Song:Boogie Fever
Album:The Best Of The Sylvers
Of course The Sylvers are frequently compared to The Jacksons because they are also a family group. Nine of the ten Sylvers siblings were in The Sylvers. They had success on the R & B charts in the 70s and Boogie Fever was their only number one pop hit in 1976. The Sylvers were originally from Memphis but the family moved to Los Angeles in the early 60s. Generally, the oldest brother Leon Sylvers III was the group leader. He played bass and wrote a lot of the songs. Along with sisters Olan and Charmaine and brother James, they performed in LA as Little Angels. They appeared on TV and recorded a couple of singles. By 1970, Edmund and Ricky were added to the act. After winning a local talent contest, they signed with MGM Records and MGM President Mike Curb changed the group name to The Sylvers. They recorded three albums for MGM and though a couple of singles like Wish That I Could Talk To You did well on the R & B charts, The Sylvers didn't break through to the pop charts. By this time sisters Angie and Pat and youngest brother Foster were added to the group. Foster recorded a couple of solo albums for MGM and he was obviously supposed to remind you of Michael Jackson. In 1975, The Sylvers signed with Capitol Records and Capitol vice president Larkin Arnold hired producer Freddie Perren away from Motown. Of course Perren produced The Jackson 5. Arnold suggested that Perren record a song with the word boogie in it. Perren wrote Boogie Fever with partner Ken St. Lewis. Boogie Fever topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976. Legendary Motown bassist James Jamerson stole the bass line from The Beatles' Day Tripper. Their other top five hit was Hot Line in 1976. Charmaine left in 1976. For their 1977 album New Horizons, The Sylvers chose not to work with Perren and Leon took over as producer. The album didn't do well and when Capitol rejected the next album, they moved to Casablanca Records. Then Leon took a house producer position with the new label SOLAR Records owned by Soul Train host Don Cornelius. He had a lot of success there in the 80s. The Sylvers continued but recorded their final album for Geffen in 1984. You can get all their Capitol hits on this budget comp. Boogie Fever got a big boost when it appeared in the 2010 film Despicable Me. Leon Sylvers had a lot of success producing SOLAR Records acts in the 80s. After a dry spell, he worked with Blackstreet in the 90s and most recently produced N'Dambi's 2009 CD Pink Elephant. Edmund Sylvers died in 2004 but the others have done studio work over the years and they even appeared on the TV One reality show Unsung in 2011. Leon Sylvers announced plans to produce the next generation of The Sylvers featuring his son Leon Sylvers IV. Here's The Sylvers performing Boogie Fever on The Midnight Special 1976.
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