Marva Hicks (May 5, 1956 – September 16, 2022) – Ladies Of The Eighties (1980)
The unsung singer was a member of the short-lived group Eighties Ladies produced by Roy Ayers and Edwin Birdsong, who co-wrote their debut LP's title track.
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Marva Hicks was a soul/R&B singer and actor who released her first record in the late 70s and was a member of the short-lived, Roy Ayers-produced group the Eighties Ladies. She had a top-ten R&B hit in 1991 and later worked in Broadway productions and on television.
Born and raised in Petersburg, Virginia, Marva Denise Hicks went to Howard University in D.C. Hicks started out singing gospel, but by the late seventies had turned to secular R&B. One of her first recordings was as a backing vocalist on two tracks for former Blackbyrds guitarist Barney Blair Perry’s 1978 debut solo LP Nightlife, including its super funky title track.
Later that same year she released her debut single as a solo artist on Infinity Records (a short-lived MCA imprint launched in New York City in 1977 to give its Los Angeles-based parent company an East Coast presence, run by former Columbia executive Ron Alexenburg). “Looking Over My Shoulder” (1978) b/w “Here I Go Again” were both co-written by songwriters Bill Beard, Chet Fortune, and Nick Mann, and arranged by Clay Robinson, with production credited to Last Colony Presentations.
Hicks next joined the group Eighties Ladies, an all-female vocal group produced by Roy Ayers and Edwin Birdsong. Its other members were Denie Corbett, Susan Beaubian, Vivian Prince, and Sylvia Striplin.
They released only one phenomenal album on Ayers’ own label Uno Melodic Records in 1980 before disbanding.
But almost every cut was a winner, and Hicks’ vocals shone on the uplifting title track with a positive message “Ladies of the Eighties,” co-written by Birdsong and Ayers.
“Now is the time to combine our minds with truth, unity, knowledge, prosperity / Pass the information, and here's the invitation, to build our nation!”
Other highlights were the beautiful laid-back jam “He Is Mine Forever” and the funky jam “I Knew That Love,” both written by Ayers; plus the disco-funk cut “It's Easy to Move” and the sexy disco-funk rare groove classic “Turned On To You,” which Ayers and Birdsong co-wrote.
Hicks was also a featured vocalist on one of Ayers’ next projects, his 1981 album Africa, Center Of The World. Its stellar title track was written by Fela Kuti and produced by Ayers.
Another standout cut was the motivational anthem “I'll Just Keep Trying,” co-written by Ayers and James Bedford.
In 1984, Hicks was one of three vocalists (alongside Annie Jo Edwards and Diane Wilson) who sang on “Us Girls,” a track produced by Harry Belafonte and co-arranged by Carl Maultsby for the soundtrack to the big budget breakdancing film Beat Street. It was credited to Sharon Green, Lisa Counts, and Debbie D, the three artists who rapped on it and performed the track in the film.
That same year she sang on a single by the jazz-funk British group Cargo, the laid back jam “Do It,” released in 1984 on their Cargo Gold Productions label. It was co-produced and written by the group’s keyboardist Mike Carr.
Hicks released her debut solo LP in 1991 and went to #7 R&B with “Never Been in Love Before,” produced by Jimmy Scott. She was a backing vocalist from 1996-97 for Michael Jackson on his final solo tour, the HIStory World Tour.
She appeared on several television shows in the nineties and beyond, like Star Trek: Voyager and Babylon 5, and memorably performed the gospel song ”There's No Hiding Place Down Here” in the 1996 Babylon 5 episode “And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place.”
Hicks also had an award-winning acting career on Broadway, featured in shows including The Lion King and Motown: The Musical.
Happy Heavenly Birthday to the great Marva Hicks.
Further info:
“Theatre Life with Marva Hicks,” interview, Broadway World, February 7, 2020.
“Marva Hicks Dead: Actress in Broadway's Lion King,” obituary, The Hollywood Reporter, September 19, 2022.
“Singer and Broadway Alum Marva Hicks Passes Away at 66,” Playbill, September 20, 2022.
“Marva Hicks: The Broadway Genius Celebrities Loved To Work With,” The Root, September 25, 2022.
#soul #funk #disco #boogie #hiphop #RoyAyers #80sLadies #MarvaHicks