Gavin Christopher
Encyclopedia
Gavin Christopher is a R&B
singer and musician
, born on March 5, 1956 in Chicago
, Illinois
where he started out playing music
at a very early age. Having been schooled by the likes of Oscar Brown Jr., Donny Hathaway
and later on Curtis Mayfield
, he honed his writing and singing skills and began his career, first in a band called Lyfe (which also included Chaka Khan
). Khan then left and joined Rufus
(scoring several pop
and R&B hits with them). Christopher later joined another band called High Voltage with future Rufus members Bobby Watson and Tony Maiden, as well as Lalomie Washburn, who later wrote several Rufus songs. Christopher himself would also become associated with Rufus, as he penned the song "Once You Get Started," which was later recorded by the band and hit #10 on the Billboard Hot 100
in 1975.
Christopher relocated to Los Angeles
, California
where he was signed to his first recording contract
with Island Records
. He later moved back to Chicago to record and work with Curtis Mayfield
on the Curtom/RSO record label
. He worked with Herbie Hancock
, writing and singing on several of his album
s. Christopher also penned the Hancock song
, "Stars in Your Eyes".
Following a move to New York City
, Christopher signed with EMI Manhattan Records and scored his biggest single
to date, "One Step Closer to You" (his only Hot 100 hit as an artist, #22 in 1986) and another minor single two years later with "You Are Who You Love." He also produced
music for artists
such as Grandmaster Flash
, Afrika Bambaataa
and The Ritchie Family
, as well as mentored and worked with a young Mariah Carey
prior to her getting her big break. He was heavily involved in the early hip-hop
scene, writing such hits as "Girls Love the Way He Spins", "Sign Of the Time", "We Gonna Rock America" and "All Night All Right".
Gavin's sister is dance music
vocalist Shawn Christopher
.
The following is a partial listing of recordings Christopher appears on and produced 1979 Gavin Christopher Gavin Christopher Percussion, Piano, Conga, Vocals, Clavinet, Producer] 1979 Gonna Getcha Love Charles Jackson producer' Keyboards, Vocals] [1980 Monster Herbie Hancock Vocals] [1981 Magic Windows Herbie Hancock Vocals, Bass Arrangement] [1982 Paradise Leroy Hutson Vocals (bckgr)] [1985 They Said It Couldn't Be Done Grandmaster Flash producer, Synthesizer, Bass, Percussion, Keyboards, Programming, Producer, Horn Arrangements, String Arrangements, Drum Programming, Mixing, Synthesizer Bass, Simmons Drums, System Programming [1986 Beware (The Funk Is Everywhere) Afrika Bambaataa Producer] [1987 Gavin Gavin Christopher Mic MurphyDavid Frank Keyboards, Vocals producers,] [1990 Brilliant! Kym Mazelle Vocal Arrangement] [1993 Club Classics 1982-1984, Vol. 1 Various Artists producer,] Arranger, Producer, Mixing [1993 Soul Mission Soul Mission Vocals] [1995 Best Disco in Town: The Best of the Ritchie Family The Ritchie Family Producer] [1996 Adventures of Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel & the Furi Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five/Mel Producer] [1997 Too Much Woman Brigette McWilliams Vocals (bckgr)] [1997 Whatever Happened to the Blues Phil Upchurch] Vocals [2000 Best of Herbie Hancock: The Hits Herbie Hancock] Arranger, Vocals [2001 Breakin' Arthur Baker Piano, Vocals] [2001 Mr. Funk Herbie Hancock Chant] [2002 Bullet Proof Bruce Conte Vocals] [2002 Evolution Will Not Be Televised Aquabox Vocals, Vocals (bckgr), Produce [2002 Herbie Hancock Box Herbie Hancock Vocals] [2004 D'Soca Zone 5th Spin Various Artists Producer] [2006 Chicago LP Chicago's Finest Vocals (bckgr) producer] [2006 Definitive Groove Collection Grandmaster Flash Producer, Original Recording Producer] [2006 Everyday People Project Steve Harvey Vocals (bckgr)] 2006 Fresh and Furious: Hip Hop's Beginning Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five Synthesizer, Bass, Percussion, Keyboards, Programming, Tom-Toms,Gavin Christopher Producer, Horn Arrangements, String Arrangements, Mixing] [2007 Daily News [Circuit City Exclusive] Donnie Vocals (bckgr)] [2007 Daily News Donnie Vocals (bckgr)] [Gavin Christopher [Island] Gavin Christopher ] Guitar, Piano, Conga, Keyboards, Vocals, Vocals (bckgr), Clavinet, Producer [Heat for the Feets Lee Garrett Vocals (bckgr)] [One Step Closer Gavin Christopher Synthesizer, Keyboards, Vocals producer, (bckgr)] [Way Ian Martin Vocals] A partial list of albums my songs appear on: Aquabox Evolution Will Not Be Televised Loletta Holloway "crash goes love"(1987) Beatstreet "breakdance"/vocals (1987) The Average White Band Feel No Fret Candy Dulfer For the Love of You Kenny Dope Strange Games and Funky Things, Vol. 3 Grandmaster Flash They said it couldn't be done. Adventures of Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel Shango funk theology Africa Bambatta. Herbie Hancock Best of Herbie Hancock: The Hits Herbie Hancock Monster Chaka Khan Life Is a Dance (The Remix Project) Manila Thriller Please Brigette McWilliams Too Much Woman Rufus Rufusized Rufus & Chaka Khan Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan Rufus & Chaka Khan Stompin' at the Savoy (Live) Original Soundtrack Prefontaine
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
singer and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, born on March 5, 1956 in 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,...
