Jody Watley (born January 30, 1959) – Talk To Me (1981)
The multi-talented singer/songwriter co-wrote this dancefloor jam for Shalamar's Go For It LP, which should have been a big hit but was never released as a single.
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Jody Watley is a singer/songwriter, producer, dancer, style icon, radio host, and one of the former members of the legendary R&B group Shalamar.
Born in Chicago and raised in Los Angeles, her father was a radio evangelist who hosted a daily gospel show, and her mother sang in the church choir. Watley’s godfather was Jackie Wilson who brought her on stage for the first time when she was eight years old. At age 14 she started appearing as a dancer on Don Cornelius’ nationally syndicated TV show Soul Train.
She and Jeffrey Daniel became popular dancers on the show, and in 1977 were hand-picked by Don Cornelius to become part of the vocal group Shalamar alongside original lead singer Gary Mumford. “Jeffrey and Jody were two of the most interesting people on the show,” Cornelius said in a 1979 Jet interview. “We thought they would fit in the image we wanted to create for Shalamar. It's just lucky they could sing.”
See our earlier posts on Shalamar’s 1979 mega-hit “The Second Time Around” for more on the group’s history and on Soul Train’s debut episode for background on Cornelius and the show’s cultural impact.
Mumford left before long and was replaced by Gerald Brown. He appeared on their second album Disco Gardens (1978), co-produced by SOLAR Records founder Dick Griffey and Leon Sylvers III.
The LP’s single “Take That To The Bank” hit #11 R&B. The title track was a straight-up funk workout, written by Jeffrey Daniel (“That’s where the best funk goes!”). Its very funky opening cut “Tossing, Turning and Swinging” was co-written by four Sylvers brothers, Ricky, Edmund, James, and Leon Sylvers III.
Brown left the group after a short time because he felt he wasn’t being paid enough. He was replaced by Howard Hewett in early 1979, who took part in the recording sessions for their Big Fun album which dropped later that year. It was the first of five Shalamar albums to be solely produced by Leon Sylvers III, who briefly married Watley in the early eighties.
The first song Watley co-wrote for Shalamar was the superb jam “Full of Fire,” the opening cut to their 1980 Three For Love LP. Watley co-wrote it with two members of their SOLAR labelmates Dynasty, guitarist Richard Randolph and William Shelby, one of that group’s two keyboardists. It was released as the album’s lead single, but only hit #24 R&B and #55 on the Billboard Hot 100.
For their next album Go For It, released in August, 1981, Watley and songwriter Glen Barbee co-wrote the stellar disco-funk cut “Talk To Me.” It was never issued as a single, although it should have been. At the time, SOLAR Records was switching its distribution from RCA to Elektra, and Go For It was the final Shalamar album owed to RCA. As a result, the LP wasn’t promoted properly, and its cover art was terrible.
The lyrics to “Talk To Me” were a master class in relationships that begin on the dancefloor, or any kind of love affairs that end up on the rocks.
“Communication…is the key. Stop your avoiding, come talk to me. Girl lemme tell ya how I feel…I’m crazy ‘bout you, how’s my appeal?”
Their next album Friends was recorded simultaneously with Go For It during 1981, and in early 1982 became their first release distributed by Elektra. Its biggest single was their #8 R&B classic “A Night To Remember,” but its lead single was the lesser known love anthem “I Can Make You Feel Good” which landed at #33 R&B. It was co-written by Hewett, William Shelby, and songwriter Renwick Jackson.
Reflecting on their overall career gives a new perspective to Don Cornelius’ 1979 comment that it was “lucky they (Watley and Daniels) could sing” when the two dancers were picked to join Shalamar. It was lucky for the world that Watley was such a natural born all-around talent, because without her presence the group would never have scaled the heights they did and been able to bless us with so much great music.
After Watley and Daniel left Shalamar in 1983, she moved to the UK and stayed for two and a half years. She was featured as a guest vocalist on Musical Youth’s second album Different Style!, recorded with the musicians who later formed Art of Noise, and was one of the artists who came together as Band Aid to record “Do They Know It's Christmas?,” the 1984 single spearheaded by Bob Geldof that raised money to to fight the famine then raging in Ethiopia.
When she returned to the U.S., Watley signed with MCA Records. Her boyfriend André Cymone, Prince’s former bassist, produced her self-titled debut solo album. Released in 1987, it was a huge success, powered by its lead single “Looking For a New Love” which she and Cymone co-wrote and took to #1 R&B and #2 on the Hot 100. Jody Watley hit #1 on the R&B album charts and #10 on the Billboard 200 on its way to going platinum with over two million copies sold in the U.S. and four million worldwide.
Cymone and Watley eventually got married, and he also produced her next three albums. Her second LP Larger Than Life (1989) featured the single “Real Life,” which hit #1 R&B and on dance charts, and peaked at #2 on the Hot 100. Future acclaimed film director David Fincher directed the video for “Real Life,” which later that year was nominated for a total of six MTV Video Music Awards.
In 1998, superstar producers “Little Louie” Vega and Kenny “Dope” Gonzalez (aka Masters At Work) remixed her single “Off The Hook,” a #1 club hit. Two years later, they again collaborated with her on the laid back jam “I Love To Love,” which she co-wrote, featuring Josh Milan on organ and Roy Ayers on vibes.
Happy 65th Birthday to the fabulous Jody Watley.
Further info:
“Jody Watley: Pop's Fashonista Godmother,” interview, Ebony Magazine, April 16, 2012.
“Pop singer Jody Watley looks for a new groove,” Washington Post, July 18, 2013.
“Jody Watley… the Gold Standard of Artistry,” Los Angeles Sentinel, September 29, 2022.
“Jody Watley Gets Into 'The Groove' with New SiriusXM Show,” Billboard, March 17, 2023.
#soul #funk #disco #SoulTrain #LeonSylversIII #Shalamar #JodyWatley