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Jody Watley (born Chicago, Illinois on January 30, 1959) is an American pop singer, songwriter, producer.
To date, Jody Watley has sold over 20 million albums and singles worldwide. Along with Janet Jackson and Madonna, ranks as one of MTV Video Music Awards most nominated female artist ever, with ten nominations. She won the 1988 Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
She ranks at the #144 most successful R&B artist of all time according to Billboard Magazine.
Shalamar (The Early Years)
Watley got her start as a dancer on the hit TV show Soul Train at age fourteen. From 1977 to 1984, she was a singer in the R&B group Shalamar with Howard Hewett and Jeffrey Daniel. The group achieved a platinum-selling album, Friends, and the #1 R&B singles "A Night To Remember", "This Is For The Lover In You", and "The Second Time Around" in the U.S.; the group also scored numerous Top 10 hits on the UK charts. After several conflicts within the group, Watley left disillusioned. Post Shalamar, Jody took part in Bob Geldof's Band Aid alongside such stars as Sting, Bono from U2, George Michael. Their charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" helped raise millions of dollars for famine relief in Ethiopia.
1987 - 1989
Jody Watley
The album peaked at #10 on Billboard's Top 200 albums chart and spawned four more hits, "Don't You Want Me" (#6), "Still A Thrill" (#56), "Some Kind Of Lover" (#10) and "Most Of All" (#60). It sold over two million copies in the US and nearly five million copies worldwide.At the 30th Annual Grammy Awards, Watley was named Best New Artist, and was also nominated for Best R&B Vocal Performance - Female. That same year (1988), she was also nominated for four MTV Video Music Awards, three Soul Train Awards including Album of the Year and Single of the Year and an American Music Award.
Larger Than Life
Jody's second album, Larger Than Life, released on March 28 1989, solidified her as a pop icon in the music industry. The album sold over four million copies worldwide, and hit the Top 5 on the R&B Albums chart in America. The first single release, "Real Love", was a sizable hit that set a trend with its new style of bass-thumping dance. In America, it hit #1 on the R&B Singles chart, the Single Sales chart, and the Dance chart, while hitting #2 on the Pop chart; the single also went gold there for attaining sales of over 500,000 copies. The album contained two more Top 10 Pop, Dance and R&B hits: "Friends" (feauturing Eric B. & Rakim) and the ballad "Everything".During the summer of 1989, Watley's "Real Love" video, directed by David Fincher, was nominated for seven MTV Video Music Awards including Breakthrough Video, Best Art Direction, Best Dance Video, and Best Female Video at the 1989 award show. That record was held until Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson's video "Scream" received eleven VMA nominations in 1995. The next year, she was also nominated for two Soul Train Awards, an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Female Artist, and a Narm Award for Best Selling R&B Female Album. While riding high on her Larger Than Life World Tour, a remix album, You Wanna Dance with Me?, was released in October 1989 and hit gold in America.
Into the 90s
Dance To Fitness
In 1990, Watley released a million-selling home video, Dance To Fitness, a first for a black woman. Jody continued to be visible appearing in ad campaigns for GAP, and fashion layouts in such high profile magazines as Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Rolling Stone, and Essence. Jody Watley was also named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People of 1990. That year Watley broadened her musical horizons by contributing a jazzy rendition of "After You" to Red, Hot, & Blue, an AIDS-awareness charity recording by contemporary stars singing Cole Porter. The following year, Jody married long time producer André Cymone.Affairs Of The Heart
On December 17, 1991, Watley released her critically-acclaimed, yet commercially disappointing, third album, Affairs Of The Heart. The album peaked at #21 on the Billboard Top R&B albums chart (#124 on the Billboard Top 200), and sold less than 400,000 copies in the US. Watley claimed to have had only minor marketing and promotional support for her new sound and artistic vision. Although the lead off single, "I Want You," peaked at #5 on the R&B Singles Chart, it only managed to climb to #61 on the Hot 100 charts. The next single, "I'm The One You Need" fared better, peaking at #19 on the Hot 100. The album's final single, "It All Begins With You," which she was invited by President George H. W. Bush in 1992 to perform at the White House, failed to chart.Intimacy
