b. Linda Clifford, 20th August 1948, New York City, New York, U.S.A.
Linda Clifford hails from New York and is a very fine vocalist.
As a child, Linda sang at the age of seven on a professional basis.
She made several appearances on several television variety shows during the early Fifties.
By the time she was 17, Linda won the Miss New York State beauty pageant.
In the 1960's, she began singing in several nightclubs, performing several musical styles.
Linda sang with the Jerico Jazz Singers and later toured the U.S. with her own jazz trio called 'Linda and the Trade Winds', before varying her musical stylings.
love is not the question - 1972 / (it's gonna be) a long, long winter b/w march across the land - 1974
In 1974, Linda recorded a single entitled, 'A Long, Long Winter', for Paramount Records (an afilliation of one of Curtis Mayfield's labels).
That track made the R & B charts.
A follow up record was recorded for the Gemigo imprint, an offshoot of Curtis Mayfield's Curtom label.
Linda relocated to Curtom by 1977 and recorded several songs, the most successful in the Disco genre.
linda - 1977 / if my friends could see me now - 1978 / here's my love - 1979 / let me be your woman - 1979
Her first album, 'Linda', and the subsequent single 'From Now On' were critically acclaimed but not cornrnercially successful.
In 1978, however, 'Runaway Love' reached number 3 in the U.S. R & B charts and featured background vocal contributions from the Jones Girls.
The album containing that tune, 'If My Friends Could See Me Now', became a chart success that year, with the title song reaching Top 50 in the U.K.
Linda then moved to the, Robert Stigwood owned, RSO Records in 1979.
Here she scored with a remake of Simon And Garfunkel's 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'.
The song became a U.K. Top 30 hit followed by two duets with Curtis Mayfield.
i'm yours - 1980 / i'll keep on loving you - 1982 / sneakin' out - 1984 / my heart's on fire - 1985
Linda continued to appear in the US R & B charts with Capitol Records and the small Red label imprint.
She, later, travelled to the U.K. to remake the Lamont Dozier song ' Going Back To My Roots' with the artist Chris Bangs during 2001.
The soul purists, in the U.K., will look to her rare soul song, 'Only The Angels Sing', as one of her finest moments.
Albums:
Linda (Curtom Records 1977)
If My Friends Could See Me Now (Curtom Records 1978)
Let Me Be Your Woman (RSO Records 1979)
Here's My Love (RSO Records 1979)
with Curtis Mayfield: The Right Combination (RSO 1 Records 1980)
I'm Yours (RSO Records 1980)
I'll Keep On Loving You (Capitol Records 1982)
Sneakin' Out (Red Label Records 1984)
My Heart's On Fire (Red Label Records 1985)
