George Warren McCrae Jr. (born October 19, 1944)
is an American
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 ...
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 most famous for his 1974 hit "
Rock Your Baby
"Rock Your Baby" is the debut single by George McCrae. Written and produced by Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch of KC and the Sunshine Band, "Rock Your Baby" was one of the landmark recordings of early disco music. A massive international ...
".
Biography and career
McCrae was the second of nine children, born in
West Palm Beach
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...
,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
.
He formed his own singing group, the Jivin' Jets, before joining the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
in 1963.
He married
Gwen McCrae
Gwen McCrae ( Mosley, December 21, 1943) is an American singer, best known for her 1975 hit " Rockin' Chair".
Life and career 1960s–1970s
Gwen was the youngest of five children, She began performing in local clubs as a teenager, and singing ...
(née Mosley) in 1963.
Four years later, he re-formed the group, with his wife Gwen joining the lineup, but soon afterwards they decided to work as a duo, recording for
Henry Stone
Henry Stone (June 3, 1921 – August 7, 2014), born Henry David Epstein, was an American record company executive and producer whose career spanned the era from R&B in the early 1950s through the disco boom of the 1970s to the 2010s. He was bes ...
's Alston record label. Gwen then won a solo contract, with George acting as her manager as well as doing some singing on sessions and in clubs in
Palm Beach.
He was about to return to college to study law enforcement, when
Richard Finch and
Harry Wayne Casey
Harry Wayne Casey (born January 31, 1951), better known by his stage name KC, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his band, KC and the Sunshine Band, as a producer of several hits for other art ...
of
KC and the Sunshine Band
KC and the Sunshine Band is an American disco and funk band that was founded in 1973 in Hialeah, Florida. Their best-known songs include the hits "That's the Way (I Like It)", "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty", "I'm Your Boogie Man", "K ...
invited him to sing the lyrics for a song that they had recorded for the band, but could not reach the high notes that were required for the song. The original intention was that Gwen, his wife, should record it, but she was late for the session and George recorded alone.
[ It suited his high-pitched voice to the extent that the song, "Rock Your Baby", became one of the first hits of the disco era in 1974, selling an estimated eleven million copies worldwide,] topping
Topping may refer to:
* Hill-topping, a mate-acquisition strategy amongst insects
* Topping, slang term for capital punishment, especially hanging or beheading
* Topping (surname), the name of several people
* Topping (agriculture), a practice us ...
the charts
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 tabul ...
in the U.S. and the UK. The song was so successful that ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' magazine
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
voted it the No. 1 song of the year in 1974. McCrae received a Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
nomination for Best Male R&B Vocalist the following year.
Two further 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 ...
releases, "I Can't Leave You Alone" and "It's Been So Long" also reached 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 ...
Top 10. He recorded several further albums for TK, including ''George McCrae'' (1975) and ''Diamond Touch'' (1976), and also continued to record with, and manage, his wife until their divorce in 1976. They had two daughters together, Sophia and Leah.
While he continued to record albums including ''We Did It!'' and his second self-titled album ''George McCrae'' (both 1978), his commercial popularity slipped as the decade progressed. He married a second time, moved to Canada, and entered a period of semi-retirement, leaving TK at the end of the 1970s. With his second wife, he had another daughter, Jennifer McCray.
He returned with the album ''One Step Closer to Love'' in 1984, the title track from which entered the charts in the United Kingdom, Canada and the Netherlands. In 1988, he had a daughter, Marcella, with his then-girlfriend, Rosanna Molignini. He moved to the village Munstergeleen
Munstergeleen (; li, Munstergelaen ) is a village in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is located in the municipality of Sittard-Geleen, and it lies in the Western Mine Region (''Westelijke Mijnstreek'' in Dutch).
History
No one knows exactly ho ...
in the Netherlands
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, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and remarried again, to Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
model Yvonne Bergsma, in 1989. They have a son, Shaka.
His later albums found some success in Europe, and he continued to perform regularly there. By the 2000s, he shared his time between homes in Florida, Aruba
Aruba ( , , ), officially the Country of Aruba ( nl, Land Aruba; pap, Pais Aruba) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands physically located in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about north of the Venezuela peninsula of ...
, and the Netherlands. In 2016 George McCrae released a new concept album called LOVE that was produced by the Dutch producer / composer Roger Heijster. The album was recorded without sequencing using only vintage instruments. Leah and Sophia McCrae, George's two daughters from his first marriage to Gwen McCrae, provide the backing vocals for this album. The album was album of the week in Germany and the single "Sexy Woman" was #1 in Mallorca. In December 2017, McCrae performed on the BBC's ''Hootenanny
A hootenanny is a party involving music in the United States. It is particularly associated with folk music.
Etymology Placeholder
Hootenanny is an Appalachian colloquialism that was used in the early twentieth century U.S. as a placeholder nam ...
'' show hosted by Jools Holland
Julian Miles Holland, (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Jayne County, Sting, Eric C ...
.
Discography
Albums
Singles
See also
* List of soul musicians
This is a list of soul musicians who have either been influential within the genre, or have had a considerable amount of fame. Bands are listed by the first letter in their name (not including the words "a", "an", or "the"), and individuals are l ...
* 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 artists who reached number one in the United States
This is a list of recording artists who have reached number one on '' Billboard'' magazine's weekly singles chart(s). This list spans from the issue dated January 1, 1955 to the present. Prior to the creation of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, ''Bil ...
* 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 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 Ch ...
* List of artists who reached number one on the Billboard R&B chart
* List of Epic Records artists
The following acts currently record for Epic Records. An asterisk (*) after the artist's name denotes that the artist no longer records for Epic.
__NOTOC__ 0–9
* 220 Volt
* 3LW
* 3T (MJJ Music/550 Music/Epic)
* 21 Lil Harold (Slaughter Gang ...
Notes
References
External links
Home page
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCrae, George
1944 births
Living people
20th-century African-American male singers
American soul singers
People from West Palm Beach, Florida
Musicians from Miami
Jay Boy artists
American expatriates in the Netherlands
21st-century African-American people