On November 9, 1993 MCA released Jody's fourth solo album, Intimacy. The album only reached #38 on the Billboard Top R&B albums chart (#164 on Billboard Top 200), and sold approximately 250,000 copies in the US. Its two releases, "Your Love Keeps Working On Me" and the rap/hip-hop tune "When A Man Loves A Woman", achieved moderate success on the R&B and Dance singles charts; peaking at #26 R&B/#2 Dance, and #11 R&B/#16 Dance respectively. The Driza Bone Remix of "When A Man Loves A Man" also topped the dance charts in the U.K.Affection
After having parted ways with MCA Records, Jody took an independent and entrepreneurial path releasing her fifth solo album, Affection, on July 11, 1995 through her own Avitone Records label. The noted independent Bellmark Records distributed it. It sold approx. 143,000 copies, according to Soundscan and spent a few months on the Billboard R&B chart.Greatest Hits
In 1996, Jody's career hit an upswing. On February 13, MCA released a Greatest Hits package on Jody's recordings for the label. She then made history as the first African-American to play Rizzo in the hit Broadway musical Grease, and appeared in the Saks Fifth Avenue catalog.That fall, Watley scored a platinum-selling single as a guest vocalist on Babyface's "This Is For The Lover In You". The single, which also featured vocals from LL Cool J and Watley's former Shalamar groupmates Howard Hewitt and Jeffery Daniels, was a remake of Shalamar's Top 10 hit by the same name. Babyface's version peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, and #2 on the R&B Singles Chart. The song's video also received heavy rotation on MTV and BET. As the year wound to a close, Jody signed with Big Beat/Atlantic Records, and began working on what was to be her major label come-back.
The late 90s and the Millennium
Flower
After spending most of 1997 in the recording studio crafting her sixth studio album, Flower, Watley was back in early 1998 with its lead off singles "Off The Hook" and "If I'm Not In Love." In spite of both songs hitting #1 on the Billboard Dance Charts, and "Off The Hook" peaking at #23 on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart, both ultimately failed to make waves on the pop chart. Big Beat Records was absorbed into its parent label, Atlantic Records, which then shelved the album from a U.S. release after its first single 'Off The Hook' charted Top 40 R&B, and #1 on the Billboard Dance Singles Chart, and the follow up remix single of "If I'm Not in Love With You' also topped the Billboard Dance Chart.. Flower, however, was only released in Canada, Great Britain and Japan. The critically-acclaimed release was championed by many U.K. magazines, including Blues and Soul, and Echoes magazine among others.The Saturday Night Experience
In November 1999, Jody reactivated her independent label, Avitone, and released her seventh studio album The Saturday Night Experience. A collection of organic club music tracks, was released in Japan, where she was still a bankable artist. Meanwhile, Destiny's Child released a cover of Watley's Flower album track "Sweet Sixteen", on their multi-platinum The Writing's On The Wall. The next year, MCA released The Jody Watley Millennium Collection, a sort of leaner version of Watley's previous Greatest Hits album.Midnight Lounge
In 2001, Jody released her eighth studio album, Midnight Lounge in Europe and Japan. A collection of tracks that combined a blend of soul, jazz, R&B, and club music. After achieving moderate success in its original origins of release, Watley arranged for it to be released in the US through the independent label Shanachie Records on March 11, 2003. Midnight Lounge was Watley's first studio album released in the US in eight years, reaching Top 20 status on Billboard Top Dance Album chart, and her single "Whenever" hit No.19 on Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play Chart.In 2005, Jody made history on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play Chart, when she re-released her 1987 smash hit "Looking For A New Love", her 2005 remixes of the song hit No.1 on the Billboard Dance/Club Play chart for the 2nd time in 2005, making her the first artist ever to take the same song to No.1 in two different decades. *. The 2005 mixes of the single also became good sellers on iTunes.
Jody's new album, The Makeover is slated for release on August 8, 2006 on her own label, Avitone Records which is distributed by Shanachie Records. The 1st single/video is a remake of Madonna's "Borderline".
