Carrie Lucas (born November 5, 1945) is an American R&B singer, born in

Carmel Carmel may refer to: * Carmel (biblical settlement), an ancient Israelite town in Judea * Mount Carmel, a coastal mountain range in Israel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea * Carmelites, a Roman Catholic mendicant religious order Carmel may also ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. In 1976, she was signed to Soul Train Records. Lucas released six studio albums over seven years, with Soul Train and Solar Records. Lucas was married to Soul Train Records and Solar Records founder Dick Griffey, from 1974 until his death in 2010.

Career

"I Gotta Keep Dancing" and "Gotta Get Away from Your Love" were the two

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 in ...

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

from Lucas's first

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, '' Simply Carrie'', released in 1977. "I Gotta Keep Dancing" peaked at number 64 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100

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 ...

in 1977. Lucas' second album, '' Street Corner Symphony'', was released in 1978. It featured

The Whispers The Whispers is an American group from Los Angeles, California, who have scored hit records since the late 1960s. They are best known for their two number one R&B singles, " And the Beat Goes On" in 1980 and "Rock Steady" in 1987. The Whispers ...

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 ...

s. A single from the LP, of the same name, was a homage to the 1960s

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

groups A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

. The album was released on the

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

Dick Griffey's Solar Records label. In 1979, Lucas released '' Carrie Lucas in Danceland''. Griffey brought in

Jody Watley Jody Vanessa Watley (born January 30, 1959) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and artist,USA Today (February 16, 1996), Best Bets: Albums Jody Watley Greatest Hits, "Few singers fired up the disco like Jody Watley who set trends ...

(

Shalamar Shalamar () is an American R&B and soul music vocal group active since the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. Shalamar's classic line-up on the SOLAR label consisted of Howard Hewett, Jody Watley, and Jeffrey Daniel, together with dancer ...

) for background vocals,

Lakeside Lakeside or Lake Side may refer to: Places Australia * Lakeside College, Pakenham, Victoria * Lakeside Joondalup Shopping City, Joondalup, Western Australia * Lakeside, near Reservoir, Victoria * Lakeside International Raceway, Pine Rivers, Quee ...

(co-producers and backgrounds) and Walter and Wallace Scott (The Whispers) for backgrounds.

Organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

Kossi Gardner (1941–2009) wrote and played on the hit "Dance with You", which propelled the album to number 37 in the

U.S The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Dance Album 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 repertoire ...

. "Dance with You" gave Lucas her only appearance 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 ...

, where it peaked at number 40. 1980's '' Portrait of Carrie'' was less commercially successful, although it did spawn three modest hit singles. The first

12-inch The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...

was a reworking of her first hit, re-titled as "Keep Smilin'". This was followed by "It's Not What You Got (It's How You Use It)" and "Career Girl." Griffey shared production duties with Leon Sylvers and Gardner. Lucas' next release, ''Still in Love'', was released in 1982. It was recorded and released under the banner of Solar Records and distributed by Elektra/Asylum. The album produced two 12-inch singles, "Men" and the more successful "Show Me Where You're Coming From."

Sheila E. Sheila Cecilia Escovedo (born December 12, 1957) better known under the stage name Sheila E., is an American percussionist and singer. She began her career in the mid-1970s as a percussionist and singer for The George Duke Band. After leaving t ...

co-wrote the album's title track. Her most recent album was released in 1985. ''Horsin' Around'' spawned four 12-inch singles; "Charlie," "Horsin' Around," "Summer in the Street" and "Hello Stranger." Her

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of Barbara Lewis' "Hello Stranger" reached number 20 on the US ''

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 ...

'' R&B chart. Lucas' last known recording was an appearance on the 1990

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

for ''Lambada: Set the Night on Fire.'' She performed the song "I Like the Rhythm". Lucas decided to retire from the

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

, to concentrate on married life and her horses. Carrie Lucas is the mother of Carolyn Griffey of

and Lucas Griffey. Unidisc Records in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

released a ''Greatest Hits'' package, which contains most of her 12-inch mixes in 1999. Carrie Lucas released her first single since 1990 on May 15, 2018. The single is "Some Things Never Change", written by Carrie Lucas and Nigel Lowis made it to number 32 of Amazon's Hot New Releases of the week. The single was released on Solar Records UK. Carrie Lucas, Carolyn Griffey, Lucas Griffey and Chinese music promoter Jessie Tsang relaunched the Solar Records and Soul Train Records in the UK. The relaunch was covered in the UK magazine ''Soul Survivors''. Jessie Tsang serves as CEO with Sonia Damney as Vice President. Carrie Lucas also owns trade mark rights to Shalamar in the UK and Europe. In 2022 Carrie Lucas participated with US cable channel TV One for a special episode of the '' Unsung'' TV series on Dick Griffey and Solar Records. The episode aired on November 6 2022.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

References

External links

Carrie Lucas
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, Carrie 1945 births Living people American women singers 20th-century African-American women singers American disco musicians People from Carmel-by-the-Sea, California Singers from California SOLAR Records artists 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women