Brenda Shannon Greene (born May 2, 1958), known professionally as Shannon, is an American singer and songwriter of freestyle and

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

music. She is best known for her single " Let the Music Play", which topped 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 ...

Dance Club Songs 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 in 1983 and was certified gold. Her studio albums include '' Let the Music Play'' (1984), followed by '' Do You Wanna Get Away'' (1985) and '' Love Goes All the Way'' (1986). In 1999, Shannon appeared in a segment of VH1's ''

One-Hit Wonders A one-hit wonder or viral hit is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music p ...

'', and returned to music with her fourth studio album ''The Best Is Yet to Come'' (2000). Her most recent studio album, ''A Beauty Returns'', was released in 2006.

Career

Shannon was born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, United States. In 1983, she was enrolled at York College in

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 ...

and toured with the New York Jazz Ensemble. Quintin Hicks, an associate of the

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

team of Mark Liggett and

Chris Barbosa Chris Barbosa is an American record producer from New York. Early career In 1981, the Bronx- Puerto Rican born Barbosa was a reporting DJ on New York's WKTU. This process entailed the radio station calling up select club and mobile DJs, who woul ...

, saw Shannon singing with a live band in her cousin's

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...

. She auditioned for Liggett and Barbosa with the song "She Can't Love You Like I Do". They introduced her to the selection "Fire and Ice", which would later evolve into Shannon's

signature song A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...

, " Let The Music Play"; its unique sound, called "the Shannon Sound", would later come to be known as " freestyle". '' Let The Music Play'' would also be the title of Shannon's debut album, which she released through the team in 1984. In July 1983, "Let The Music Play" was released on New York-based dance label Emergency and Shannon was invited back to record more songs with Liggett and Barbosa. The single reached #8 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and #2 on the ''

'' R&B and #1 on the

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 ...

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 ...

. It also was ranked at #49 of ''Billboard's'' Top 100 songs of 1984. It was later ranked #23 among Billboard's best dance songs of all-time. Her debut album, '' Let The Music Play,'' was released on February 1, 1984. "

Give Me Tonight "Give Me Tonight" is a 1984 single by Shannon, an American R&B and dance artist. Released as the follow-up to her smash debut " Let the Music Play," "Give Me Tonight" was not as successful as its predecessor on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, where ...

", the follow-up single, reached the number-two spot on the R&B charts and number one on the Hot Dance Club Play charts. The song went to number 46 on the pop charts. It was one of ''Billboards top 30 dance songs for the year of 1984. In the United States, the third single was " My Heart's Divided". The single, featuring

Jimi Tunnell Jimi Tunnell is an American guitarist and vocalist from Denton, Texas. Although he is known as a guitarist, his career began as a jazz trumpeter. Tunnell has worked with Yukihiro Takahashi, Laurie Anderson, Steps Ahead, and Member's Only. His ...

as one of the back up vocalists, hit #3 on the Dance Chart. " Sweet Somebody", a mid-tempo

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 ...

effort, made the Top 20 in a few

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an nations. Shannon's album ''Let the Music Play'' went on to sell approximately 1.5 million worldwide, with 500,000 of those sold in the United States, earning gold certification. Shannon was nominated for 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 ...

and received numerous other awards, including the Dinah Washington (Jack the Rapper) Award, the Hall of Fame Award, the Gold Ampex Reel Award, a certified

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

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 ...

, and the Best Billboard Top 10 female R&B vocalist. In 1985, she released her second album, '' Do You Wanna Get Away''. The title track was the first single and it became her third single to appear on the Hot 100, and her third single to hit #1 on the Dance Chart. She scored three more

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

hits, including "Stronger Together", a

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

of "

Urgent Urgent may refer to: * Urgent (American band), a 1980s band from New York City * Urgent (Canadian band), a 1980s band from Toronto, Ontario, Canada * "Urgent" (song), a 1981 song by Foreigner * Urgent! Records, a former record company See also ...

" by Foreigner, and "Stop the Noise", with a

video 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 ...

Personal life

Shannon has never married and has no children. Retrieved .

Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

*''Part Time Lovers'' (1991) *''The Collection'' (1994) *''The Ultimate Collection'' (1994) *''Dancefloor Artists Volume 8 - The Best Of Shannon'' (1995) *''The Collection (Reissue)'' (2001) *''Let the Music Play: The Best of Shannon'' (2004)

Singles

Featured singles

References

External links

Shannon's MySpace page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shannon 20th-century African-American women singers American boogie musicians American freestyle musicians Living people Singers from Washington, D.C. Musicians from Brooklyn People from New York City American pop musicians 1958 births Atco Records artists 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women