Shalamar began as a thrown-together producer's group and wound up one of the most popular and exciting vocal groups of the late 70s and early 80s. When Soul Train host Don Cornelius and show A&R man Dick Griffey decided to create Soul Train Records - later called Sound of Los Angeles Records (or SOLAR, for short) - they debuted with a discofied Motown medley called "Uptown Festival" performed by a group of studio musicians and singers dubbed Shalamar. When the song turned out to be a smash dance hit, a singing group of Soul Train dancers was put together as the face of Shalamar. Consisting of Jody Watley, Jeffrey Daniel and Gerald Brown, the new group scored a couple hits and had two moderately successful albums, Uptown Festival and Disco Gardens, before Brown was replaced by mellifluous singer Howard Hewett.
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Jody Watley Interviews with Essence
ESSENCE.COM: You started with the group Shalamar. Do you think there will ever be a reunion?
WATLEY: That's probably the question I get asked the most (laughs). Not in the foreseeable future. I've always been the one to keep it moving forward. I've been on my own longer than I've been with Shalamar. Shalamar was a fantastic experience and there are a lot of people that would like to see it...but I don't really see it. You never know, maybe something like BET will honor the group and we get together for something special like that. Just throwing that out there! (laughs)
ESSENCE.COM: I'd love to see it! You and Howard Hewett up there again!
WATLEY: (Laughs) For me, I was kind of a caterpillar and I turned into a butterfly. It's just very difficult being your own person, a soloist, to go back to a background role.
Mikkie Free and Prince"And Mikki Free was like the new cat in Shalamar that when he joined the group, I heard mad cats was like, "Yo man Shalamar got a new, new girl in there man, that bitch fine like a mf!"
~Charlie Murphy
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