All Topics  
Sylvester James

 
Sylvester James

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Sylvester James
 
 
  Topics Sylvester James Topic Home

Sylvester James (September 6, 1947 - December 16, 1988), better known as Sylvester, was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 disco
Disco

Disco is a genre of dance music that originated in and was initially popular among African American, gay and Hispanic and Latino Americans communities in the United States in the late 1960s....
 and soul
Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the African American culture through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, Secularity testifying." The genre occasion...
 singer, and a gay
Gay

The term gay was originally used, until well into the mid-20th century, primarily to refer to feelings of being "carefree," "happy," or "bright and showy"; it had also come to acquire some connotations of "immorality" as early as 1637....
 drag
Drag queen

A drag queen is a person, usually a man, who dresses in female clothes and make-up for special occasions and usually because they are performing and entertaining as a hostess, stage artist or at an event....
 performer. He is considered to be one of the first Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG

Hi-NRG is high-tempo disco music , as well as a more specific, derivative genre of electronic dance music that achieved mainstream popularity in the mid to late 1980s....
 artists. Sylvester was sometimes known as the "Queen of Disco", although this moniker has also been bestowed on some of the ladies of the disco era (i.e. Gloria Gaynor, Donna Summer).

ester James was born in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles is the largest city in the U.S. state of California and the List of United States cities by population in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles is rated as a beta global city, has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California....
, California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
 into a middle-class family, and was raised by his mother and stepfather, Letha and Robert Hurd.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Sylvester James'
Start a new discussion about 'Sylvester James'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Sylvester James (September 6, 1947 - December 16, 1988), better known as Sylvester, was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 disco
Disco

Disco is a genre of dance music that originated in and was initially popular among African American, gay and Hispanic and Latino Americans communities in the United States in the late 1960s....
 and soul
Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the African American culture through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, Secularity testifying." The genre occasion...
 singer, and a gay
Gay

The term gay was originally used, until well into the mid-20th century, primarily to refer to feelings of being "carefree," "happy," or "bright and showy"; it had also come to acquire some connotations of "immorality" as early as 1637....
 drag
Drag queen

A drag queen is a person, usually a man, who dresses in female clothes and make-up for special occasions and usually because they are performing and entertaining as a hostess, stage artist or at an event....
 performer. He is considered to be one of the first Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG

Hi-NRG is high-tempo disco music , as well as a more specific, derivative genre of electronic dance music that achieved mainstream popularity in the mid to late 1980s....
 artists. Sylvester was sometimes known as the "Queen of Disco", although this moniker has also been bestowed on some of the ladies of the disco era (i.e. Gloria Gaynor, Donna Summer).

Biography


Early Life

Sylvester James was born in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles is the largest city in the U.S. state of California and the List of United States cities by population in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles is rated as a beta global city, has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California....
, California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
 into a middle-class family, and was raised by his mother and stepfather, Letha and Robert Hurd. Many of the facts of his early life are uncertain, and birth dates from 1944 to 1948 have surfaced. One thing is certain though, Sylvester was a child gospel star.

Encouraged to sing by his grandmother, the 1920s and 1930s jazz singer Julia Morgan, James' talent first surfaced at the Palm Lane Church of God in Christ
Church of God in Christ

The Church of God in Christ, Incorporated is a Christian church in the Pentecostal tradition. The church has congregations in nearly 60 countries around the world....
 in South Los Angeles
South Los Angeles

South Los Angeles, often abbreviated as South L.A., is the official name for a large geographic and cultural portion lying to the southwest and southeast of downtown Los Angeles, California....
, and soon he was making the rounds and stirring up audiences at churches around Southern California
Southern California

Southern California, or So Cal, is defined as the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population centers on the cities of Los Angeles, California, San Diego, California, San Bernardino, California, and Riverside, California....
 and beyond, sometimes billed as the "child wonder of gospel."

Sylvester's home life disintegrated when he was a teenager. He clashed with his mother and stepfather, finally running away from home at age 16. For several years he lived on and around the streets of Los Angeles, but managed to finish high school and enroll at Lamert Beauty College. James moved to San Francisco in 1967 and by his own account, his life began at that time.