where he started out playing music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
at a very early age. Having been schooled by the likes of Oscar Brown Jr., Donny Hathaway
Donny Hathaway
Donny Edward Hathaway was an American soul singer-songwriter and musician. Hathaway contracted with Atlantic Records in 1969 and with his first single for the Atco label, "The Ghetto, Part I" in early 1970, Rolling Stone magazine "marked him as a major new force in soul music."His collaborations...
and later on Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Lee Mayfield was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer.He is best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly, Mayfield is highly...
, he honed his writing and singing skills and began his career, first in a band called Lyfe (which also included Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
). Khan then left and joined Rufus
Rufus (band)
Rufus was an American funk band from Chicago, Illinois best known for launching the career of lead singer Chaka Khan. They had several hits throughout their career, including "Tell Me Something Good," "Sweet Thing," and "Ain't Nobody."-Origins:...
(scoring several pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and R&B hits with them). Christopher later joined another band called High Voltage with future Rufus members Bobby Watson and Tony Maiden, as well as Lalomie Washburn, who later wrote several Rufus songs. Christopher himself would also become associated with Rufus, as he penned the song "Once You Get Started," which was later recorded by the band and hit #10 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
in 1975.
Christopher relocated to Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
where he was signed to his first recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
with Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
. He later moved back to Chicago to record and work with Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Lee Mayfield was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer.He is best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly, Mayfield is highly...
on the Curtom/RSO record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
. He worked with Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
, writing and singing on several of his album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s. Christopher also penned the Hancock song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
, "Stars in Your Eyes".
Following a move to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Christopher signed with EMI Manhattan Records and scored his biggest single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
to date, "One Step Closer to You" (his only Hot 100 hit as an artist, #22 in 1986) and another minor single two years later with "You Are Who You Love." He also 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...
music for artists
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
such as Grandmaster Flash
Grandmaster Flash
Joseph Saddler better known as King Grandmaster Flash, is an American hip hop musician and DJ; one of the pioneers of hip-hop DJing, cutting, and mixing....
, Afrika Bambaataa
Afrika Bambaataa
Afrika Bambaataa is an American DJ from the South Bronx, New York who was instrumental in the early development of hip hop throughout the 1980s. Afrika Bambaataa is one of the three originators of break-beat deejaying, and is respectfully known as the "Grandfather" and the Amen Ra of Universal...
and The Ritchie Family
The Ritchie Family
The Ritchie Family was the name of an American vocal group, based in Philadelphia, who achieved several hits during the disco era.-Career:...
, as well as mentored and worked with a young Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
prior to her getting her big break. He was heavily involved in the early hip-hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
scene, writing such hits as "Girls Love the Way He Spins", "Sign Of the Time", "We Gonna Rock America" and "All Night All Right".
Gavin's sister is dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
vocalist Shawn Christopher
Shawn Christopher
Shawn Christopher is a female African American dance music singer from Chicago, Illinois.-Career:She was a touring backing vocalist for R&B singer Chaka Khan from 1982 to 1985. She is also a former member of the industrial dance band known as My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, and sang with the...
.
