Concert in your area for Funk & Soul and R&B.
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With a line-up of both singers and dancers Howard Hewett, Jody Watley, and Jeffrey Daniel, Shalamar were joined by producer Leon Sylvers III, and signed with Griffey’s SOLAR Records in 1979 . The same year the group had their debut smash hit with “Take That to the Bank”, which sold over a million copies in the U.S. The single paved the way for a string of subsequent hits in both the U.S. and the UK, including “The Second Time Around” later in 1979, “I Owe You One” in 1980, and “I Can Make You Feel Good” in 1982.
“There It Is”, “Friends” and “A Night to Remember” also became smash hits in 1982, the latter of which popularised the group in the UK for Daniel’s body-popping dancing skills, where he premiered the moonwalk for the first time on the TV show "Top of the Pops". After watching Shalamar on the TV show “Soul Train”, Michael Jackson became a fan of the groups and took his 12 year old sister Janet to see the band perform at Disneyland. In addition Daniel later helped choreograph the iconic moves in Jackson’s “Bad” and “Smooth Criminal” music videos.
The band released three albums with this line-up “Big Fun”, “Three for Love” and “Friends”, representing Shalamar’s golden age. With increasing tensions with Dick Griffey and Solar Records, Watley and Daniel departed the group, making way for Micki Free and Delisa Davis. The change marked a musical move into a more new wave/synth inspired sound, however the band soon found success again. In 1984 the single “Dancing in the Sheets” from the “Footloose” soundtrack saw the band reached the Billboard Top 20 again and “Don’t Get Stopped in Beverly Hills” from “Beverly Hills Cop” earned the band their only Grammy. Hewett left the group shortly after and was replaced by Sydney Justin, although the band quickly sank into obscurity.
In 1996 the original line-up returned alongside LL Cool J and Babyface with the single “This Is for the Lover in You”. The group subsequent played again on “Top of the Pops”, the trio’s first live performance since 1983. Since then with a line-up of Daniel, Hewett and Dick Griffey’s daughter Carolyn Griffey, Shalamar have regularly toured the UK, including as part of “The Ultimate Boogie Nights Disco Concert Series” in 2009.
Hailing from the Bronx, New York, US, Evelyn "Champagne" King came from a showbiz family, with her uncle being the actor and singer Avon Long and father, Erik King, a popular vocalist in New York City, US. King moved to Philadelphia, US, with her mother in her teens, with the pair getting jobs as cleaning women, whilst still sharing a passion for singing and music.
King was to gain her break into the musical world through a fortunate coincidence. King and her mother were working at Philadelphia International Records' studio, performing their cleaning duties, when producer T. Life overheard King singing from the washroom. Following this powerful voice, he found 16-year old King to be the source, quickly signing the young artist with a production deal and a contract with RCA.
WIth Life as producer, the pair got to work on her first recordings, with the result being "Dancin' Dancin' Dancin'." By 1977, they had enough material for an album, releasing "Smooth Talk" that same year. The single "Shame" was to be her career-launching single, gaining widespread airplay as well as breaking into the Top Ten of the R&B and Pop charts. The second single, "I Don't Know If It's Right" in 1978 found further success, selling Gold and reaching number seven in the R&B charts. The album went on to be a huge success, with this production partnership continuing for two more albums, "T. Life: Music Box" and "Call on Me."
In the early 1980s, King left Life for the producer Kashif, soon finding two number one hits with the singles, "I'm in Love" and "Love Come Down." Her albums continued to place highly in the charts, with 1982's "Get Loose" selling double-Platinum, garnering attention from EMI Records, who signed King in 1988. King worked with Leon F. Sylvers III on "Flirt" that same year, which reached number 20 in the R&B charts. "The Girl Next Door" followed in 1989 but failed to live up to the same commercial success.
In 1995, she signed with British label, Expansion, releasing "I'll Keep a Light On" which featured the musicians Larry Graham, Jeff Lorber and Paul Jackson Jr. King then took a long break from recording music, not returning to the studio until 2007, releasing "Open Book." Between these years a Greatest Hits album was released in 2001, celebrating King's musical efforts. Following her 2007 album, King released two singles since, with 2008's "The Dance" and 2011's "Everybody," featuring Miguel Migs.
Shalamar were the “Uptown Festival” singing band who really made a name for themselves throughout the 70’s and the 80’s. They went on to be an extremely influential dance trio. They are also alumni of Soul Train Records. Tonight is a little bit of a reunion for this strong trio, who have still got it years on from their success. “Full of Fire” is the high energy song that opens their set with a bang, seeing all of the members bouncing off the walls with their charismatic dancing, big smiles and singing. “This is for the Love in You” has the WHOLE audience joining in this time, I feel as though they all practiced before hand and I didn’t get the memo. “A Night to Remember” is the song that puts the audience in a reflective place seeing the group show of some insightful lyrics and three part harmonies. “My Girl Loves Me” despite not being the most well known song from this group is their set closer. It goes down ever so well with the audience, with everyone bouncing off the walls.
Evelyn “Champagne” King is one of those singers who has doing her thing since a very young age. She released her first album “Smooth Talk” in 1977. It featured a song called “Shame”, which made it into the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 making it to number 9. One of the things about King that is fantastic is that she has maintained her success over the last thirty years and of course, this audience are sold out in here tonight.
She launches into the song that got her name out there in the first place, “Shame”, and then into a slew of tracks that solidified her name in the charts over time. Her song, “Love Come Down” sparks a lot of dancing in this set, which continues for the remainder of the show. “I’m In Love” gets the whole audience involved with the performance singing ohh’s and ahh’s, with their hands in the air shaking them from side to side as King prances about the stage maintaining her charisma throughout. Well worth the ticket price!