Angela Winbush

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
Angela Winbush
Enlarge
Angela Winbush

Angela Winbush (born on June 26, 1954 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter and record producer who rose to fame first as one half of the eighties R&B duo, Rene & Angela and then later as a solo artist and collaborator with The Isley Brothers.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life and career

Born to a deeply religious family in St. Louis, Angela began singing in church and though she was a very talented vocalist, she had no intentions of a career in music instead going to college at Howard University for a psychology major. That all changed in 1976 when she was inspired to start a music career after listening to Stevie Wonder promptly changing her major to music education. Recording a demo single, she gave her demo to a Washington, D.C. deejay named Gary Byrd, who in turn gave it to Wonder when he was visiting the state for a concert. Hiring Winbush to join his female backing trio, Wonderlove, she learned a lot about writing and arranging songs from Wonder. Within a year, she formed a bond with Rene Moore, whom she had met in college. The two became a couple and also began writing songs together. Forming Rene & Angela in 1980, the duo released their self-titled debut album which included the singles "Everything We Do" and "Do You Love Me". Between Rene & Angela and 1983's Rise, the duo scored charted singles with "I Love You More", "Imaginary Playmates", "Banging the Boogie" and their top twenty R&B ballad, "My First Love", which was the first song to give Rene & Angela more notice in the R&B community where the song eventually reached number twelve on the R&B chart.

[edit] A Street Called Desire and meeting Ron Isley

During Rene & Angela's early years, they were asked to produce songs for Janet Jackson's 1982 self-titled debut album, Janet Jackson. One of the songs, "Young Love", became Jackson's first top ten R&B hit reaching number six on the chart. They also wrote exclusively for Stephanie Mills, with whom would forge a close friendship with Winbush. Mills' 1985 classic, "I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love", gave Mills her first-ever #1 R&B single. Winbush would later write another Mills number one R&B hit with "Something in the Way You Make Me Feel". Between that, Rene & Angela decided to branch out and find a bigger fan base signing with Mercury Records in 1984, they released their breakthrough album, A Street Called Desire the following year. Among the hit singles included on the album was their first R&B number one with the dance single, "Save Your Love (For #1)", which included guest vocals from rapper Kurtis Blow, making it besides Chaka Khan's "I Feel For You", one of the first songs to prominently featured a rapper. Other hit singles included "I'll Be Good", the mostly Winbush-led "Your Smile" was another number one hit while the subsequent "You Don't Have to Cry", hit number two in the beginning of 1986. Eventually A Street Called Desire sold over a million copies going platinum but on the brink of their biggest album, tensions between Winbush and Moore had grown and by the end of the album's promotion, the duo split both personally and professionally. Moore would continue to find success as a songwriter, most notably for Michael Jackson, but he would never again find success as a singer as Winbush was often the main draw of their singles.

In 1987, Winbush was introduced to future husband Ronald Isley, lead singer of the influential Isley Brothers after Benny Medina had agreed to ask Winbush to be involved with the Isleys' next record after Isley had proposed plans to work with Winbush. Producing, writing and arranging the Isleys' Smooth Sailin' album, Winbush helped the group, now including just Ronald and Rudolph (eldest brother O'Kelly had passed away in 1986), score a top 10 R&B hit with the title track.

[edit] Sharp and subsequent follow-ups

In turn, Isley opted to manage Winbush and he helped in the process of releasing her debut solo album, Sharp, which was also released in 1987. The album included the huge hit, "Angel", which stayed at number one on the R&B chart for two weeks in 1987. Other hits include the dance track, "Run to Me", "C'est Toi (It's You)" and the Ron Isley duet, "Hello Beloved". In 1989, Winbush released her follow-up to Sharp with It's the Real Thing. The title track reached number two on the R&B chart while subsequent hits "No More Tears" and "Lay Your Troubles Down" continued Winbush's top 40 success on the R&B charts where she was now a fixture on despite failed attempts to cross her over to pop audiences. On Winbush's thirty-ninth birthday, she and longtime manager/collaborator/lover Ronald Isley, who is thirteen years Angela's senior, married. A year later after turning forty, Winbush released her third self-titled solo album, which included the huge R&B hit, "Treat U Rite". Produced by Chuckii Booker, the song peaked at number six on the R&B chart making it Winbush's ninth top ten R&B hit altogether in her career. In 1996, Winbush was featured on the Isley Brothers' hit "Floatin' On Your Love", which was essentially a duet between Winbush and Ron Isley. The song was later remixed by Sean "Puffy" Combs and featured guest vocals from Lil' Kim and the group 112 in backgrounds. The video for it showcased Winbush serenading Isley's Mr. Biggs character. Winbush continued to collaborate with the Isley Brothers until 2001's Eternal, where afterwards, their marriage had cooled off. In 2002, Winbush and Isley quietly divorced. In 2003, Winbush made news when it was found out she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Eventually after a successful surgery, the cancer was in remission and Winbush returned to perform on the road.

