Sylvester
Sylvester was a star, plain and simple. He was one of the first openly gay Pop music stars, and, unlike a group like the Village People, he was not a caricature. Sylvester was for real. His shows were wild and his personality flamboyant, but underneath was a sincere, talent-filled entertainer.
Sylvester James was born in 1946 in Los Angeles. He made his stage debut with the San Francisco-based Cockettes, an androgynous theatrical group, on New Year’s Eve 1970. Later in the 1970’s, Sylvester put together the rock-oriented Hot Band. He began recording for the Blue Thumb label but sales were disappointing. Returning to San Francisco, he began to build up a loyal audience with his outrageous stage
shows. After meeting Harvey Fuqua, talent scout for Fantasy Records, Sylvester set to work on his first solo album. He recruited Izora Whitehead and Martha Wash as backup singers and dubbed them Two Tons O’ Fun. The combination of Sylvester’s lead vocals and the Gospel-tinged backup was magic. The album,Sylvester was released in 1977 and the single Down, Down, Down backed with Over and Over, written by Ashford and Simpson, broke into the top 20 of the Disco chart.
For his next album, 1978’s Step II, Sylvester enlisted the assistance of a relativelyunknown remixer, Patrick Cowley. Cowley’s driving beat and shimmering keyboards turned You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) into a Disco classic and one of the biggest Disco hits of the year. The 12-inch single also featured Dance (Disco Heat), a showcase for Two Tons O’ Fun. The next album, 1979’s Stars included only 4 extended tracks and the trio of I (Who Have Nothing), Stars, and Body Strong broke into the Disco top 5 in the spring.
Although most Disco acts avoided live albums, Sylvester was at his strongest on stage. Taking advantage of his exciting stage performance, the live album Living Proof was released in late 1979 to the delight of fans. Recorded at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House, the album is a tour de force. Ranging from his Disco hits to an interpretation of Billie Holliday’s Lover Man, it is a powerful statement of Sylvester’s talent. Sylvester began the 1980’s on the Disco chart with Can’t Stop Dancing, a track from Living Proof. Midway through the year, Two Tons O’ Fun branched off on their own and topped the Disco chart with their first album. Late in the year Sylvester released the album, Sell My Soul. Harvey Fuqua had suggested he branch out into a wider variety of music as Disco’s popularity began to fade. Recorded without Patrick Cowley, the single I Need You failed to make the Disco top 5.
By 1981, Sylvester returned to working with Patrick Cowley and contributed vocals to Cowley’s Disco hit Menergy. He also contributed vocals to Herbie Hancock’s top 10 Disco hit Magic Number. One of his last collaborative efforts with Patrick Cowley was Do You Wanna Funk, a top 3 Dance hit in the fall of 1982. The album All I Need in 1983 kept Sylvester’s voice prominent in dance clubs. Unfortunately, Patrick Cowley became one of the first victims of the AIDs epidemic and Sylvester’s music never completely recovered. 1984’s Call Me suffered from lack of strong production.
Sylvester didn’t return to the Dance top 10 until 1985 with Take Me To Heaven and Sex from the album M1015. For his next album, 1987’s Mutual Attraction, Sylvester finally signed with a major label, Warner Brothers. His remake of Stevie Wonder’s Living For the City and Someone Like You were major Dance hits. The latter became his second chart-topping Dance hit. Sadly, this was to be his only full-length studio album recorded for Warner Brothers. Sylvester succumbed to the AIDs virus on December 16, 1988.
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