Song:Real Love
Album:20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of Jody Watley
After she left Shalamar, Jody Watley had solo success in the late 80s. She had six top ten pop hits with Real Love and Lookin' For A New Love almost tied as the biggest hit. She was born Jan. 30, 1959 in Chicago and she grew up in Los Angeles. Jackie Wilson was her godfather and at the age of eight she appeared on stage with him. She was a Soul Train dancer at age 14. Jody was one of the most popular dancers on the show. Ebony wrote about her in 1977. When Soul Train creator and host Don Cornelius started Solar Records with Dick Griffey, Jody and fellow Soul Train dancer Jeffrey Daniel were made part of the trio Shalamar. Howard Hewett was lead singer. After some success, Jody left Shalamar in 1983 mostly over money. But I also think Jody wanted to be more than a backup singer. She moved to England and recorded with Musical Youth, Art of Noise and she released a couple of singles on Phonogram as Jody. She also appeared on Bob Geldof's charity single Do They Know It's Christmas?. She returned to the US in 1986 and signed with MCA Records. And it was around this time that she met and married Andre Cymone. Cymone is from Minneapolis and he toured with Prince before recording three unsuccessful solo albums for Columbia in the early 80s. He turned to producing acts like Evelyn "Champagne" King and James Ingram. But he had his greatest success writing and producing with Jody. The first single Lookin' For A New Love reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The 1987 album Jody Watley was certified Platinum. Real Love was the first single from the 1988 album Larger Than Life. It also reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Lookin' For A New Love did better internationally so it's marginally a bigger hit. Jody and Cymone wrote and produced both albums. He plays the piano solo on Real Love. Jody won the 1988 Best New Artist Grammy. The two wrote and produced all four of Jody's MCA albums. This comp covers those years. Jody left MCA in 1995 and the marriage went sour. Cymone always wanted the marriage to be secret so he could have girlfriends on the side. Since then Jody has recorded mostly for her own label. In 2014 she formed Shalamar Reloaded which is now called Jody Watley & SRL to avoid confusion. They have released a couple of singles and they tour. But in the late 80s, Jody Watley and Andre Cymone were a hot ticket. Here's the video for Real Love by Jody Watley.
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