They continued their rise two years later with Three For Love, an album that would show them to not only be a great dance group ("Make That Move" and "Full of Fire"), but also developing ballad singers ("This Is For the Lover In You").Īfter distribution problems and an unsuccessful, quickly thrown together Go For It disc, the group return in top form with their first #1 Soul album, Friends, and the monster hit, "A Night To Remember." While on top of the world commercially, internal friction in the group threatened its continued existence. The reorganized Shalamar, working with hot young producer Leon Sylvers (who would architect the SOLAR sound for the Whispers, Dynasty, Lakeside and others) immediately scored with the dance cut "The Second Time Around" and the 1979 top five album Big Fun. The addition of Hewett was the missing ingredient to turn Shalamar from a faceless dance act to a real Soul group and, combined with the maturing of Watley into a fine vocalist, created the most popular and interesting lineup the group would ever have. Consisting of Jody Watley, Jeffrey Daniel and Gerald Brown, the new group scored a couple hits and had two moderately successful albums, Uptown Festival and Disco Gardens, before Brown was replaced by mellifluous singer Howard Hewett. When the song turned out to be a smash dance hit, a singing group of Soul Train dancers was put together as the face of Shalamar. When Soul Train host Don Cornelius and show A&R man Dick Griffey decided to create Soul Train Records - later called Sound of Los Angeles Records (or SOLAR, for short) - they debuted with a discofied Motown medley called "Uptown Festival" performed by a group of studio musicians and singers dubbed Shalamar. Shalamar began as a thrown-together producer's group and wound up one of the most popular and exciting vocal groups of the late 70s and early 80s. He is, without question, a legend in his own time. Roy Ayers has continued to write, produce andĬollaborate with many major artists, and isĬurrently one of the most sampled artistsĤ0 years in the music industry for Roy Ayers! Well-known work to come out of this period was It was during this period he formed the group Ubiquity.įor the next ten years, Roy Ayers produced what many Incorporate "wah wah" and "fuzz" tones on his vibes. Relationship with Polydor Records, where Roy began to The 1970s found Roy embarking upon a long and fruitful Time he made his debut LP "West Coast Vibes".
The 60s were his training ground in jazz, hooking up with Of age his parents presented him with a set of vibes.
He was brought up in a musical household and at 17 years