Shalamar
Shalamar, back stage in 1983. Left to right, Howard Hewett, Jody Watley, and Jeffrey Daniel.
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres	Disco, Post-disco, R&B, boogie, soul
Years active	1975–1991; 2005–present
Labels	SOLAR Records
Website	Official website
Members
Jeffrey Daniel Howard Hewett Carolyn Griffey
Past members
Jody Watley Gary Mumford Gerald Brown Delisa Davis Micki Free Sydney Justin

Shalamar /ˈʃæləmɑr/ is an American music group, primarily active in the 1970s and 1980s, that was originally a disco-driven vehicle created by Soul Train booking agent Dick Griffey and show creator Don Cornelius.^[1][2] They went on to be an influential dance trio, masterminded by Soul Train producer Don Cornelius.^[3] As noted in the British Hit Singles & Albums, they were regarded as fashion icons and trendsetters, and helped to introduce 'body-popping' to the United Kingdom.^[3] Their collective name 'Shalamar' was picked by Griffey.^[4]

Career[link]

Their first hit was the 1975 Motown-inspired production "Uptown Festival," and released on Soul Train Records the success of which inspired Griffey and Don Cornelius to replace session singers with popular Soul Train dancers Jody Watley and Jeffrey Daniel to join original Shalamar lead singer Gary Mumford. Gerald Brown would take over the spot vacated by Mumford in 1978 for the Disco Gardens album which featured the hit "Take That To The Bank". After conflicts over lack of payment from Dick Griffey and Solar Records, Brown would leave the group.^[5] Brown was replaced by Howard Hewett in 1979.^[2]

The group was joined up with producer Leon Sylvers III in 1979, signed with Griffey's SOLAR Records and scored a US million seller with "The Second Time Around."

In the UK the group had a string of hits with songs such as "Take That to the Bank" (1978), "I Owe You One" (1980) and 1982's "I Can Make You Feel Good", "A Night to Remember", "There It Is" and "Friends".^[1] The album of the same title Friends was also a big seller in the UK in 1982 crossing the genres of pop, disco and soul. The band's record sales in the UK increased when Daniel demonstrated his body-popping dancing skills on BBC Television's music programme, Top of the Pops, premiering the Moonwalk on television for the first time. Michael Jackson was a fan of the group, in particular, Daniel and his dance moves, after watching him on Soul Train.^{[citation needed]} Jackson and Daniel met after, and Jackson took his then 12 year old sister Janet to see Shalamar perform at Disneyland. Daniel co-choreographed Jackson's "Bad" and "Smooth Criminal" videos.^{[citation needed]}

The "classic" lineup of Shalamar (Hewett, Watley, and Daniel) scored a total of three gold albums in the US with Big Fun, Three for Love (which eventually went platinum) and Friends.^[1]

The group took a knock when Watley and Daniel separately left the band over conflicts within the group and other issues. Adding to the subsequent departure was Watley's increasing frustration with SOLAR Records and Dick Griffey shortly after the release of their next album, The Look, in 1983.^[1][2] Nonetheless, the album yielded a number of UK hit singles including "Disappearing Act", "Dead Giveaway" and "Over and Over". The album itself moved Shalamar into a more new wave/synthpop direction, with rock guitars to the fore. But The Look generally was not the success that Friends had been the previous year.

With a mid 1980s line-up change with Delisa Davis and Micki Free, Shalamar returned to the US Top 20 in 1984 with "Dancing in the Sheets" from the Footloose soundtrack, peaking at #17, and they won a Grammy for "Don't Get Stopped in Beverly Hills" from Beverly Hills Cop in 1984.^[1][2]

After Hewett left for a solo career in 1985 and was replaced by Sydney Justin, the band faded into temporary obscurity.^[1][2] The group recorded 1987's Circumstantial Evidence, which was a commercial disappointment, and faded away soon after the release of 1990s Wake Up.^[2]

Jody Watley launched her own influential solo career in 1987, winning the Grammy Award for Best New Artist^[6][7][8][9] Her hits include "Looking for a New Love," "Real Love," and "Friends" featuring Eric B & Rakim (noted to be the first Pop/R&B crossover single to include a rapper with the customized 16 bar verse, later becoming a popular formula in commercial music).^[10][11]Along with Janet Jackson and Madonna, Watley ranks as one of MTV Video Music Awards most-nominated female artists. Watley was also one of the few American singers to perform on the original Band Aid record recorded by mostly British singers in November 1984.

Reunions[link]

In 1996, Watley rejoined with Hewett and Daniel, plus LL Cool J, on Babyface's million-selling single "This Is for the Lover in You"; a cover of a hit single from Shalamar's 1980 album Three for Love.^[1][12] A music video was shot in which the three former members of Shalamar were digitally reunited on screen.^[13] Hewett, Watley, and Daniel subsequently joined Babyface and LL Cool J to perform the song on the UK's Top of the Pops in 1998. Billed as Shalamar, it marked the classic trio's first and only live performance together since 1983.^[14]

Shalamar reformed in 2005, for the UK television series, Hit Me, Baby, One More Time, with original member Daniel and Hewett, and with new member Carolyn Griffey (a long time friend and fan of the original band, and daughter of Shalamar founder and Solar Record boss Dick Griffey). Carolyn's mother is Carrie Lucas for whom Watley sang backing vocals. They reached the grand final of Hit Me, Baby, One More Time in May 2005, ultimately losing out to Shakin' Stevens.

Shalamar was featured in a segment of TV One's series Unsung, in which Watley, Daniel and Hewett shared their stories about the creation of the group, the lack of payment and royalties from Solar Records, success, egos, and the breakup of the classic lineup. Dick Griffey, Micki Free, Delisa Davis, and Sydney Justin were also interviewed for the episode.

