Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip: Linda Clifford

Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip: 

Linda Clifford

In my own personal big gay church there is a wing dedicated to those who belong to the Rhythm Nation. These divas got us to think, encouraged us to love and respect ourselves, made us feel sexy as hell and... most importantly, got us to dance! This diva has been bringing the magic to dance floors for decades and in the process, helped raise the nation's consciousness.

Linda Clifford.

With a voice that comes from the heart, she took 1978 by storm and set herself up for life in the process.

And her friends? Well, they certainly could see her now!

Cashbox named her their Top Female Vocalist, Billboard crowned her the Most Promising New Disco Artist of 1978, and Record World honored Clifford with the titles Best New Female Vocalist and Best Pop Album.

She then leant her voice to the cause of female empowerment and got folks both thinking and dancing. 

The lady has quiet a set of pipes. Great technique. Warm. Mature. Earthy. As those in the know like to say, she sings from her feet on up!

Her work with Curtis Mayfield set the stage for the rest of her career, allowing the world to see that she was much more than simply a disco dolly. 

Though her time in the red hot spotlight dimmed, the woman never stopped singing. As a member of The First Ladies of Disco (w/ Martha Wash and Norma Jean Wright) she's  enlightening and delighting audience to this very day.

The gospel according to her?

Well, here are three from the hip, dropping from her lips.

The topic? Herstory.

On having the very first #1 disco/dance song in Billboard Magazine

"It was the last week of April 1978 when Marv Stuart, Vice President of Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom Records, called her at home. “I was on my hands and knees washing my kitchen floor,” she remembers. “I picked up the phone and Marv said, ‘You’re number one in Billboard.’ I said, ‘Ha ha, very funny’ and I hung up. He called me back and said, ‘Don’t hang up. I’m not kidding. You’re number one.’ I immediately dropped the phone, ran out, and bought a copy of Billboard because I had to see it."

"I didn’t know what to think,” she continues. “I knew I was happy. I called my dad. He’s not home. I called my sister. She’s not home. Nobody was there to get my call! At that time, phone machines weren’t that big a thing, so I couldn’t even leave a message! Here I am in the middle of my living room, jumping up and down, holding Billboard."

"In this business, you just never know how something’s going to be accepted. You always hope for the best. People accepted that album for what it was. They really seemed to like it and I was really grateful for that. It got me noticed as an artist."

On recording If My Friends Could See Me Now

"At that time in my life, I was breaking into acting, I was doing a lot of ‘extra’ work. Every once in awhile, I’d get to be a dead body or say a line or something. When the call came in to do Sweet Charity, I was one of the people that was selected."

"That suggestion (to record If My Friends Could See Me Now) came out of the blue from Marv’s secretary, I said, ‘Wait a second. That’s from Sweet Charity.’ I thought, That’s a Broadway musical. You can’t turn that into dance music. That’s blasphemous! I kind of turned her down.

"I guess she went to Marv Stuart. Gil had an idea for an arrangement. They went in and they cut the track without me. I heard it and I thought, well it doesn’t sound anything like the Broadway version or the movie version. This is really good! I was taken aback by the fullness and the beauty of the sound — the real violins, real musicians playing. When I heard that, I thought, This is classic. This is beauty of another type, but still beauty just the same. Then I became so proud of the fact that this was going to be my song."

"I felt I really had to put everything I had into this. That wasn’t hard to do because I felt the lyric. The lyric was so personal to me, and still is. I grew up in Brooklyn. I always had that wanderlust and that eagerness to learn and see more. That’s what got me out of there."

On the impact of her song, Runaway Love 

"I think back at that particular time, women were being more vocal about their position in society and fighting for equal pay. We’re still going through that. At the same time, I was doing Runaway Love and really speaking up for myself and saying, ‘I don’t need this.’ It was almost like it was a women’s lib album. You had that flowing through it."

"We were in the studio, At that point, Gil had some of his players who were in California and some of my band. The guys were all sitting around on their equipment. Keni started playing this funk groove. I was getting into the groove so I stepped up to the mic, just goofing around, and I started talking about my ex-husband! The next thing I knew, the engineer Roger Anfinsen comes in and goes, ‘That’s a hit!’ I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ He said, ‘I recorded that. Listen to this.’ I was so embarrassed. I said, ‘No you can’t play that for anybody.’ I fought against having that song released. It was so personal, even though I was laughing and we were making a big joke.”

"In the beginning, I didn’t want everybody to know what I’d been through. Then I came to realize I’m not the only one who’s been through this. Other people have had to deal with this kind of relationship too. The song gave them something to relate to. It made the hurt a little less, to be able to talk about it and laugh about it."

