Kim Weston (born December 20, 1939) 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 ...

singer, and

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

alumna Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

. In the 1960s, Weston scored hits with the songs "Love Me All the Way" and "

Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While) "Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)" is a song written by the premier Motown songwriting/production team of the 1960s Holland–Dozier–Holland. The first hit recording was sung by Kim Weston in 1965. It was most popular in 1975 when ...

", and with her duet with

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

, " It Takes Two".

Career

Born Agatha Nathalia Weston in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, United States, she was signed to Motown in 1961, scoring a minor

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

with "Love Me All the Way" (R&B No. 24, Pop #88). Weston's biggest solo hits with Motown were "

" (R&B No. 4, Pop No. 50, 1965, later covered by

the Isley Brothers The Isley Brothers ( ) are an American musical group originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, that began as a vocal trio consisting of brothers O'Kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley in the 1950s. With a career spanning over seven decades, ...

Blood, Sweat & Tears Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is a jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. In addition to original music, the group has performed popular songs by Laura Ny ...

Jermaine Jackson Jermaine La Jaune Jackson (born December 11, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and bassist. He is best known for being a member of the Jackson family. From 1964 to 1975, Jermaine was second vocalist after his brother Michael of The Jackson ...

the Doobie Brothers The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band formed in 1970 in San Jose, California, known for their flexibility in performing across numerous genres and their vocal harmonies. Active for five decades, with their greatest success in the 1970s, ...

and

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...

), and "Helpless" (R&B No. 13, Pop No. 56, entered Cashbox March 26, 1966, previously recorded by

The Four Tops ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

on their ''Second Album'' LP). Her biggest claim to fame was singing the classic hit " It Takes Two" with

in 1966, and her later recording of the Black National Anthem, "

Lift Every Voice and Sing "Lift Every Voice and Sing" is a hymn with lyrics by James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) and set to music by his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson (1873–1954). Written from the context of African Americans in the late 19th century, the hymn is a pray ...

". It was the success of "It Takes Two" that caused Motown to partner Gaye with

Tammi Terrell Tammi Terrell (born Thomasina Winifred Montgomery; April 29, 1945 – March 16, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter, widely known as a star singer for Motown Records during the 1960s, notably for a series of duets with singer Marvin Gaye. ...

, spawning even more success for the label. Weston left Motown in 1967, and later sued the label over disputes about

royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset o ...

. She and her then-husband

William "Mickey" Stevenson William "Mickey" Stevenson (born January 4, 1937) is an American former songwriter and record producer for the Motown group of labels from the early days of Berry Gordy's company until 1967. Life and career He was born William Stevenson and, a ...

(former A&R head at Motown) both went to

MGM Records MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...

. Weston cut a couple of singles for MGM, "I Got What You Need," and "Nobody," which went largely unnoticed due to lack of

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

and

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. She made an album for the label, ''This Is America,'' which included her popular version of the Black National Anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing". This was released as a single and featured in the movie, ''

Wattstax ''Wattstax'' was a benefit concert organized by Stax Records to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the 1965 riots in the African-American community of Watts, Los Angeles. The concert took place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on August 20, ...

''. All the money from the single was donated to the

United Negro College Fund UNCF, the United Negro College Fund, also known as the United Fund, is an American philanthropic organization that funds scholarships for black students and general scholarship funds for 37 private historically black colleges and universities. ...

. She recorded several more albums for various labels, Stax/Volt among them, and also made an album of

duet A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo ...

s with

Johnny Nash John Lester Nash Jr. (August 19, 1940October 6, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter, best known in the United States for his 1972 hit " I Can See Clearly Now". Primarily a reggae and pop singer, he was one of the first non-Jamaican artists ...

. None of these

recordings A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

charted, and Weston reportedly relocated to Israel, where she worked with young singers. Weston made a guest appearance on ''

The Bill Cosby Show ''The Bill Cosby Show'' is an American sitcom television series, that aired for two seasons on NBC's Sunday night schedule from 1969 until 1971, under the sponsorship of Procter & Gamble. There were 52 episodes made in the series. It marked Bill ...

'' (1969–1971), in episode No. 50 in March 1971. Along with many former Motown artists, she signed with

Ian Levine Ian Geoffrey Levine (born 22 June 1953) is a British songwriter, producer, and DJ. A moderniser of Northern soul music in the UK, and a developer of the style of Hi-NRG, he has written and produced records with sales totalling over 40 million. ...

Motorcity Records Motorcity Records is a British record label formed by producer Ian Levine in 1989. The label aimed to record new material with former Motown artists. History Levine, a Motown fan since his childhood in the 1960s, was offered a chance to recor ...

in the 1980s, releasing the single "Signal Your Intention", which peaked at No. 1 in the UK Hi-NRG chart. It was followed by the album ''Investigate'' (1990), which included some re-recordings of her Motown hits as well as new material. A second album for the label, ''Talking Loud'' (1992), was never released, although all the songs were included on the compilation ''The Best Of Kim Weston'' (1996). Kim Weston was inducted into the inaugural class of the Official Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame at

Cleveland State University Cleveland State University (CSU) is a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1964 and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the entirety of Fenn College, a private school that had been in operation since 1923. ...

in August 2013.

Discography

Studio albums *1966: '' Take Two'' (duet album with

) (

Tamla Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

T 270) *1966: ''Take Me in Your Arms'' (Motown) (shelved) *1966: '' For the First Time'' (

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

SE-4477) *1968: '' This Is America'' (MGM SE-4561) *1969: ''Johnny Nash & Kim Weston'' (duet album with

) ( Major Minor SMLP 54) *1970: ''Big Brass Four Poster'' (People PLP-5001) *1970: ''Kim Kim Kim'' (

Volt The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units (SI). It is named after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827). Defi ...

VOS 6014) *1990: ''Investigate'' (

Motorcity ''Motorcity'' is an American animated television series created by Chris Prynoski. It is produced by Titmouse, Inc. and Disney Television Animation. The series ran from April 30, 2012 to January 7, 2013 on Disney XD. On November 5, 2012, the se ...

MOTCLP29) *1991: ''Talking Loud'' (Motorcity Records) (shelved) Compilations *1991: ''Greatest Hits & Rare Classics'' *1996: ''The Very Best of the Motorcity Recordings'' *2003: ''20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of Kim Weston'' *2005: ''Motown Anthology'' Live releases *2020: ''Live in Detroit 1978'' Chart singles

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Weston, Kim 1939 births Living people 20th-century African-American women singers American soul musicians American mezzo-sopranos Motown artists MGM Records artists Northern soul musicians Stax Records artists Singers from Detroit 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women

Career

Discography

Further reading

References

External links