[edit] Current work

She's said to work on a brand new album with producer Kaygee, formerly of the group, Naughty by Nature, on his Divine Mill Recordings imprint though no date has been formally announced as of yet.

Since debuting as one-half of Rene & Angela in 1980, Winbush has sold ten million albums and singles worldwide, and has had twenty top forty R&B singles and three number-one R&B singles.

[edit] Legacy and influence

Since starting out with Rene & Angela, Winbush has played an influence on various R&B and hip-hop acts. In the latter genre, Winbush has heard her music being sampled by acts such as The Notorious B.I.G. (who featured her and Jay-Z on his Rene & Angela-sampled "I Love You More" for the song "I Love the Dough"), Foxy Brown (who sampled her "I'll Be Good" for her 1997 top ten hit, "I'll Be") and singer Avant re-recorded the Rene & Angela ballad, "My First Love", with singer Keke Wyatt in 2000. In appreciation during Avant's performance of the song on BET's 106 & Park, in 2001, Winbush surprised the audience by singing alongside Avant on the song. As a singer, Winbush influenced the likes of Syleena Johnson and Chante Moore. Winbush and former partner Rene Moore also shared the distinction for being one of the first R&B acts to prominently feature a rap act in a R&B song sharing that distinction with Chaka Khan and funk band Cameo. Winbush also carries the distinction of being one of the few female artists to find success as a songwriter, arranger, producer and session musician (Winbush also is an avid musician playing piano and keyboards).

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Rene & Angela

  • 1980 Rene & Angela
  • 1981 Wall To Wall #15 Billboard Chart
  • 1983 Rise #33 Billboard Chart
  • 1985 Street Called Desire #5 Billboard Chart
  • 1996 The Best of RenĂ© & Angela: Come My Way
  • 1997 A Street Called Desire and More (re-release)
  • 2002 Classic Masters

Solo Albums

  • 1987 Sharp #7 Billboard Chart
  • 1989 It's The Real Thing #12 Billboard Chart
  • 1994 Angela Winbush #11 Billboard Chart
  • 2001 Ultimate Collection
  • 2004 Greatest Love Songs

[edit] Singles

Year Title Album US R&B chart UK chart
1980 "Do You Really Love Me" Rene & Angela 43 -
1980 "Everything We Do" Rene & Angela 39 -
1981 "I Love You More" Wall to Wall 14 -
1981 "Wall to Wall" Wall to Wall 37 -
1982 "Imaginary Playmates" Wall to Wall 26 -
1983 "Banging The Boogie" Rise 33 -
1993 "My First Love" Rise 12 -
1985 "Save Your Love (For #1)" Street Called Desire 1 66
1985 "I'll Be Good" Street Called Desire 4 22
1985 "Your Smile" Street Called Desire 1 -
1986 "You Don't Have To Cry" Street Called Desire 2 -
1986 "No How - No Way" Street Called Desire 29 -
1987 "Angel" Sharp 1 -
1987 "Run to Me" Sharp 4 -
1988 "C'est Toi (It's You)" Sharp 47 -
1988 "Hello Beloved" Sharp 26 -
1989 "It's The Real Thing" The Real Thing 2 -
1990 "No More Tears" The Real Thing 12 -
1990 "Lay Your Troubles Down" The Real Thing 10 -
1990 "Please Bring Your Love Back" The Real Thing 70 -
1994 "Treat U Rite" Angela Winbush 6 -
1994 "Inner City Blues" Angela Winbush 49 -
1996 "Floatin' On Your Love" Mission to Please 14 -

[edit] Awards & nominations

Year Award
1987 Soul Train Music Award nomination for Single of the Year (Female) for "Angel"
1987 Soul Train Music Award nomination for Album of the Year (Female) for Sharp

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../a/n/g/Angela_Winbush_4957.html"