Cheryl Lynn

Raised in the church in Los Angeles, California, Cheryl Lynn was once too shy to sing church solos. By 1978, she was a speech pathology major in college. With her singing talents known primarily by her family and her then-boyfriend, she had not considered a career as a singer. Yet her boyfriend, Delbert Langston, issued an ultimatum: she would have to demonstrate her ample pipes on The Gong Show (1976) or else he would stop dating her. The bashful Lynn sung "You Are So Beautiful". Winning the contest, soon she was receiving phone messages from Atlantic Records' producer Ahmet Ertegun and Elektra Records' Bob Krasnow. A recording contract from Columbia Records soon followed and a pairing with producer-composer David Paich. Lynn enjoyed a string of hits in the late 1970s through the 1980s, among them were "Got To Be Real", "Star Love", "Shake it Up Tonight", "If This World Were Mine" (duet with Luther Vandross) and "Encore". She was also the female vocalist on the original version of the now-standard Soul-Pop classic, "Georgy Porgy", by the rock group Toto. Not unlike other singers who came to prominence in the short-lived Disco era, Lynn saw a decline in her record sales by the late 1980s. She remains, however, one of the most talented and best remembered vocalists from that era. In the mid-1990s, Cheryl released her last album to date, "Good Time", as well as "Got To Be Real-The Best Of Cheryl Lynn". For all of her fans and music lovers that enjoy sincere, passionate vocals, her return to the recording studio with a new album would be more than welcome.