b. Evelyn King, 29th June 1960, Bronx, New York, U.S.A
Evelyn King was born in the Bronx in New York in 1960.
She was one member of a family of nine.
Her father was a singer and a member of the groups The Orioles and The Harptones, whilst her mother managed a group called Red Quality.
By 1970, her family had relocated to Philadelphia, where Evelyn grew into her teenage years, turning professional at the age of sixteen.
To supplement her income, Evelyn took a job at Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff's Sigma Sound Studio's, where she was taken under the wing of T Life, who represented that companies writing and production team.
T Life overheard her singing a rendition of Sam Cooke's 'A Change Is Gonna Come' and suggested to RCA that she record for that label.
The result of her initial recordings at the label came to fruition in the 1977 dancefloor smash 'Shame'.
That tune became a hit both sides of the Atlantic and the follow up album 'Smooth Talk' brought the popular soul stepper 'I Don't Know If It's Right'.
In 1979, she released the album 'Music Box', followed a year later by the album 'Call On Me'.
By 1981, Evelyn had re-emerged with the album 'I'm In Love', with the title track being highly popular in the U.K.
The song 'The Other Side Of Love' (from that set) has become a modern soul dancer in the new Millennium.
Evelyn attained more success in the following year, via a collaboration with the soul singer and songwriter, Kashif.
'Love Come Down' became an enormous hit both sides of the Atlantic along with the album track 'Back To Love', which became popular amongst soul purists.
Additionally, in 1982, Evelyn recorded a duet entitled 'Can We Be Friends' with Michael Wycoff on his album 'Love Conquers All'.
It was around this time that Evelyn dropped the 'Champagne' tag to her name.
Evelyn released several albums during the Eighties with some success, notably the ballad 'Kisses Don't Lie', taken from the 1988 album 'Flirt'.
In 1995, Evelyn released 'I'll Keep A Light On', an album released on Expansion Records, containing the popular dancer 'I Think About You'.
That album featured artistic input from the likes of Larry Graham, Jeff Lorber, Billy Preston and Paul Jackson Jr.
Evelyn King has remained a popular performer on the soul / dance music charts and still records sporadic sessions on smooth jazz albums.
Albums:
Smooth Talk (RCA Records 1977)
Music Box (RCA Records 1979)
Call On Me (RCA Records 1980)
I'm In Love (RCA Records 1981)
Get Loose (RCA Records 1982)
Face To Face (RCA Records 1983)
So Romantic (RCA Records 1984)
A Long Time Coming (RCA Records 1985)
Flirt (EMI Records 1988)
The Girl Next Door (EMI Records 1989)
I'll Keep A Light On (Expansion Records 1995)
Open Book (Thump Records 2008)
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