Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose was an American family
soul singing group, from
Dania Beach
Dania Beach (Dania until 1998) is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 31,723. It is part of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010 census ...
,
Florida, United States.
It was formed in 1970 and gained popularity in the early 1970s. It was composed of siblings
Carter,
Eddie, and Rose Cornelius, who were joined by their sister Billie Jo Cornelius in 1972.
Cleveland E. Barrett (a childhood friend), an original member of the group, was killed in a car accident before their chart success.
Group career
The group originally formed in the mid 60s with Eddie and Carter Cornelius as the Cornelius Brothers. After seeing a talent search ad in the paper, the duo auditioned for producer Bob Archibald who then signed them to his label.
Rose Cornelius had already appeared on ''
The Ed Sullivan Show'' in June 1967 and had been performing in Las Vegas and worldwide, touring in 1970 with a group called the Gospel Jazz Singers. She went home to Florida at her mother's request to help form the group.
The group hit the
pop
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Pop music, a musical genre Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop!, a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Albums
* ''Pop'' (G ...
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 1971 with the
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 ...
"
Treat Her Like a Lady" (
U.S. R&B Top 20,
''Billboard'' Hot 100 No. 3).
The record was
certified gold by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
on 2 August 1971.
The act succeeded again in 1972 with "
Too Late to Turn Back Now" (U.S. R&B No. 5, Hot 100 No. 2); both songs were
written by Eddie Cornelius.
This also sold over one million copies with a gold disc awarded in August 1972.
While the group failed to find any further success on the scale of their first two singles, two releases, "Don't Ever Be Lonely" and "I'm Never Gonna Be Alone Anymore" reached the Billboard Top 40.
Their final charting single was "Since I Found My Baby" in 1974, from their third and last album.
Their
records were all
produced
Producer or producers may refer to:
Occupations
*Producer (agriculture), a farm operator
*A stakeholder of economic production
*Film producer, supervises the making of films
**Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...
by Bob Archibald at the Music Factory in
Miami.
Break up and aftermath
The group disbanded in 1976 when Carter Cornelius joined a
Black Hebrew sect in
Miami and adopted the name Prince Gideon Israel.
He wrote, recorded, and mixed music and
videos
Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...
for that group the next 15 years.
He died of a
heart attack on November 7, 1991.
Eddie Cornelius
Eddie Lee Cornelius Jr. is a gospel singer, songwriter, speaker and author.
He was a songwriter and lead singer for Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose, The Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose, a 1970s soul R&B act. He wrote their biggest hits "Too Late ...
became a
born-again Christian
Born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelicalism, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is distinctly and sepa ...
and later an ordained
pastor who continued to sing, produce, and write music. In June 2020, he released a memoir titled ''It's Not Too Late To Turn Back Now (Back To The Open Arms Of God)''.
On January 19, 2001, the surviving members of the group filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
, ''Cornelius v. EMI Music, Inc.'', Case No. 2001-1350 CA-01, in the Miami Dade Circuit Court. The suit was dismissed
without prejudice three years later for want of prosecution, meaning that the plaintiffs did not actively pursue the case.
[Miami-Dade County Court Records Book 22623/ p. 544]
Discography
Albums
Singles
**N.B.: "Got to Testify (Love)" reached No. 15 on the US Dance chart.
References
External links
Eddie Cornelius interview with radio host Rob Schilling of The Schilling Show, April 18, 2011It's Not Too Late To Turn Back Now: Back To The Open Arms Of God
by Eddie Cornelius
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose
American soul musical groups
Musical groups established in 1970
Musical groups disestablished in 1976
Musical groups from Florida
United Artists Records artists