b. Rosie Gaines, Pittsburgh, California, U.S.A.
Born in Pittsburgh, Rosie Gaines was the youngest of 10 children.
Her first band was a family funk soul group called Unity.
The group featured Rosie on organ, her brother Carl on bass, her cousin Lacy on guitar, sister-in-law Dianne on background vocals and her sister Mal on drums.
Rosie later sang lead vocals with the San Francisco-based group Flash before signing to Epic as a solo artist in 1985.
Here she released 'Caring', including 'Wake Up' and 'Good Times', followed in 1987 by the Patrick Moten penned / produced single 'Crazy'.
This single was later withdrawn while her second album for Epic, entitled 'No Sweeter Love', was shelved.
As a songwriter she co-wrote 'You' on the Curtis Ohlson album 'So Fast', on which she also sang the title cut (1987)
A second Curtis Ohlson album, entitled 'Better Than Ever', enjoyed Rosie Gaines attention with her excellent vocals outstanding on 'A Thousand Years'.
In 1990 she toured as part of Prince's band.
She also sang backgrounds with Narada Michael Walden and Michael Jeffries, while in 1991 'Crazy' was issued in the UK for the first time on CBS compilation album 'Soul Souveniers'.
She continued releasing one off 12" singles including 'One More Night' in 1991 on the Gema label.
Later in 1991, the UK based About Time label released a three track EP containing one of Rosie Gaines finest moments in 'I Only Wanna Be In Your Arms'.
Rosie also released 'After The Rain' in 1993 for the same label with Kevin 'The Loveman' Nash.
In 1995, Gaines found success with her Motown album 'Closer Than Close'.
The title track was later remixed in the UK and became a major Top 10 hit.
In 1997, she released an album, entitled 'Arrival', that was solely for sale from her website, obviously irritated by the sizeable profits taken by the major labels.
'The whole reason I'm doing the Web site is so that I can artistically express myself in the way that I want to, and not get forced into a box,' said Rosie. 'I want to branch out and do different styles of music'.
The project was to have been originally entitled 'Honesty' but was later re-titled.
This album later became available from MP3.com.
Rosie Gaines is held in high regard, in the U.K., amongst the soul purists as a fine singer / songwriter in the same league as Brenda Russell, Roberta Flack etc.
As a typical twist in the career of this singer songwriter, Expansion Records, in the U.K., secured the rights to release the 'No Sweeter Love' album.
The album was released in 2000. A fine tribute to the late Patrick Moten.
Dome Records, in London, secured the rights to a new Rosie Gaines album entitled 'You Gave Me Freedom', which was released in 2004.
Albums:
Caring (Epic Records 1985)
No Sweeter Love (Epic BFE 40557 1987) Shelved - Patrick Moten Produced
Try Me (Dredlix Records 1994)
Closer Than Close (Motown Records 1995)
Arrival (www.rosiegaines.com Records 1995)
No Sweeter Love (Expansion Records 2000)
You Gave Me Freedom (Dome Records 2004)
Welcome To My World (SuSu Records 2006)