Career


In San Francisco, Sylvester performed in a musical production called Women of the Blues, then joined a short-lived group of transvestite
Transvestism

Transvestism is the practice of cross-dressing, which is wearing the clothing of the opposite sex. Transvestite refers to a person who cross-dresses; however, the word often has additional connotations....
 performance artists called The Cockettes
The Cockettes

The Cockettes were a psychedelic drag queen troupe founded by Hibiscus in the late 1960s in San Francisco's North Beach, San Francisco, California neighborhood....
 in the early 1970s, his repertoire of Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith was an United States blues singer.The most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s, Smith is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era, and along with Louis Armstrong, a major influence on subsequent jazz vocalists....
 songs in tow. After leaving The Cockettes, Sylvester performed in San Francisco a number of different times as a solo act. One of his most famed shows, entitled Jungle Sin which reprised Sylvester’s greatest Cockette solo songs, took place at the San Francisco supper club Bimbo's and was produced by the rock impresario David Ferguson
David Ferguson (impresario)

David Ferguson is an American promoter of underground music artists. Over his career, he has worked with musical acts such as John Lydon , Iggy Pop, and claims to have worked with the psychedelic drag queen group The Cockettes....
 in 1972. That same year, Sylvester performed at The Temple in San Francisco with the then-unknown Pointer Sisters which was also produced by Ferguson. Sylvester can be seen in the Cockettes' outrageous short film Tricia's Wedding, lampooning the wedding of President Nixon's
Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the only president to resign the office....
 daughter Tricia, and in an eponymous 2002 documentary
Documentary film

Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality. Although "documentary film" originally referred to movies shot on film stock, it has subsequently expanded to include video and new media productions that can be either direct-to-video or made for a televis...
 about the group (which at one time included Divine).

In 1972, Sylvester supplied two cuts to Lights Out San Francisco, an album compiled by the KSAN radio station and released on the Blue Thumb label. In 1973, Sylvester & his Hot Band released two rock-oriented albums on Blue Thumb (their self-titled debut was also known as "Scratch My Flower," due to a gardenia-shaped scratch-and-sniff sticker adhered to the cover). In 1974, Sylvester met Horus Jack Tolsen (Keyboards) together with Sylvester's drummer Amadeo Barrios (drums) and Brother Adrian Barrios (Bass) formed a trio which backed up Sylvester at a nightclub in San Francisco called Cabaret - After Dark. Shortly after Horus was fired, Amadeo brought in new players, Archie White (Keyboards), Angel Reyes
Angel Reyes

?ngel Reyes is a Cuban violinist.In New York City during 1933, Reyes was the principal violinist of the Thirteenth Sound Group of Havana, with which he recorded Julian Carrillo?s Preludio a Col?n on the Columbia Records record label....
 (Guitar), Background vocalist Bianca Thorton, Gerry Kirby
Gerry Kirby

Gerry Kirby, is an American entertainer. He was born Gerald Kirby in Portland, Oregon, and was a backup singer for Sylvester James, and performed in Hello, Dolly! with Pearl Bailey in the early 1970s....
 and another vocalist named Debbie. This took Sylvester into a new musical direction. The band unofficially called themselves The Four A's and had finally thrown in the towel after several attempts to get signed by a major label. In 1975 The Brother's Barrios gave it one last shot before joining The Lenny Willians Band.

Sylvester signed a solo deal to Fantasy Records
Fantasy Records

Fantasy Records is a United States based record label, which was founded by Max and Sol Weiss in 1949 in San Francisco, California. They had previously operated a record pressing plant called Circle Record Company before forming the Fantasy label....
 in 1977, working with the production talents of legendary Motown producer Harvey Fuqua
Harvey Fuqua

Harvey Fuqua, born July 27, 1929 in Louisville, Kentucky, is an African-American soul music singer, songwriter, record producer, and record label executive....
, who produced his album Stars in 1979. Sylvester later alleged that Fuqua cheated him out of millions of dollars. Sylvester soon met his frequent collaborator Patrick Cowley
Patrick Cowley

Patrick Joseph Cowley was a Disco and Hi-NRG dance music composer and recording artist. He recorded in a similar style to Giorgio Moroder, and is often credited with pioneering electronic dance music....
. Cowley's synthesizer and Sylvester's voice proved to be a magical combination, and pushed Sylvester's sound in an increasingly dance-oriented direction; his second solo album, Step II (1978), unleashed two disco classics: "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)," and "Dance (Disco Heat)". These two songs charted together on the American dance chart
Hot Dance Club Play

