b. Leata Galloway, b. 7th December 1950, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
Leata Galloway was born in Brooklyn in December 1950.
A young Leata was raised in Harlem.
During her early years Leata and her family listened to music ranging from Nancy Wilson to Nat King Cole, amongst others, which provided her with her musical roots.
She found her first success as an original cast member of the Broadway production of 'Hair'.
After two and a half years, she relocated to other Broadway musicals including 'Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope', and 'Golden Boy'.
Leata then moved to Los Angeles where she earned some positive reviews for her performance in 'Sophisticated Ladies.'
This led to several television guest appearances on 'The Tonight Show' and 'The Merv Griffin Show'.
Leata appeared in the movie version of 'Hair' and is featured singing a her version of 'Electric Blues'.
She also acted and sang two songs in the movie 'Cotton Comes To Harlem.'
In the recording studio, Leata recorded her first, self titled, album for the Ariola label.
leata - 1981 / the naked truth - 1988 / a sophisticated lady - 1990 / tenderly - 2011
Leata relocated to the Columbia label for 'The Naked Truth'.
The album contained her version of the Bacharach / David evergreen, 'You'll Never Get To Heaven If You Break My Heart', highly popular in the U.K.
One furtherl album, entitled 'A Sophisticated Lady' saw a release in the early Nineties.
In 2011, she released the album 'Tenderly' on her own imprint.
Leata never really focused on a career in show business, as she puts it, 'I was constantly running up to the Apollo Theatre to catch all the acts performing there.'
Albums:
Leata (Ariola Records 1983)
The Naked Truth (Columbia Records 1988)
A Sophisticated Lady (Japanese Records 1990)
Leata Galloway (Leata Galloway 2011)
