Charlene Marilynn D'Angelo
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| Charlene | ||
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 Charlene's Never Been to Me album
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Charlene Marilynn D'Angelo | |
| Born | June 1, 1950 | |
| Origin | Hollywood, California | |
| Genre(s) | Country, Pop, Traditional Pop | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer | |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals | |
| Years active | 1974– Present | |
| Label(s) | Motown Records | |
| Associated acts |
Dionne Warwick, Marvin Gaye | |
| Website | Charlene Official Site | |
- Charlene redirects here. See Carl (name) for information about the name.
Charlene Marilynn D'Angelo (born June 1, 1950, Hollywood, California) is an American R&B singer. She is best known as Charlene and also for her 1982 Pop music song "I've Never Been to Me". She is considered a one-hit-wonder.
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[edit] Early Recording Career
Charlene was christened by her mother as Charlene Marilynn D'Angelo in 1950. However, despite her long name, she would change it to simply as Charlene for her record label. In 1973 she signed on with the legendary record label Motown Records. She signed under it as "Charlene Duncan". She released her first single from the label in January 1974 called "All That Love Went to Waste". The song however, failed to gain success for Charlene. She next appeared on Motown's Prodigal label three years later with "It Ain't Easy Comin' Down," which was credited to Charlene, though an album issued the same month had "Charlene Duncan" on the spine (confusingly, it was titled "Charlene").[1]. Another album in 1977 called Songs of Love had been a repackaging of Charlene's song "I've Never Been to Me", however, it missed a spoken bridge. She released the single first in 1977, but it initially had no success. The single only reached #97 on the Pop charts.
[edit] The Success of "I've Never Been to Me"
In 1980, Charlene released her last single called "I Won't Remember Ever Loving You", but the song was dropped until 1982. It was then that Charlene re-recorded her 1977 single "I've Never Been to Me" with the spoken bridge. The spoken bridge talked about the singer's regret over being childless. This was one of the reasons for its success that year. It soon rose to the top of the Pop charts and Adult Contemporary charts that year. Her LP album I've Never Been to Me, released in 1982 proved to also be successful for Charlene. Her song was one of the biggest hits of the year and became a standard in Pop music. She released another song the next year, penned by the same songwriters responsible for "I've Never Been to Me," called "Used to Be", a duet song with Stevie Wonder, which didn't even make the Pop top 40; only reaching #46 on the Pop charts. Both records were listed as the third and fourth worst records of all time by Jimmy Guterman and Owen O'Donnell in their 1991 book, "The Worst Rock n Roll Records of All time." Charlene was never able to follow-up the success of her one big hit "I've Never Been to Me", but she continued to record and release songs to the public. She released another album in 1983, but was not so successful.
Because of her one big hit, Charlene became a one-hit-wonder in music. Charlene and her big hit "I've Never Been to Me" was featured on VH1's 100 Greatest One-hit Wonders show, hosted by William Shatner in 2002. Her position on that list was at #75.
In 2006, "I've Never Been to Me" was realeased as one of the songs on Sing Star Anthems, one of the popular Sing Star s.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Singles
| Year | Single | US Hot 100 | US A.C. | US Country | Album | |
| 1977 | "It Ain't Easy Comin' Down" | 97 | - | - | I've Never Been to Me | |
| 1977 | "I've Never Been to Me" | 97 | - | - | I've Never Been to Me | |
| 1982 | "I've Never Been to Me" (re-release) | 3 | 7 | 60 | I've Never Been to Me | |
| 1982 | "Used to Be" (with Stevie Wonder) | 46 | 31 | - | Used to Be |