If My Friends Could See Me Now - Linda Clifford

Red Light - Linda Clifford

Philly Groove - DJ Romain & Danny Krivit feat. Linda Clifford

(Joey Negro's Philly Jump Mix)

And one last parting shot...

"I got in a cab at O’Hare in Chicago to take me home. Runaway Love came on the radio. The cab driver looked in the rear view mirror and said, ‘Oh my God. It’s you.’ He pulled over on Lake Shore Drive and tried to throw me out of the cab! He said, 'My girlfriend put me out because of this song.' I said, 'She didn’t put you out because of this song; you must be an asshole!' Then he just started laughing!”

Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip: Evelyn "Champagne" King

Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip:

Evelyn "Champagne" King

In my own personal big gay church there is a wing dedicated to those who belong to the Rhythm Nation. These divas got us to think, encouraged us to love and respect ourselves, made us feel sexy as hell and... most importantly, got us to dance! One diva has been bringing the magic to dance floors for decades and to this day manages to get our feet moving to the beat.

Evelyn "Champagne" King.

As sparkling, effervescent and delicious as the beverage that is her namesake.

The lady knows how to lay down a groove. Simply. Honestly. Truthfully.

At the age of 16, she enjoyed a Top 10 Hit which helped define the latter half of the disco era. 

As she matured, she began to explore additional musical styles, keeping our feet moving the entire time.

Her appeal has always been across the board and she's never stopped; decade after decade, she's been out there, sharing the love.

Eventually, she joined forces with the Divas of Dance (Martha Wash, Linda Clifford) and introduced a whole new generation of club kids to their music, thanks to their club hit Show Some Love.

To this day, the lady sparkles and shines, delivering up soulful spoonfuls of dance at its finest.

The gospel according to her?

Well, here are three from the hip, dropping from her lips.

The topic? How it all began...

"King Amateur hour at home! When we weren’t watching television, we’d put on our own show! Everyone did something: sing, play an instrument. Sometimes we’d go on until four in the morning and all the neighbors figured we were having a big party! We used to think that maybe we could go out there as a family like The Jacksons, something like that. But it was always big fun!"

 

"It just so happened that my mother, my father and my sister were all working up at Philly International Records and I was helping out part time."

"One day my sister got sick and my mother asked me to take her place, so I did. As I was cleaning the ladies room, I was singing a Sam Cooke song, A Change Is Gonna Come. An executive of the record company (producer T. Life) walks by the room and from the hallway says, 'Who's singing in there? Come out here.' He told me right there on the spot that he was going to make me a star, but you know how that is, people tell you so many different things, so I didn’t really take it too seriously."

"(T.) Life had given me a couple of songs: Till I Come Off The Road and Smooth Talk. I learned them, we had a couple of rehearsals and we recorded them. Everyone figured I’d be real nervous but it was really okay. I just went in there and sang. It’s what I’d been waiting for all my life — I’d been ready for it and now it’s happening."

Shame - Evelyn "Champagne" King

Love Come Down - Evelyn "Champagne" King

Everybody - Evelyn "Champagne" King w/ Miguel Migs

And one last parting shot...

"My nickname was "Bubbles" and "Champagne" is bubbles on the rocks!"

Show Some Love - First Ladies of Disco

(John LePage + Brian Cua Remix) 

Of Note: ‘Show Some Love’ by The First Ladies of Disco

Of Note: ‘Show Some Love’ by The First Ladies of Disco

Somebody pinch me.  I must be dreaming!

How can one not applaud this effort?  Each diva (Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King, Linda Clifford, Martha Wash) is a legend of the dance floor.  To bring them all together?  Divine!

Linda Clifford’s disco version of ‘Sweet Charity’s’ ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now’ was one of my childhood’s guiltiest of pleasures.  She enjoyed a string of hits, including four #1 hits on Billboard’s dance chart.  Her duets with the iconic Curtis Mayfield also made quite an impression on the R&B charts.

Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King?  I bow down before this woman.  ‘Shame’ hit the airwaves, scorching everyone’s ears.  I was captivated and never stopped listening.  She enjoyed four Top 10 hits on the Billboard’s Hot 100, while her music fared even better on the R&B and dance charts.

Martha Wash: (Sylvester, Two Tons of Fun, Black Box, C&C Music Factory).  Need I say more?  The lady is still filling dance floors.  Her most recent singles (‘I’m Not Coming Down’ and ‘Free People’ with Tony Moran) both topped the dance chart.  There’s simply no stopping this powerhouse vocalist and she is looking better than ever these days.

The First Ladies of Disco is the brainchild of artistic director James Washington, inspired by James Arena’s same-named book in which Arena interviewed 32 stars of the disco era. 

Oh, I do hope there is more where this came from. Such quintessential voices must be heard.