Kathy Sledge (born January 6, 1959) – If You Really Want Me (1981)
Co-written and produced by the Sister Sledge lead singer and Narada Michael Walden, this superb dancefloor jam was the third single off their All American Girls LP.
View most updated version of this post on Substack
Search our full archives
Kathy Sledge is the youngest member of Sister Sledge, the vocal group of four sisters who shot to fame during the disco era. She sang lead on their biggest hits “We Are Family” and “He’s The Greatest Dancer.”
See our earlier post on Joni Sledge (September 13, 1956 – March 10, 2017) for more on Sister Sledge’s musical history.
From the start, Kathy was the group’s primary lead singer. When Sister Sledge visited the UK in 1975, as part of the Atlantic Soul package tour with The Spinners, Ben E. King and the Jimmy Castor Bunch, she sang lead on a very funky cover of Bill Withers’ classic “Who Is She And What Is She To You.” It was filmed at the Hammersmith Odeon, in London on April 17, 1975, and broadcast on the BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test the following month.
The first song Kathy wrote for Sister Sledge was the gospel-flavored “Love Has Found Me,” which she co-wrote with songwriter Don Freeman. It was released in 1975 on ATCO Records as the A-side to their phenomenal jam “Love Ain’t Easy,” co-written by Joni. Both sides were arranged and conducted by Bert DeCoteaux, who co-produced them with former Main Ingredient member Tony Silvester. Earlier that year the two had also co-produced Sister Sledge's debut album Circle Of Love.
For their second LP Together (1977), Kathy co-wrote another song with Freeman, the aptly-titled funky jam “Do The Funky Do.” Produced by Sylvester Levay and Michael Kunze, who previously produced Silver Convention, the album’s biggest hit “Blockbuster Boy” only reached #61 R&B.
Disappointment with the LP’s performance led the sisters and their label to enlist Chic co-founders Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards to produce their next album. It was the first time the duo had written and produced for another artist. Rodgers and Edwards wrote all the songs for We Are Family without having met the sisters. They had an extended conversation one day with Atlantic president Jerry Greenberg, and as Rodgers recalled in Peter Shapiro’s book Turn The Beat Around:
“Everything he said about them gave us a picture of them. You've got to remember, we never even met them. … All of the content on that record came from that one day with the president.”
Released on January 22, 1979, the album was massively successful. Kathy was 19 at the time and sang lead on its first single “He's the Greatest Dancer,” which went to #1 both the dance and R&B charts. It became their first top-ten hit, peaking at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“He's the Greatest Dancer” would probably have charted even higher, but that spring the album’s title track was released as its second single after first becoming a massive hit in the discos. “We Are Family” went to #1 on the R&B and dance charts, and reached #2 on the Hot 100, behind only Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff.” Kathy also sang lead on “We Are Family,” recording her vocals in one take. It became the group’s signature hit and one of the most iconic songs of the disco era.
After the runaway success of We Are Family, Rodgers and Edwards returned to write and produce their follow up album, Love Somebody Today (1980). It was released on March 16, 1980, when the racist, homophobic anti-disco backlash was in full swing in the United States. As a result, the album’s stellar title track lead single “Got To Love Somebody” with Kathy on lead only hit #64 on the Hot 100 despite reaching #6 R&B, after being issued in December, 1979.
The LP’s next single, the superb cut “Reach Your Peak” featured Joni on lead and was released in March, 1980 when the album hit stores. It did even worse on the charts at #21 R&B and bubbling under at #101 on the Hot 100.
For their next album All American Girls (1981), Sister Sledge switched producers and collaborated with Narada Michael Walden. They co-produced the LP and Kathy and Joni separately co-wrote five of its ten songs. Along with Walden and songwriter Gary Cooke, Kathy co-wrote the upbeat cut “Happy Feeling,” featuring a rare lead vocal by Debbie. Together with her future husband Phillip Lightfoot, Kathy co-wrote the stellar jam “Music Makes Me Feel Good” and sang lead on it.
She also sang lead on what was arguably the album’s masterpiece, the upbeat dancefloor jam “If You Really Want Me” which she and Walden co-wrote.
Happy 65th Birthday to the great Kathy Sledge.
Further info:
“About Kathy Sledge,” bio, KathySledge.com.
“Finding the Light: An Interview with Kathy Sledge,” PopMatters.com, August 7, 2020.
“Kathy Sledge's career has always been a family affair,” Philadelphia Tribune, August 30, 2022.
“Kathy Sledge has learned what ‘We are Family’ really means,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 2, 2022.
#soul #funk #disco #KathySledge