Song:Got To Be Real
Album:The Real Thing
The most interesting thing about Cheryl Lynn is she was discovered on Chuck Barris' 70s talent show spoof The Gong Show. Got To Be Real was her biggest pop hit in 1979 but she was a regular on the R & B and dance charts in the 80s. She was born Lynda Cheryl Smith Mar. 11, 1957 in Los Angeles and grew up singing in church. Her first professional job was as a backup vocalist in the 1976 touring cast of the Broadway show The Wiz. Before she went on tour, she performed You Are So Beautiful on The Gong Show and won that episode. For those too young to know, The Gong Show was hosted and produced by game show producer Chuck Barris. For the most part, the show was one big inside joke and a lot of performers were deliberately bad. But after Cheryl Lynn performed on The Gong Show, record companies were falling over each other trying to sign her. She was still on tour with The Wiz. Eventually she signed with Columbia Records. They assigned veteran producer and arranger Marty Paich and his son David Paich of Toto to work with her. You probably first heard Cheryl singing backup vocals on the 1978 Toto hit Georgy Porgy. Got To Be Real was her first single and it topped the R & B Singles chart and reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100. Cheryl wrote the song with David Paich and David Foster. Cheryl continued to have success on the R & B and dance charts in the 80s with songs like Shake It Up Tonight and Encore. But Got To Be Real was her only big pop hit. You can get all her hits on this budget comp. Cheryl Lynn left Columbia in 1985 and recorded for the EMI labels Manhattan and Virgin. After that she turned to session work and still does that today. She also tours occasionally. But other than a 1995 album that was released only in Japan and the the song Sweet Kind Of Life from the 2004 film Shark Tale, she hasn't recorded. Here's Cheryl Lynn performing Got To Be Real on Soul Train 1979.
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