Discography
Albums
| Album | Chart Statistics | Singles |
|---|---|---|
| thumb | '.]]||
Singles
| Year | Title | Album | US | US Dance | US R&B | UK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | "Looking for A New Love" | Jody Watley | 2 | 1 | 1 | 13 |
| 1987 | "Still A Thrill" | Jody Watley | 56 | 8 | 3 | 77 |
| 1987 | "Don't You Want Me" | Jody Watley | 6 | 1 | 3 | 55 |
| 1988 | "Some Kind Of Lover" | Jody Watley | 10 | 1 | 3 | 81 |
| 1988 | "Most Of All" | Jody Watley | 60 | 8 | 11 | - |
| 1989 | "Real Love" | Larger Than Life | 2 | 1 | 1 | 31 |
| 1989 | "Friends" | Larger Than Life | 9 | 1 | 3 | 21 |
| 1989 | "Everything" | Larger Than Life | 4 | - | 3 | 74 |
| 1990 | "Precious Love" | Larger Than Life | 87 | - | 51 | 97 |
| 1991 | "I Want You" | Affairs Of The Heart | 61 | 17 | 5 | - |
| 1992 | "I'm The One You Need" | Affairs Of The Heart | 19 | 3 | 23 | 50 |
| 1992 | "It All Begins With You" | Affairs Of The Heart | - | - | 80 | - |
| 1993 | "Your Love Keeps Working On Me" | Intimacy | 100 | 2 | 23 | - |
| 1994 | "When A Man Loves A Woman" | Intimacy | 115 | 8 | 11 | 33 |
| 1995 | "Affection" | Affection | 118 | - | 28 | - |
| 1996 | "This Is For The Lover In You" | The Day by Babyface | 6 | - | 2 | 12 |
| 1998 | "Off The Hook" | Flower | 73 | 1 | 23 | 51 |
| 1998 | "If I'm Not In Love" | Flower | - | 2 | - | - |
| 2000 | "Another Chapter" | Saturday Night Experience | - | - | - | - |
| 2001 | "I Love To Love" * | Saturday Night Experience | - | - | - | - |
| 2003 | "Whenever" (Remixes) * | Midnight Lounge | - | 19 | - | - |
| 2005 | "Looking For A New Love" (2005 Mixes)" * | Looking For A New Love (05) | - | 1 | - | - |
Awards & nominations
| Year | Award |
|---|---|
| 1987 | Grammy Award win for Best New Artist |
| 1987 | Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Looking for a New Love" |
| 1988 | Soul Train Music Award nomination for Album of the Year (Female) for Jody Watley |
| 1988 | Soul Train Music Award nomination for Single of the Year (Female) for '"Looking for a New Love" |
| 1988 | Soul Train Music Award nomination for Best Music Video for '"Looking for a New Love" |
| 1988 | American Music Award nomination for Favorite Soul/R&B Single for "Looking For A New Love |
| 1988 | MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Female Video for "Some Kind of Lover" |
| 1988 | MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best New Artist for "Some Kind of Lover" |
| 1989 | Narm Award nomination for Best Selling R&B Female Album for Larger than Life |
| 1989 | MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Female Video for "Real Love" |
| 1989 | MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Dance Video for "Real Love" |
| 1989 | MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Direction for "Real Love" |
| 1989 | MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Art Direction for "Real Love" |
| 1989 | MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Editing for "Real Love" |
| 1989 | MTV Video Music Award nomination for Breakthrough Video for "Real Love" |
Personal life
Watley's father was a minister/disc jockey. Her brother John was her tour manager in 1996, and operates a vocal training and production company in Japan.Jody Watley in her own words 'BIO' - 2006 She has two children, Lauren and Arie, and was married to producer André Cymone.[http://www.soulmusic.com/EYS-JodyW.htm Soul Music: Jody Watley
References
See also
- List of best-selling music artists
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
External links
- Jody Watley's official site
- Jody Watley's @ IMDB
- Soul Express - Jody Watley on tour with Chris Standring & Jeff Lorber
- Jody Watley: MAD Jody Pages
- Jody Watley's My Space page
- Mervin's 10 Questions with award-winning singer/musician Jody Watley
1959 births | African-American singers | American female singers | Grammy Award winners | House musicians | Chicagoans | American dance musicians | Dance/Club music artists | American pop singers | American rhythm and blues singers | Rhythmic Top 40 acts | Living people
"Jody Watley"