Billboard 's Hot Dance Club Play chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. nightclubs. It is compiled by Billboard exclusively from playlists submitted by nightclub disc jockeys who must apply and meet certain criteria to become "Billboard-reporting DJs."...
 and spent six weeks at #1 on this chart in August and September of 1978. By this time both his live shows and recordings also recognizably featured the back-up vocals of Two Tons O' Fun: future Weather Girls
Weather Girls

The Weather Girls are an United States girl group that formed in 1982....
 Martha Wash
Martha Wash

Martha Wash is an Contemporary R&B, soul music, house music, and dance music singer/songwriter known for her distinctive and powerful voice....
 and Izora Rhodes
Izora Armstead

Izora Rhodes Armstead was one half of the 1980s pop music group the Weather Girls.Born Izora Rhodes, she linked up with Sylvester James and Patrick Cowley in San Francisco, California in the late 1970s as a backing vocalist, along with Martha Wash....
. 1979 brought three Billboard awards and an appearance in the movie, The Rose
The Rose (film)

The Rose is a 1979 in film film which tells the story of a self-destructive 1960s rock and roll star who struggles to cope with the constant pressures of her career and the demands of her ruthless business manager....
, starring Bette Midler
Bette Midler

Bette Midler is an American singing, actress and comedienne, also known as The Divine Miss M. During her career, she has won four Grammy Awards, four Golden Globes, three Emmy Awards, and a Tony Awards, and has been nominated for two Academy Awards....
.

Moving to Megatone Records in 1982, Sylvester quickly landed a Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG

Hi-NRG is high-tempo disco music , as well as a more specific, derivative genre of electronic dance music that achieved mainstream popularity in the mid to late 1980s....
 classic with "Do You Wanna Funk", which was featured in the 1983 film Trading Places
Trading Places

Trading Places is an Academy Award-nominated 1983 in film comedy film starring Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis. It was directed by John Landis and written by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod....
. He was close friends with other Megatone artists Linda Imperial and Jeanie Tracy
Jeanie Tracy

Jeanie Tracy is a female African American Contemporary R&B, Dance-pop, Hi-NRG and House music singer and actress born in Houston, Texas and raised in Fresno, California....
. Sylvester was also very close to Patti LaBelle
Patti LaBelle

Patricia Louise Holte , best known by her stage name of Patti LaBelle, is an American rhythm and blues and soul music singer-songwriter and actor....
 and Sarah Dash
Sarah Dash

Sarah Dash is a singer and actress. Her first notable appearance on the music scene was as a member of Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles....
 for whom he recorded background vocals for her dance hit "Lucky Tonight".

Later pressure from the label to "butch up" his image would result in him attending meetings in full-on drag. A drag photo shoot, which he staged and presented to label heads as a gag (calling it his "new album cover") would later grace the cover of Immortal after Sylvester died; it was the label's way of paying tribute to his spirit. In 1985, one of his dreams came true as he was summoned to sing back-up for Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter and pianist commonly referred to as "The Queen of Soul". Although renowned for her soul recordings, Franklin is also adept at jazz, rock and roll, blues, Pop music, Rhythm and Blues and Gospel music....
 on her Who's Zoomin' Who?
Who's Zoomin' Who?

Who's Zoomin' Who? is an Aretha Franklin album, originally released in the summer of 1985. It was the first ever million-selling Platinum record of Aretha's entire recording career....
 comeback album. His sole Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records

Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an United States record label that operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Warner Music Group. It is also affectionately known as "Warners" and 'the Bunny', based on the Bugs Bunny cartoons released by Warner Bros....
 album was Mutual Attraction in 1986; a single from the album, "Someone Like You", became Sylvester's second #1 hit on the US dance chart and featured original cover art by Keith Haring
Keith Haring

Keith Haring was an artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s....
.

Sylvester died of complications from AIDS
AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the HIV ....
 in San Francisco on December 16, 1988. He was 40 years old. His good friend Jeanie Tracy took care of Sylvester during his last days.

On September 20, 2004 Sylvester's anthem record, You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real), was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame
Dance Music Hall of Fame

The Dance Music Hall of Fame was created in 2003 when music industry veteran John Parker thought that something needed to be done to honor the creators and innovators of dance music....
. A year later, on September 19, 2005, Sylvester himself was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame for his achievement as an artist.

