Silk Degrees is the seventh album by Boz Scaggs, released on the Columbia Records label in 1976. The album reached #2 on the U.S. pop albums chart.

The album marked Scaggs' commercial zenith, mainly spearheaded by the R&B/Soul hit "Lowdown". The album is a mix of straight pop rock tracks ("Jump Street" and "Lido Shuffle"), smooth soul compositions ("What Can I Say" and "Lowdown") and appealing ballads ("Harbor Lights" and "We're All Alone"; the latter was later a hit for Rita Coolidge).

"Lowdown" reached the top 5 on the club play, black, disco and pop charts and also did respectably on the AC chart, with its peak at #3 on the pop chart. The song is an airplay staple to this day, particularly on AC, oldies and smooth jazz radio stations. "It's Over", "What Can I Say" and "Lido Shuffle" reached #38, #42 and #11, respectively, on the pop chart. The album was recorded at Davlen Sound Studios and Hollywood Sound Studios, Los Angeles. Among the accompanying musicians, David Paich, Jeff Porcaro, Steve Porcaro, and David Hungate would go on to form the band Toto.

William Royce "Boz" Scaggs (born June 8, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He gained fame in the 1960s as a guitarist and occasional lead singer with the Steve Miller Band and in the 1970s with several solo Top 20 hit singles in the United States, along with the #2 album, Silk Degrees. Scaggs continues to write, record music and tour.

Scaggs was born in Canton, Ohio, the son of a traveling salesman. The family moved to McAlester, Oklahoma, then to Plano, at that time a Texas farm town just north of Dallas. He attended a Dallas private school, St. Mark's, where a schoolmate gave him the nickname "Bosley"; this was later shortened to "Boz".

After learning guitar at the age of 12, he met Steve Miller at St. Mark's. In 1959, he became the vocalist for Miller's band, The Marksmen. The pair later attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison together, playing in blues bands like The Ardells and The Fabulous Knight Trains.

Leaving school, Scaggs briefly joined the burgeoning rhythm and blues scene in London. After singing in bands such as The Wigs and Mother Earth, he traveled to Sweden as a solo performer, and in 1965 recorded his solo debut album, Boz, which was not a commercial success. Scaggs also had a brief stint with the band The Other Side with Mac MacLeod and fellow American Jack Downing.

Marc Singer (born January 29, 1948) is a Canadian-born American actor best known for his roles in the Beastmaster film series and as Mike Donovan in the original 1980s TV series V.

Singer was born in Vancouver, British Columbia into a family of performers. His father, Jacques Singer, was a symphony conductor, his mother, Leslie, a concert pianist, and his sister, Lori, is also an actress. His cousin, Bryan, is a noted film producer/director. Marc was raised in Corpus Christi, Texas. He is married to actress Haunani Minn.

Singer has appeared in several fantasy adventure films and series, such as The Beastmaster and its sequels, in which he played the title role, and as Mike Donovan in the 1983 mini-series V, the 1984 sequel V: The Final Battle, and the TV series V: The Series.

Other roles include the 1982 film If You Could See What I Hear (where he portrayed blind musician Tom Sullivan), Body Chemistry, Something for Joey (as football star John Cappelletti), Watchers II, High Desert Kill, The Fighter, Go Tell the Spartans and Dead Space, as well as General Klaus Von Kraut in A Man Called Sarge.

Deborah 'Debbie' Shelton (born November 21, 1948) is an American beauty queen and actress who held the Miss USA title and appeared on Dallas for three seasons.

In 1970 Shelton competed in the Miss Virginia USA pageant to spite her then boyfriend. She won the title and represented Virginia in the Miss USA 1970 pageant held in Miami, Florida in May 1970.

At the pageant, Shelton won the Miss Pixable award and was subsequently crowned Miss USA 1970. She was crowned by former titleholder Wendy Dascomb, also of Virginia; this was the first time that a state had won the Miss USA title back to back.

Shelton then went on to the Miss Universe contest in Miami, Florida in July where she placed first runner-up to Marisol Malaret of Puerto Rico. She described competing at Miss Universe as "perhaps her greatest experience".

During her reign Shelton travelled across the United States and internationally, including visits to Japan, Spain, Portugal, Brazil and Puerto Rico.

For winning Miss USA she received $5,000 in cash, a $5,000 mink coat and made another $5,000 from personal appearances.

Gilbert Gottfried (born February 28, 1955) is an American actor, voice actor and stand-up comedian best known for his trademark comedic persona of speaking in a loud, grating tone of voice. He has played numerous roles in film and television, perhaps most notably voicing the parrot Iago in Disney's Aladdin (1992), and co-starred in the Problem Child movies. He is also known for voicing Digit in the children's cartoon/educational math-based show Cyberchase, the Aflac duck until 2011 and Marley the alligator in Winnie the Pooh.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1955, Gottfried is the youngest of three children.

At age fifteen, Gilbert Gottfried began doing amateur stand-up in New York City and, after a few years, became known^{[by whom?]} as "the comedian's comedian." In 1980, the popular NBC late-night comedy show Saturday Night Live was being retooled with a new staff and new comedians; the producers noticed Gottfried and hired him as a cast member. During the 1980–1981 season, Gottfried's persona in SNL sketches was very different from his later characterization: he rarely (if ever) spoke in his trademark screeching, obnoxious voice and never squinted. During his 12-episode stint, he was given very little airtime and seldom used in sketches. Gottfried recalls a low point was having to play a corpse in a sketch about a sports organist hired to play inappropriate music at a funeral. Despite this, he had one recurring character (Leo Waxman, husband to Denny Dillon's Pinky Waxman on the recurring talk show sketch, "What's It All About?") and two celebrity impersonations: David A. Stockman and controversial film director Roman Polanski.