La Forrest 'La La' Cope is an American singer and

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 ...

. She is best known for writing the hit song "

You Give Good Love "You Give Good Love" is the debut solo single by American singer Whitney Houston for her 1985 eponymous debut studio album. It was written by La Forrest 'La La' Cope and produced by Kashif. When La La sent Kashif a copy of the song, originally o ...

", recorded by

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed " The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston i ...

for her 1985 self-titled debut album, which went on to sell over 25 million units worldwide.

Biography

La La was raised in the East Elmhurst neighborhood of

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, New York City, United States. She took up the piano at the age of five and gave a piano recital at Carnegie Hall at the age of nine. After leaving New York's High School of Music and Art, she formed a band called Jack Sass, which played top 40 cover versions on the club scene. As the group's reputation grew, La La began introducing more of her own songs into the repertoire before she went to

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

to major in composition. In 1981, she was invited to tour with

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who opened for

the Jacksons The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most ...

on a national tour. Following this, she sang with the group

Change Change or Changing may refer to: Alteration * Impermanence, a difference in a state of affairs at different points in time * Menopause, also referred to as "the change", the permanent cessation of the menstrual period * Metamorphosis, or change, ...

, along with Luther Vandross, where her voice was heard on their song "The Glow of Love", co-written by her childhood friend from East Elmhurst, Queens, Wayne K. Garfield. She played one of her songs, "Stone Love", to another neighborhood friend, Kashif, who recorded it for his debut album in 1983.

Songwriting career

Throughout the 1980s, La La established herself as a songwriter, penning songs for many artists including

Lillo Thomas Lillo Thomas (born 1961) is an American soul musician. He reached the peak of his success as a recording artist in the 1980s. His most famous songs include "Sexy Girl" and "I'm in Love." Career Early in his life, Thomas was a competitive sprint ...

("All of You"),

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("Living for Your Love" and "It's Really Love"),

Glenn Jones Glenn Jones (born September 27, 1962 in Jacksonville, Florida) is an American R&B/soul singer. He is best known for his songs "Show Me", "We've Only Just Begun (The Romance Is Not Over)" and "Here I Go Again" which reached No. 1 on the Billboa ...

("Show Me" and "Stay"), Giorge Pettus ("My Night for Love") and a solo release, "Into the Night" which was featured on the ''

Beat Street ''Beat Street'' is a 1984 American drama dance film featuring New York City hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Set in the South Bronx, the film follows the lives of a pair of brothers and their group of friends, all of whom are devoted to ...

'' soundtrack album. Through Kashif, she had a couple of her songs recorded by new Arista signing

" and " Thinking About You") before signing to the label herself (both Kashif and Houston's label) as an artist. In 1987, she released her debut album ''La La'', including duets with

and

Bernard Wright Bernard Wright (November 16, 1963 – May 19, 2022) was an American funk and jazz keyboardist and singer who began his career as a session musician and later released four solo albums. Biography Wright was born in Jamaica, Queens, New York. I ...

and production by R&B group

Full Force Full Force is an American music group of hip hop and R&B singers and producers from Brooklyn, New York. Members *B-Fine (Brian George) - drums and drum programming, backing vocals *Shy Shy (Hugh Junior Clark) - bass guitar, backing vocal ...

. She also duetted with

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 Jackso ...

on a cover of

Climie Fisher Climie Fisher were a British pop duo formed by vocalist Simon Climie and former Naked Eyes keyboardist Rob Fisher. In 1987–88, they had two international hit singles: " Rise to the Occasion" and "Love Changes (Everything)". Career Simon Cl ...

's " Rise to the Occasion" for his 1989 album '' Don't Take It Personal''. La La continued to write and produce for major artists including Carl Anderson and the top 10 US R&B hit "Secret Lady" for Stephanie Mills. After a move to Motown Records, she released her second (and last to date) solo album ''La La Means I Love You!'' in 1991, which included her version of her much-covered R&B classic "Show Me" as well as contributions from Rene Moore, Marcus Miller and Lenny White.

Discography

Albums

* ''La La'' (1987) * ''La La Means I Love You!'' (1991)

Singles

References

External links

Official website

Album and singles discography
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

.
Facebook page
{{DEFAULTSORT:La La Year of birth missing (living people) Living people African-American women singer-songwriters American contemporary R&B singers Singer-songwriters from New York (state) The High School of Music & Art alumni 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women