Yvonne Fair (October 21, 1942 – March 6, 1994) was an African American singer, best known for her 1976 recording of "It Should Have Been Me".
Contents |
Born as Flora Yvonne Coleman in Richmond, Virginia, Fair got her start as a latter-day member of the re-formulated Chantels and the James Brown Revue.[1] While performing with Brown, she recorded the song "I Found You," which he later re-worked into his own signature hit "I Got You (I Feel Good)."
She signed to Motown Records in the early 1970s as a result of her work with Chuck Jackson and she appeared in a minor role as a chanteuse in the film, Lady Sings the Blues.[1] Fair then joined up with producer Norman Whitfield for a series of singles in a hard funk vein: "Love Ain't No Toy," "Walk Out the Door If You Wanna," and her cover version of "Funky Music Sho' 'Nuff Turns Me On."[1]. All these featured on her only album for Motown in 1975 called "The Bitch Is Black", which was re-released on cd for the first time more than 30 years later.
Her remake of the Kim Weston/Gladys Knight semi-standard "It Should Have Been Me" dented the lower end of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1976.[1]. The track proved a big hit in the UK where it climbed to number 5 in February 1976, her only UK hit record.[2] In addition, the song featured in a special episode of BBC TV programme The Vicar of Dibley, entitled "The Handsome Stranger", originally broadcast on 25 December 2006.
She was married to Sammy Strain, who was a member of both Little Anthony & The Imperials and The O'Jays.[3]
Yvonne Fair died, aged 51, from undisclosed causes, in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 6, 1994.
The Bitch Is Black (1975); reissued by Reel Music as CD (2009)
Releases on Tamla Motown (UK)