Booker Newberry III (January 19, 1956 – April 5, 2023) was an American singer and keyboardist, who was a member of the mid 1970s

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

groups Sweet Thunder ("Baby I Need Your Love Today"), and Impact, before pursuing a

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series * Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''S ...

career. He is probably best remembered for his 1983 hit "

Love Town "Love Town" is a solo (music), solo single (music), single co-written by Len Barry and Bobby Eli and released by the former Sweet Thunder and Impact (band), Impact member, Booker Newberry III in 1983. It was taken from the same-titled album release ...

Life and career

Newberry was born in

Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County, Ohio, Mahoning County. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of ...

, on January 19, 1956. He began his professional singing career in the group Mystic Nights around 1971. Moving to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

he became the lead singer of Sweet Thunder, which also included

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

John Aaron,

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

Rudell Alexander, and

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

Charles Buie. Signing with the Philly-based

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

WMOT Records WMOT (We Men of Talent) Records, an independent recording company in Philadelphia, produced a series of singles and albums in the "Philadelphia sound" soul tradition (see Philadelphia soul). The company was founded by Alan Rubens and Steve Bernstein ...

, the group's

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

, "Baby I Need Your Love Today" b/w "I Don't Care What You Say", stirred interest and was picked up for distribution by

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

based

Fantasy Records Fantasy Records is an American independent record label company founded by brothers Max and Sol Stanley Weiss in 1949. The early years of the company were dedicated to issuing recordings by jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, who was also one of its inves ...

. The group recorded three

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

s, ''Above the Clouds'' (1976), ''Sweet Thunder'' (1978), and ''Horizons'' (1979), the latter of which saw the

"I Leave You Stronger," go to #63 ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' R&B

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

in late 1979. Newberry joined another WMOT Records group, Impact, who was best known for the

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

"Give a Broken Heart a Break" and "Rainy Days Stormy Nights". Newberry signed with

Neil Bogart Neil E. Bogart (born Neil Scott Bogatz, February 3, 1943 – May 8, 1982) was an American record executive. He was the founder of Casablanca Records, which later became Casablanca Record and Filmworks. Life and career Born Neil Scott Bogatz in t ...

Casablanca Records Casablanca Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Republic Records. Under its founder Neil Bogart, Casablanca was most successful during the disco era of the mid to late 1970s. The label currently f ...

in 1983, and his

single "

" originally released on the Boardwalk label, was a Top 10 UK hit. The ''Love Town'' album was issued the same year. He has also recorded for

Malaco Records Malaco Records is an American independent record label based in Jackson, Mississippi, United States, that has been the home of various major blues and gospel acts, such as Johnnie Taylor, Bobby Bland, Mel Waiters, Z. Z. Hill, Denise LaSalle, La ...

and Omni Records. In 1986 he released the single "Take a Piece of Me". In 1991 he released "Bad Luck", his last single to date. He later recorded his second studio album entitled ''Power People'' in 1996. In 2005

Unidisc Music Unidisc Music is a Canadian independent record label. The label is known for releasing rare music, that was made between the mid-1960s and late 1980s. Genres include rock, electronic, funk, soul, hip hop, jazz, reggae, Latin, disco and a cappel ...

released the ''Love Town''

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

. It contained many previously unreleased songs recorded by Newberry in the 1980s. Newberry died on April 5, 2023, at the age of 67.

Discography

Albums

* ''Love Town'' (1983) * ''Power People'' (1996)

Singles

Compilations

* ''Love Town'' (2005)

References

External links

Booker Newberry III biography at AllMusic Booker may refer to: Places * Booker, Buckinghamshire, a hamlet in England * Booker, Texas, a town in the United States * RAF Booker, a Royal Air Force airfield from 1941 to 1963 People * Booker (name), a list of people with the surname or given ...

br>Booker Newberry Discography
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Newberry, Booker III 1956 births 2023 deaths American keyboardists African-American male singers American soul singers Musicians from Youngstown, Ohio