In October 2009, the reformed Shalamar of Hewett, Daniel and Griffey, performed as a part of "The Ultimate Boogie Nights Disco Concert Series", at IndigO2 within O2 Arena Entertainment Avenue in London.^[15][16] This prompted their return to the UK in April 2010 for a tour. Hewett, Griffey and Daniel, returned to IndigO2 in October 2011.^[17]

Discography[link]

See also[link]

• List of artists who reached number one on the Billboard R&B chart
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
• List of disco artists (S-Z)
• List of acts who appeared on American Bandstand
• List of performers on Top of the Pops

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Shalamar website
• Shalamar at Allmusic
• Official Jody Watley Website
• Official Jeffrey Daniel website

Jeffrey Daniel (Jeffrey Daniels born 24 August 1955,^[1] Los Angeles, California^[2]) is an American dancer, singer-songwriter and choreographer, most notable for being a member of the R&B vocal group Shalamar. In Nigeria he is best known as an Idol series judge. ^[3]

Career[link]

Daniel first performed "the backslide", a physically complicated dance technique, now known as the "moonwalk" on British television, during a performance of Shalamar's "A Night to Remember" on Top of the Pops. The song was a hit in 1982, almost a year before Michael Jackson moonwalked on the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever television broadcast; he was a big fan of Soul Train^[4] - on which Jeffrey Daniel had been a back-up dancer. According to Jackson's sister La Toya, Jackson was a fan of Daniel's dancing and sought him out. He soon met, hired and learned from Daniel^[5].

Daniel became a renowned and respected pioneer of the West coast Street dance movement^{[citation needed]}. He and his peers took a style of dance from the streets and clubs to the mainstream music and media world.^{[citation needed]} The world saw a fusion of Jazz, Popping, Locking, Robotics, Waacking, House and Hip hop merged into effortless sequences of remarkable physical complexity^{[citation needed]}.

During his career he has taught, worked and ranked alongside other friends and dance pioneers such as Shabba Doo, Geron Casper Candidate, Cooley Jackson, Poppin Pete and The Electric Boogaloos^{[citation needed]}.

Daniel gives great credit to a man that inspired him, the original dance 'Locker' Don Campbell, one of the earliest Soul Train dancers. He also gives thanks to Cleveland Moses Jr. his partner on Soul Train and to Tyrone Proctor who was the premier 'Waack' dancer who taught Jeffrey the style of dance known as 'Waacking'. It was on Soul Train^[6] whilst doing a routine dressed in black that Daniel and Geron 'Casper' Candidate and Derek 'Cooley' Jackson^[7] first performed the moonwalk on U.S. television.

Daniel and his Soul Train dance partner Jody Watley, (whom he had known since she was twelve years old from church)^{[citation needed]} along with Howard Hewett, became the world famous soul funk group - Shalamar. They had a string of hits such as "A Night to Remember", "I Can Make You Feel Good", "There It Is", "Friends", and others. Daniel had become something of a style icon with his ever-changing hair styles and unique dress sense. He was often seen on the London club scene with the likes of Bananarama, Wham and Culture Club. ^[8] On June 13, 1980, Daniel married R&B singer Stephanie Mills, but they shortly divorced. ^[9]

After seven years, millions of albums sales, and tours around the world, Shalamar performed at London's Wembley Arena and went their separate ways in 1984. Soon after, Daniel took on the role of 'Electra' in Andrew Lloyd Webber's new West End musical Starlight Express which involved wild costumes with complex choreography on roller skates.

Also in 1984 Daniel appeared in the Paul McCartney movie Give My Regards to Broad Street displaying his signature robotic or marionette-like dancing style (with McCartney, his wife Linda McCartney and members of the band Toto made up as marionettes) to the Wings hit, "Silly Love Songs".

By 1987, Daniel was working with Michael Jackson who had always been a fan of Daniel's dance style since watching him on Soul Train in the 1970s^[4][5]. He was hired as co-choreographer on the "Bad" and "Smooth Criminal" videos with primary choreographer Travis Payne in which he also starred with his "dance brothers" Geron "Casper" Candidate and Cooley Jackson^{[citation needed]}.

He was later employed as a creative and choreography consultant on his world tours and the video Ghosts^{[citation needed]}. Daniel's music and dance expertise was then employed when he became a consultant at the MJJ Productions record label to whom Brownstone, 3T and Men of Vision were signed. Michael Jackson flew Daniel back to live in the United States from Japan where Daniel had taken up residence since leaving the United Kingdom.^{[citation needed]}

Today, Daniel works and lives between London and Osaka, Japan.^{[citation needed]} He is a fluent speaker and writer of the Japanese language with a fair grasp of Cantonese.^{[citation needed]} He continues to perform, choreograph, produce, and compose with some of the biggest names in showbusiness^{[citation needed]}. He has worked with, amongst others, Babyface, LL Cool J, Paul McCartney, Sheena Easton and Vanessa Williams.

He joined Nigerian Idol as a judge in 2010.

References[link]

According to the tv series UnSung, Jody and Jeffrey state they met on Soul Train and began dating while dancing together.. Jeffrey was a Los Angeles native, while Jody was from the midwest and moved to Los Angeles as a young teen.

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Jeffrey Daniel at the Internet Movie Database
• Archive of Jeffrey Daniel and Shalamar Videos
• YouTube video of Jeffrey Daniel moonwalking on Top of the Pops to Shalamar's "A Night to Remember"
• http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/taught-Jacko-Moonwalk/article-1487193-detail/article.html

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