Sharon Redd (October 19, 1945 – May 1, 1992) was an American singer from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She was the half sister of

Snap! Snap! is a German Eurodance group formed in 1989 by Record producer, producers Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti. The act has been through a number of line-up changes over the years, including American singers, songwriters and rappers Thea A ...

singer

Penny Ford Penny Ford (also known as Pennye Ford, born June 11, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, she rose to fame in the 1980s after signing a recording contract with T ...

Life and career

Sharon Redd was born on October 19, 1945 in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

, to

Gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...

and Katherine Redd. Gene Redd was a producer and musical director at King Records, and her stepfather performed with

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His co ...

's orchestra. Her brother Gene Redd Jr. was a

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

and producer for

Kool & the Gang Kool & the Gang is an American R&B/soul/funk band formed in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1964 by brothers Robert "Kool" Bell and Ronald Bell, with Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas, Robert "Spike" Mickens, Charles Smith, George Brown, and Ricky West. T ...

and the band BMP. Her half-sister

is also a singer with two solo albums to her credit and known for her work as the main singer for

Soul II Soul Soul II Soul are a British musical collective formed in London in 1988. They are best known for their two major hits; 1989's UK number five and US number eleven " Keep On Movin'", and its follow-up, the UK number one and US number four " Back to ...

, and the S.O.S. Band. She began her recording career with four singles in 1968 for the

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

label, three written and all four produced by songwriter and record producer Bobby Susser. Susser chose the

Hank Williams Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he reco ...

song "

Half as Much "Half as Much" is an American pop standard song written by Curley Williams in 1951. It was first recorded by country music singer Hank Williams in 1952 and reached number two on the '' Billboard'' Country Singles chart. Hank Williams version ...

" to be Redd's first single. Redd's vocals, against Susser's heavy-bass track, made her presence very quickly known to R&B radio stations. Redd, as a budding actress, got a major break when she starred in an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n production of the

rock musical A rock musical is a musical theatre work with rock music. The genre of rock musical may overlap somewhat with album musicals, concept albums and song cycles, as they sometimes tell a story through the rock music, and some album musicals and concept ...

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and f ...

''. She was among a troupe of young

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

imports to the

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

production, a group which notably included

Marcia Hines Marcia Elaine Hines, AM (born July 20, 1953), is an American-Australian vocalist and TV personality. Hines made her debut, at the age of 16, in the Australian production of the stage musical ''Hair'' and followed with the role of Mary Magdalene ...

. Redd appeared in the production from its June 6, 1969, premiere through 1971. As Redd was becoming famous in Australia, she was interviewed by Barry Sloane on a 1971 episode of ''

GTK GTK (formerly GIMP ToolKit and GTK+) is a free and open-source cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs). It is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, allowing both free and propriet ...

''. Her popular adverts for

Amoco Amoco () is a brand of fuel stations operating in the United States, and owned by BP since 1998. The Amoco Corporation was an American chemical and oil company, founded by Standard Oil Company in 1889 around a refinery in Whiting, Indiana, a ...

led to her own television special. Redd and ''Hair'' co-star Teddy Williams were asked to leave Australia by the Immigration Department in April 1971 for reasons they believed were race-motivated. Aside from ''Hair'', Redd also appeared in ''Ti-Jean and His Brothers'' and, in 1974, traveled to London to star in an American production of ''The Wedding of Iphigenia''. In 1977 Redd played the role of Sherrye in the U.S.

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

television series ''

Rhoda ''Rhoda'' is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns starring Valerie Harper that originally aired on CBS for five seasons from September 9, 1974, to December 9, 1978. It was the first spin-off of ''The Mary Tyle ...

''. 1978 also saw Redd feature as a guest in the musical '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. In the mid-1970s,

Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...

was looking to replace Merle Miller and Gail Kantor, both of whom had left after Midler's 1973

tour Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...

to pursue their own interests. Midler auditioned over 70 performers, but Redd landed the job, becoming one of Bette's

Harlettes The Harlettes, also known as The Staggering Harlettes, is a trio of backup singers who support Bette Midler during her live musical performances. The Harlettes' line-up has changed many times since their inception. History Bette Midler's stage ac ...

. Aside from performing as a Harlette, Redd also provided

backing vocals 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 use ...

for

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("Burnin'" and "Night Fever") and

Norman Connors Norman Connors (born March 1, 1947) is an American jazz drummer, composer, arranger, and producer who has led a number of influential jazz and R&B groups. He also achieved several big R&B hits of the day, especially with love ballads. He is pos ...

("You Are My Starship"). Having ended their association with Midler, Redd, Charlotte Crossley, & Ula Hedwig released an LP, ''Formerly of the Harlettes'', in late 1977. In 1978, RCA Victor released "Love Insurance" on a 12-inch disco as Front Page with Sharon Redd. She was credited on that version. In 1979, Redd recorded the disco hit "Love Insurance", released by Panorama Records under the name Front Page, her own vocals going uncredited. But she soon signed a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

with

Prelude Records Prelude Records was a New York-based independent record label that was active from 1976 to 1986. At one time, François Kevorkian held an A&R position at Prelude. The label's owner was Marvin Schlachter. History Prelude was first launched in 1 ...

, and Redd became the label's most successful artist. Her debut studio album, 1980's self-titled ''Sharon Redd'', was closely followed by two more: ''Redd Hott'' (1982) and ''Love How You Feel'' (1983). Redd had several charting songs on the ''

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 ...

Hot Dance Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart, including "Beat the Street", "In the Name of Love" and "Love How You Feel". After these releases, Redd returned to her successful career as a backing vocalist, most notably with the group Soirée, which also included among its members

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and

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. In early 1992, she had a UK top 20 hit with a re-recorded version of " Can You Handle It", with "Tom's Diner" remixers DNA and appeared with the duo, singing live vocals, on BBC One's ''Top of the Pops'' on January 30. Following the success of this new version of " Can You Handle It", she recorded a single entitled "All the Way to Love", with L.A. Mix's Les Adams. This was to be her last solo recording and remains unreleased. In the midst of mounting a comeback in the early 1990s, Redd died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

on May 1, 1992. ''

Dance Music Report ''Dance Music Report'', initially ''Disco News'' and later ''DMR'', was a biweekly U.S. trade magazine oriented toward nightclub and radio DJs in the dance music industry. The magazine was first published in September 1978, changed its name from ...

'' magazine reported that her death was

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

-related. The virus had weakened her immune system, which had become ineffective following the singer stepping on broken glass on stage. In 1993, Redd's vocals featured on the duet track "Under Pressure", as found on her half-sister Penny Ford's self-titled album.

Discography

Albums

Compilations

* ''The Classic Redd'' (Prelude, 1985) * ''Beat the Street: The Best of Sharon Redd'' (Unidisc, 1989) * ''The Complete Sharon Redd on Prelude 1980–1985'' (Karamel, 1990) * ''Essential Dancefloor Artists Vol. 3: Sharon Redd'' (Deepbeats, 1994)

Singles

‡ Denotes tracks from

US Dance Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

-charting LP ''Redd Hot'' which included all cuts.

References

External links

AllMusic
*

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Redd, Sharon 1945 births 1992 deaths American boogie musicians American disco musicians American house musicians 20th-century African-American women singers Prelude Records artists Musicians from Norfolk, Virginia Deaths from pneumonia in New York City AIDS-related deaths in New York (state) 20th-century American singers Harlettes members 20th-century American women singers American women in electronic music