Discography


Albums

  • 1973: Sylvester & the Hot Band (performed by Sylvester & the Hot band)
  • 1973: Bazaar (performed by Sylvester & the Hot band)
  • 1977: Sylvester
  • 1978: Step II (U.S. top-200 #28, Italy top-50 #6)
  • 1979: Stars (U.S. top-200 #63, Italy top-5 #15)
  • 1979: Living Proof (double LP, recorded live) (U.S. top-200 #123)
  • 1980: Sell My Soul (U.S. top-200 #147)
  • 1981: Too Hot To Sleep (U.S. top-200 #156)
  • 1982: All I Need (U.S. Dance #3; Italy top-50 #23; U.S. top-200 #168)
  • 1983: Call Me
  • 1984: M-1015
  • 1985: 12 By 12
  • 1986: Mutual Attraction (U.S. top-200 #164)
  • 1989: Immortal


Main singles

  • 1973: "Southern Man" (performed by Sylvester & the Hot Band; Blue Thumb)
  • 1973: "Down On Your Knees" (performed by Sylvester & the Hot Band; Blue Thumb3)
  • 1977: "Down, Down, Down"
  • 1977: "Over And Over"
  • 1978: "Dance (Disco Heat)
    Dance (Disco Heat)

    "Dance " is the title of a 1978 single by United States disco music singer Sylvester James, who performed using just his first name, Sylvester. The song became Sylvester's first Top 40 hit in the US, where it peaked at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the fall of 1978; it also reached #29 on the UK singles chart....
    " (U.S. Dance #1; U.S. #19; UK #29)
  • 1978: "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)
    You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)

    "You Make Me Feel " is the title of a 1978 single by United States disco music singer Sylvester James, who performed using just his first name, Sylvester....
    " (U.S. Dance #1; UK #8; Italy #24; U.S. #36)
  • 1979: "I (Who Have Nothing)
    I (Who Have Nothing)

    "I " is a song originally released by Ben E. King in 1963. It has been covered by many artists, including most recently by American Idol contestant Jordin Sparks, and also by Nikki Kerkhof, the winner of Idols 4, the Dutch version of Pop Idol....
    " (U.S. #40 UK #46)
  • 1979: "Stars" (UK #47)
  • 1979: "Can't Stop Dancing"
  • 1980: "You Are My Friend"
  • 1980: "I Need You"
  • 1980: "Sell My Soul"
  • 1981: "Here Is My Love"
  • 1981: "Give It Up (Don't Make Me Wait)"
  • 1981: "Magic Number" (performed by Herbie Hancock featuring Sylvester)
  • 1982: "Do You Wanna Funk" (Patrick Cowley and Sylvester) (U.S. Dance #4; Norway #8; Switzerland #12; Netherlands #17; UK #32)
  • 1982: "Don't Stop"
  • 1982: "Tell Me"
  • 1982: "Be With You"
  • 1982: "All I Need"
  • 1983: "Don't Stop" (UK #77)
  • 1983: "Tell Me"
  • 1983: "Hard Up"
  • 1983: "Band Of Gold" (UK #67)
  • 1983: "Too Late"
  • 1983: "One Night Only"
  • 1983: "Trouble In Paradise"
  • 1984: "Stargazing" (performed by Earlene Bentley featuring Sylvester; UK release)
  • 1984: "Good Feeling" (German release)
  • 1984: "Call Me"
  • 1984: "Menergy"
  • 1984: "Rock The Box"
  • 1985: "Take Me To Heaven"
  • 1985: "Sex"
  • 1985: "Takin Love Into My Own hand" (Mexico release)
  • 1985 "Lovin Is Really My Game"
  • 1986: "Living For The City"
  • 1986: "Someone Like You" (U.S. Dance #1)
  • 1987: "Mutual Attraction"
  • 1987: "Sooner Or Later"


Additional recordings

  • 1972: Lights Out San Francisco
    • Sylvester supplies two tracks on this album compiled by the KSAN radio station


Audio samples


Books

  • The Fabulous Sylvester : The Legend, the Music, the 70s in San Francisco by Joshua Gamson, New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2005. ISBN 0-8050-7250-0


See also

  • List of number-one dance hits (United States)
    List of number-one dance hits (United States)

    This is a list of number-one dance hits as recorded by Billboard magazine's Hot Dance Club Play chart — a weekly national survey of popular songs in United States dance clubs....
  • List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart


External links

  • (endorsed by the the artist's Estate)
  • at Allmusic