Solo discography
- 1976: Gavin Christopher [1976] http://www.discogs.com/Gavin-Christopher-Gavin-Christopher/release/1016284
- 1979: Gavin Christopher [1979] http://www.discogs.com/Gavin-Christopher-Gavin-Christopher/release/1907395
- 1986: One Step Closer
- "One Step Closer to You" (5:10)
- "Are We Running From Love" (4:46)
- "In the Heat of Passion" (5:07)
- "Back in Your Arms" (5:36)
- "Once You Get Started" (4:18)
- "Love is Knocking at Your Door" (5:09)
- "Sparks Turn Into Fire" (4:30)
- "Could This Be the Night" (4:29)
- "That's the Kind of Guy I Am" (4:10)
- 1987: Gavin
The following is a partial listing of recordings Christopher appears on and produced 1979 Gavin Christopher Gavin Christopher Percussion, Piano, Conga, Vocals, Clavinet, Producer] 1979 Gonna Getcha Love Charles Jackson producer' Keyboards, Vocals] [1980 Monster Herbie Hancock Vocals] [1981 Magic Windows Herbie Hancock Vocals, Bass Arrangement] [1982 Paradise Leroy Hutson Vocals (bckgr)] [1985 They Said It Couldn't Be Done Grandmaster Flash producer, Synthesizer, Bass, Percussion, Keyboards, Programming, Producer, Horn Arrangements, String Arrangements, Drum Programming, Mixing, Synthesizer Bass, Simmons Drums, System Programming [1986 Beware (The Funk Is Everywhere) Afrika Bambaataa Producer] [1987 Gavin Gavin Christopher Mic MurphyDavid Frank Keyboards, Vocals producers,] [1990 Brilliant! Kym Mazelle Vocal Arrangement] [1993 Club Classics 1982-1984, Vol. 1 Various Artists producer,] Arranger, Producer, Mixing [1993 Soul Mission Soul Mission Vocals] [1995 Best Disco in Town: The Best of the Ritchie Family The Ritchie Family Producer] [1996 Adventures of Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel & the Furi Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five/Mel Producer] [1997 Too Much Woman Brigette McWilliams Vocals (bckgr)] [1997 Whatever Happened to the Blues Phil Upchurch] Vocals [2000 Best of Herbie Hancock: The Hits Herbie Hancock] Arranger, Vocals [2001 Breakin' Arthur Baker Piano, Vocals] [2001 Mr. Funk Herbie Hancock Chant] [2002 Bullet Proof Bruce Conte Vocals] [2002 Evolution Will Not Be Televised Aquabox Vocals, Vocals (bckgr), Produce [2002 Herbie Hancock Box Herbie Hancock Vocals] [2004 D'Soca Zone 5th Spin Various Artists Producer] [2006 Chicago LP Chicago's Finest Vocals (bckgr) producer] [2006 Definitive Groove Collection Grandmaster Flash Producer, Original Recording Producer] [2006 Everyday People Project Steve Harvey Vocals (bckgr)] 2006 Fresh and Furious: Hip Hop's Beginning Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five Synthesizer, Bass, Percussion, Keyboards, Programming, Tom-Toms,Gavin Christopher Producer, Horn Arrangements, String Arrangements, Mixing] [2007 Daily News [Circuit City Exclusive] Donnie Vocals (bckgr)] [2007 Daily News Donnie Vocals (bckgr)] [Gavin Christopher [Island] Gavin Christopher ] Guitar, Piano, Conga, Keyboards, Vocals, Vocals (bckgr), Clavinet, Producer [Heat for the Feets Lee Garrett Vocals (bckgr)] [One Step Closer Gavin Christopher Synthesizer, Keyboards, Vocals producer, (bckgr)] [Way Ian Martin Vocals] A partial list of albums my songs appear on: Aquabox Evolution Will Not Be Televised Loletta Holloway "crash goes love"(1987) Beatstreet "breakdance"/vocals (1987) The Average White Band Feel No Fret Candy Dulfer For the Love of You Kenny Dope Strange Games and Funky Things, Vol. 3 Grandmaster Flash They said it couldn't be done. Adventures of Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel Shango funk theology Africa Bambatta. Herbie Hancock Best of Herbie Hancock: The Hits Herbie Hancock Monster Chaka Khan Life Is a Dance (The Remix Project) Manila Thriller Please Brigette McWilliams Too Much Woman Rufus Rufusized Rufus & Chaka Khan Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan Rufus & Chaka Khan Stompin' at the Savoy (Live) Original Soundtrack Prefontaine