Fern Kinney (born Fern Kinney-Lewis, July 11, 1949), is an American
R&B and
disco
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...
singer
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
, who is best remembered for her releases, "
Groove Me" and "
Together We Are Beautiful
"Together We Are Beautiful" is a popular song by Fern Kinney. Written by Ken Leray and produced by Carson Whitsett, Wolf Stephenson and Tommy Couch, "Together We Are Beautiful" was originally recorded by Ken Leray in 1977, while a 1979 version by ...
".
Career
Born in
Jackson
Jackson may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name
Places
Australia
* Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region
* Jackson North, Qu ...
,
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
, United States,
Kinney originally sang in
The Poppies with
Dorothy Moore
Dorothy Moore (born October 13, 1946) is an American blues, gospel, and R&B singer best known for her 1976 hit song, "Misty Blue".
Career
Moore's parents were Mary Moore and Melvin Hendrex Senior. Her father performed under the stage name Melv ...
.
In the early 1970s, she began working as a
session musician
Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...
and
backing vocalist
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...
. Among the songs she sang on were
King Floyd
King Floyd (February 13, 1945 – March 6, 2006) was a New Orleans soul singer and songwriter, best known for his top 10 hit from 1970, " Groove Me".
Early career
King Floyd III was born in New Orleans in 1945. His musical career started as a ...
's "
Groove Me", and her former "Poppie" bandmate Dorothy Moore's 1976 Top 10 single, "
Misty Blue
Misty may refer to:
Music
* ''Misty'' (Ray Stevens album), an album by Ray Stevens featuring the above song
* ''Misty'' (Richard "Groove" Holmes album), an album by Richard "Groove" Holmes featuring the above song
* ''Misty'' (Eddie "Lockjaw" ...
".
By 1979, then having settled as a housewife, Kinney decided to attempt a comeback, and she recorded her own
version
Version may refer to:
Computing
* Software version, a set of numbers that identify a unique evolution of a computer program
* VERSION (CONFIG.SYS directive), a configuration directive in FreeDOS
Music
* Cover version
* Dub version
* Remix
* ''Ve ...
of "Groove Me", but changed the rhythm on the song to turn it into a disco dance track. The song reached number 6 on the
''Billboard'' dance
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 ...
. Her next single "
Together We Are Beautiful
"Together We Are Beautiful" is a popular song by Fern Kinney. Written by Ken Leray and produced by Carson Whitsett, Wolf Stephenson and Tommy Couch, "Together We Are Beautiful" was originally recorded by Ken Leray in 1977, while a 1979 version by ...
", released in 1980 was another disco song, but with a slower and more sultry beat. It had been recorded by the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
vocalist
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
, Steve Allan, eighteen months earlier.
Kinney's effort failed to chart in the United States, but reached
number one
Number One most commonly refers to:
* 1 (number)
Number One, No. 1, or #1 may also refer to:
Music Albums
* ''Number 1'' (Big Bang album), and the title song
* ''No. 1'' (BoA album), and the title song
* ''No.1'' (EP), by CLC
* ''n.1 ...
in the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
.
Kinney's subsequent releases attempted to continue in the disco style, however by this time the disco fad had reached its peak and Kinney was unable to repeat her success.
By 1983, she had returned to her earlier career as a backing vocalist.
In 1994, Music Club released an album (MCCD 167) of Kinney's records called ''Chemistry The Best Of'' under the licence from
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 ...
, which contained 17 tracks.
Discography
Albums
*''Groove Me'' (1979) - AUS No. 86
*''Fern'' (1981)
*''Sweet Music'' (1982)
Compilation albums
*''Fern Kinney'' (1988)
*''Chemistry – The Best of Fern Kinney'' (1994)
Singles
See also
*
List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
This is a list of artists who have reached number one on the UK Singles Chart as recorded by the Official Charts Company.
Artists are listed alphabetically, solo artists are listed by surname and groups are listed by full names excluding "the" o ...
*
List of disco artists (F-K)
This is a list of artists primarily associated with the disco era of the 1970s and some of their most noteworthy disco hits. Numerous artists, not usually considered disco artists, implemented some of the styles and sounds of disco music, and are ...
*
List of number-one singles from the 1980s (UK)
The UK Singles Chart is the official record chart in the United Kingdom. Until 1983, it was compiled weekly by the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) on behalf of the British record industry with a two-week break each Christmas. The BMRB used ...
*
List of one-hit wonders on the UK Singles Chart
This is a list of artists who have achieved one number-one hit on the UK Singles Chart and no other entry on the chart. The list uses the strict ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles'' definition of "one-hit wonder", a term also commonly used ...
*
List of performers on Top of the Pops
__NOTOC__
This list of performers on ''Top of the Pops'' includes popular music recording artists and musical ensembles who have performed on ''Top of the Pops'', a weekly BBC television programme that featured artists from the UK Singles Char ...
*
List of people from Mississippi
This list contains people who were born or lived in the U.S. state of Mississippi.
Activists and advocates
* Ruby Bridges (born 1954), first African-American child to attend an all-white school in the South ( Tylertown)
* Will D. Campbell ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinney, Fern
1949 births
Living people
Musicians from Jackson, Mississippi
American women pop singers
American rhythm and blues singers
American disco musicians
21st-century American women