Shalamar

Fact Sheet

Musical genre:

Shalamar was a musical group of the 1970s that was originally a disco-driven vehicle created by Soul Train booking agent Dick Griffey. Their first hit was the 1977 Motown production "Uptown Festival", whose success inpired Griffey to replace his sessioneers with vocalists Jody Watley, Jeffrey Daniels, and Howard Hewett (the latter replacing short-time member Geralt Brown) in 1978.

The group had further hits stateside with 1979's "The Second Time Around" and in the UK with 1982's "I Can Make You Feel Good", "A Night To Remember", and "There It Is". The group took a knock when Watley and Daniels left in 1983 but, with Delisa Davis and Micki Free, Shalamar returned to the US Top 20 in 1984 with "Dancing In The Sheets" from Footloose and won a Grammy for "Don't Get Stopped In Beverley Hills" from Beverley Hills Cop in 198. But when Hewett left in 1986 and was replaced by Sydney Justin, the band faded into obscurity.

The most successful of the classic trio was Watley, who--with former Prince sidekick Andre Cymone--made classy solo albums and found success with her own singles, which included 1987's "Looking For A New Love", 1989's "Friends", and 1994's "When A Man Loves A Woman". She rejoined with Hewett and Daniels, plus LL Cool J, on Babyface's 1996 single "For The Lover In You"--a revamp of a song from Shalamar's 1981 Three For Love

The group scored a total of three gold albums in America during its heyday.

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