Formed 1977, René and Angela featured:
René Moore, b. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
and
Angela Winbush, b. 18th January 1955, St. Louis, Missourri, U.S.A.
René & Angela were a duo, featuring artist/producers René Moore and Angela Winbush.
Angela met René in 1980 and released a debut album the same year.
Angela was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and began singing in church.
Initially, she studied architecture at the Howard University, only performing to supplement her income.
In 1977, Angela decided to further her musical education, and recorded a demo song.
After circulating the song around various recording companies, a chance meeting with Wayne K. Garfield (a music businessman), the demo was heard by the disc jockey Gary Byrd ('The Crown' etc), who was acquainted with Stevie Wonder.
The connection led to Angela joining Stevie's backing group, Wonderlove.
Whilst in Los Angeles with Stevie, Angela met singer René Moore, and they began writing melodies together.
René Moore is the the brother of the Rufus member, Bobby Watson, and played with the Brothers Johnson in the Seventies.
Some of their early work involved Lenny Williams (on his 'Changes' album), sessions for Dolly Parton, Alton McClain and Destiny (on 'I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love', a song later covered by Stephanie Mills) and Lamont Dozier.
rene and angela - 1980 / wall to wall - 1981
The duo released their self-titled debut album 'René and Angela' in 1980 (featuring 'Free and Easy', 'Do You Really Love Me?' and 'I Don't Know Where Love Comes From').
This release was followed by 'Wall to Wall' in 1982 (featuring 'Secret Rendezvous' and 'Imaginary Playmate') and 'Rise' (featuring 'My First Love'), a year later in 1983.
The duo began to write and produce for other artists, as their reputation's grew.
They produced songs for Janet Jackson's 1982 self-titled debut album, 'Janet Jackson', and wrote 'I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love' for Stephanie Mills in 1985.
rise - 1983 / street called desire - 1985
Signing with Mercury Records in 1984, René and Angela released the album, 'A Street Called Desire' a year later, an album which featured the songs 'Save Your Love (For Number 1)' and 'Your Smile'.
After a several successful album releases, the couple went their seperate ways in 1986, and both went on to solo careers with varying degrees of success.
René Moore went on to write songs for Michael Jackson.
Angela was introduced to Ronald Isley, lead singer of the Isley Brothers, which led to the couple collaborating on the Isley's 'Smooth Sailin' album.
sharp - 1987 / the real thing - 1989 / angela winbush - 1994
Ronald began to manage Angela's career, helping her with her debut solo album, 'Sharp'.
The song 'Angel' became a hit, and was followed in 1989, with a second album release, 'It's the Real Thing'.
Ronald and Angela married in 1993, but were later to separate nearly a decade later.
In 2003, Angela was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer, however, following successful surgery and six months chemotherapy, the cancer was, thankfully, in remission.
She later performed at the funeral of Gerald LeVert in 2007.
destination love - 1990 / street songz - 2004
René Moore was nominated for two Grammys for song of the year and album of the year during his career.
He released a solo album, 'Street Songz' in 2004 for the Rufftown Entertainment imprint.
Albums:
As Rene and Angela:
Rene And Angela (Capitol Records 1980)
Wall to Wall (Capitol Records 1981)
Rise (Capitol Records 1983)
Street Called Desire (Mercury Records 1988)
A Street Called Desire And More (Polygram Records 1997)
Classic Masters (EMI Records 2002)
Solo: Angela Winbush:
Sharp (Mercury Records 1987)
It's The Real Thing (Mercury Records 1989)
Angela Winbush (Elektra Records 1994)
The Ultimate Collection (Hip-O Records 2001)
Greatest Love Songs (Hip-O Records 2003)
Solo: Rene Moore:
Destination Love (Polygram Records 1990)
Street Songz (Rufftown Entertainment Records 2004)
