it was released in 1998.

On December 10, 2007, Smith was honored at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. Smith left an imprint of his hands and feet outside the theater in front of many fans. Later that month, Smith starred in the film I Am Legend, released December 14, 2007. Alongside marginally positive reviews, its opening was the largest ever for a film released in the United States during December. Smith himself has said that he considers the film to be “aggressively unique”. A reviewer said that the film’s commercial success “cemented [Smith’s] standing as the number one box office draw in Hollywood.” On December 1, 2008, TV Guide reported that Smith was selected as one of America’s top ten most fascinating people of 2008 for a Barbara Walters ABC special that aired on December 4, 2008.

In 2008 Smith was reported to be developing a film entitled The Last Pharaoh, in which he would be starring as Taharqa. It was in 2008 that Smith starred in the superhero movie Hancock. Hancock has grossed $227,946,274 in the United States and Canada and $396,440,472 in other territories for a worldwide total of $624,386,746.

Smith married Sheree Zampino in 1992. Their son Willard Carroll “Trey” Smith III was born on November 11, 1992. They divorced in 1995. Trey appeared in his father’s music video for the 1998 single “Just the Two of Us”. He also acted in two episodes of the sitcom All of Us, and has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and the David Blaine: Real or Magic TV special.

Smith married actress Jada Koren Pinkett in 1997. Together they have two children: Jaden Christopher Syre Smith (born 1998), his co-star in The Pursuit of Happyness and After Earth; and Willow Camille Reign Smith (born 2000), who appeared as his daughter in I Am Legend. Smith and his brother Harry own Treyball Development Inc., a Beverly Hills-based company named after Trey. Smith and his family reside in Los Angeles, California.