Shannon (singer)
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Shannon was also an alias used by singer Marty Wilde.
Shannon (born May 12, 1958 as Brenda Shannon Greene in Washington D.C.), is well known for her 1983 smash dance/freestyle record, "Let The Music Play". The record redefined the electro funk sound that Arthur Baker and John Rocca (who produced "I.O.U" by Freeez and "One More Shot/Get Wet" by C-Bank) developed in 1982.
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[edit] Before Music Career
In the summer of 1983 a young African American woman named Brenda Shannon Greene was enrolled in York College and toured with the New York Jazz Ensemble while she heard that Mark Liggett and Chris Barbosa were looking for a singer to lay the vocals to the track "Fire and Ice", which was renamed Let The Music Play. She auditioned for the song and thanked the duo for their interest.
[edit] Music Career
In October 1983, the single was released without her knowledge. Shannon was invited back to lay out more songs for Liggett and Barbosa. Barbosa, a Puerto Rican from New York was considered the founder of Freestyle music. "Let The Music Play" is well known as the first freestyle track, with a heavy syncopated drum sound with Latin American rhythms that wasn't so electro as the sound the year prior. The single's success led to the number eight position on the Billboard Hot 100 and took over the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. Today the song is well-regarded as both a pop classic and one of the most influential dance records of all time. Her follow up single in 1984 was "Give Me Tonight," a record that charted poorly by comparison on the Billboard Hot 100, but received the same wild enthusiasm in the clubs as its predecessor and also hit the top spot on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. It also gained Urban radio airplay. That same year she released her debut album Let The Music Play. It was considered the first Freestyle album in history, and featured another club hit with "My Heart's Divided." Shannon appeared on many television shows such as Soul Train, Solid Gold, Video Soul, among others.
In 1985 Shannon released her sophomore album Do You Wanna Get Away, with a sound similar to her previous album. The title track was her final single to make the Billboard Hot 100. However, the single was embraced by the club/dance music community and then club chart-topper. It was also her last Freestyle record of the decade. She scored three more Dance music hits but by 1986 her third album, Love Goes All The Way, did not bring the same success as previous efforts - although her records received heavy airplay on Hot 97 in New York back when it was mainly played Club/Dance music. She opted out of her recording contract in 1987 and returned to college to pursue her degree in Theatre Arts.
[edit] The 1990s
In the late 1990s, interest was rekindled in Shannon, partly due to VH1's spotlight on her for their One Hit Wonders series. There were several covers of "Let the Music Play", and she began scoring club hits through Sash! and Todd Terry. In 1998, she sang on the track Take a Little Time by Les Rythmes Digitales.[1]
[edit] 2000 To Present
In the year 2000, Shannon released her fourth studio album, The Best Is Yet To Come, her first album in fifteen years. Chris Barbosa was invited back as a producer and updated her 1980s hits with a similar sound. Many notable producers, including Andy Panda and Tony Moran were featured on the new album. An updated "Give Me Tonight" from the set made the song a colossal club hit again when released as a single (while its follow-up, an update of "Let The Music Play," though still a hit, interestingly proved to be less popular - a role reversal of when she debuted with the songs in the 80's).
Shannon returned to the theatre business in 2003 and released a Greatest Hits album in November of 2004.
On April 20, 2006 Shannon participated in the Freestyle Extranvaganza concert along with fellow Freestyle acts like Judy Torres (often referred to as the Queen of Freestyle), George Lamond, Cynthia, Lisette Melendez, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, the Cover Girls, Hanson and Davis, Coro, Stevie B. and more. The event was sponsored by WKTU, WSKQ, and WCAA in New York.
In January 2007 Shannon released a new album called "A Beauty Returns".
[edit] Singles
| Title (Year) | Position US Charts |
Position UK Charts |
Position R&B Charts |
Position Dance Charts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Let the Music Play" (1983) | #8 | #14 | #2 | #1 |
| "Give Me Tonight" (1984) | #46 | #24 | #6 | #1 |
| "My Heart's Divided" (1984) | #3 | |||
| "Sweet Somebody" (1985) | #25 | |||
| "Do You Wanna Get Away?" (1985) | #49 | #13 | #1 | |
| "Stronger Together" (1985) | #26 | #25 | ||
| "Urgent" (1985) | #68 | |||
| "Love Goes All the Way" (1986) | ||||
| "Prove Me Right" (1986) | #82 | |||
| "It's Got To Be Love" (1995) | ||||
| "Do the Wrong Thing" * (1996) | ||||
| "It's Over Love" ** (1998) | #1 | |||
| "Move Mania" *** (1999) | #8 | #25 | ||
| "Give Me Tonight 2000" (2000) | #1 | |||
| "Let the Music Play 2000" (2000) | #32 |
*-"Do the Wrong Thing" with Afrika Bambaataa **-Todd Terry featuring Shannon ***-Sash! featuring Shannon
[edit] Albums
- 1984 Let The Music Play - Mirage/Atlantic Records
- 1985 Do You Wanna Get Away - Mirage/Atlantic Records
- 1986 Love Goes All The Way - Atlantic Records
- 1996 Essential Dancefloor Artists - Deep Beats
- 2000 The Best Is Yet To Come - Contagious Records
- 2004 Let The Music Play: The Best of Shannon - Shout Factory
- 2007 A Beauty Returns - Diggin4Brown
[edit] See also
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
