Oliver Cheatham (February 24, 1948 – November 29, 2013) was an American

contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music Music genre, genre, originating from African Americans, African-American musicians in the 1980s that combines rhythm and blues with elements of Pop music, pop, Soul music, soul, funk, Hip-hop, ...

singer who is best remembered for his 1983 hit " Get Down Saturday Night". The song was sampled by Italian DJ Room 5 on his 2003 single " Make Luv", which reached number one on the UK chart, as well as by British DJ Michael Gray on his 2004 single " The Weekend".

Biography

Cheatham was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. Encouraged by his mother to sing, over the years he joined several local groups including the Young Sirs, Mad Dog and the Pups and Gaslight before releasing a single, "Hard Times" on the Tier

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

. He then joined another group, the Sins of Satan, the group later being renamed as Roundtrip. They finally took Cheatham's first name and recorded two albums as Oliver. Cheatham then signed for

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

as a solo singer. He worked with Al Hudson of the band One Way on his first album, ''The Boss''. His first chart success came in 1983 with " Get Down Saturday Night", co-written by Cheatham and One Way's Kevin McCord, which reached No. 37 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 advertis ...

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

, and also reached No. 38 on the UK Singles Chart. The album, ''Saturday Night'', produced by

Al Perkins Al Perkins (born January 18, 1944) is an American guitarist known primarily for his steel guitar work. The Gibson guitar company called Perkins "the world's most influential Dobro player" and began producing an "Al Perkins Signature" Dobro in 2 ...

, was released the same year. In 1986, he moved to the Critique label, and had further success in the US with the singles "S.O.S." (R&B chart No. 35), and "Celebrate (Our Love)". Other Cheatham singles included "Mama Said", "Put a Little Love in Your Heart", "Things to Make U Happy", and "Wish on a Star". After moving to the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

-based Warlock label, he recorded "Turn Out the Lights" and "Mindbuster" with

Jocelyn Brown Jocelyn Lorette Brown (born November 25, 1950), sometimes credited as Jocelyn Shaw, is an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and dance music, dance singer. She has a Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart entry solely in her name. Brown sang ...

. He spent much of the 1990s working as a backing singer with artists including

Leo Sayer Leo Sayer (born Gerard Hugh Sayer, 21 May 1948) is an English-Australian singer and songwriter who has been active since the early 1970s. He has been an Australian citizen and resident since 2009. Sayer launched his career in the United Kingd ...

, and released his final album, ''Stand for Love'', in 2002. He returned to the

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 t ...

in 2003, when he was featured on Room 5's UK number one single " Make Luv", which

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: * Sample (graphics), an intersection of a color channel and a pixel * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of something * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample ...

"Get Down Saturday Night", though Cheatham re-recorded his vocal parts for later releases. The track was featured on a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

for Lynx deodorant on British TV. Its success in the UK led Cheatham to relocate to

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, England, and he recorded in London for the Native Soul record label. Elements of "Get Down Saturday Night" were also used in Michael Gray's 2004 hit " The Weekend". It also featured in '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'' and '' Ex Machina''. The track was also sampled in Lino di Meglio's 2013 song "I Can't Live Without". Cheatham died on November 29, 2013, at the age of 65, following a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

in his sleep.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

*
Oliver Cheatham at Discogs.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheatham, Oliver 1948 births 2013 deaths 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American singers 20th-century African-American male singers American boogie musicians American contemporary R&B singers American dance musicians American funk singers Singers from Detroit American expatriates in England 20th-century American male singers 21st-century African-American musicians