Eugene Record was the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 lead vocalist of the Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

 based band

Musical ensemble

A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...

, The Chi-Lites

The Chi-Lites

The Chi-Lites are a Chicago-based smooth soul vocal quartet from the early 1970s, one of the few from the period not to come from Memphis or Philadelphia...

, during the 1960s and 1970s.

He was born Eugene Booker Record in Chicago. He also released three solo albums (entitled The Eugene Record, Trying to Get to You, and Welcome to My Fantasy) via the Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...

 before rejoining the Chi-Lites in 1980. In 1979 he had a disco

Disco

Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...

 hit

Hit record

A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...

 called "Magnetism"'. He also wrote and produced

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 many of the group's hits, such as "Have You Seen Her

Have You Seen Her

"Have You Seen Her" is a song recorded by the soul vocal group, The Chi-Lites, and released on Brunswick Records in 1971. Composed by the lead singer Eugene Record and Barbara Acklin, the song was included on the group's 1971 album Give More Power to the People.-Song:The Chi-Lites recorded "Have...

" and "Oh Girl

Oh Girl

"Oh Girl" is a number-one single recorded by the soul vocal group, The Chi-Lites and released on Brunswick Records in 1972. Included on the group's 1972 album A Lonely Man, "Oh Girl" centers around a relationship on the verge of break-up...

", frequently in collaboration with other songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

s such as Barbara Acklin

Barbara Acklin

Barbara Jean Acklin was an American soul singer and songwriter who was most successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her biggest hit as a singer was "Love Makes a Woman" in 1968...

. He also wrote and produced for other artists, including Acklin, Jackie Wilson

Jackie Wilson

Jack Leroy "Jackie" Wilson, Jr. was an American singer and performer. Known as "Mr. Excitement", Wilson was important in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul. He was known as a master showman, and as one of the most dynamic singers and performers in R&B and rock history...

, and The Dells

The Dells

The Dells are an R&B and crossover musical group. Their successful recordings spanned more than four decades. Formed in 1952 after attending high school together, the Dells' repertoire has included doo-wop, jazz, soul, disco and contemporary rhythm and blues...

. Record left the Chi-Lites again in 1988 before eventually becoming a gospel

Gospel music

Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....

 singer.

In 1978 he appeared on Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

with Michael Palin

Michael Palin

Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....

. He performed "Have You Seen Her" and "Trying to Get to You".

He died on July 22, 2005, in Chicago, after a long battle with cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

. He was 64.

External links

• [ Allmusic.com article on Eugene Record]
• Soul Tracks profile of Eugene Record
• IMDB Entry for Saturday Night Live appearance