Sylvester (singer)

Sylvester James, Jr. (September 6, 1947 – December 16, 1988), who used the stage name of Sylvester, was an American singer-songwriter. Primarily active in the genres of disco, rhythm and blues, and soul, he was known for his flamboyant and androgynous appearance and falsetto singing voice.

Born in Watts, Los Angeles to a middle-class African-American family, Sylvester developed a love of singing through the gospel choir of his Pentecostal church. Leaving the church after the congregation expressed disapproval of his homosexuality, he found friendship among a group of black cross-dressers and transgender women who called themselves The Disquotays. Moving to San Francisco in 1970 at the age of 22, Sylvester embraced the counterculture and joined avant-garde drag troupe The Cockettes, producing solo segments of their shows which were heavily influenced by female blues and jazz singers like Billie Holiday and Josephine Baker. During the Cockettes' critically panned tour of New York City, Sylvester left them to pursue his career elsewhere. He came to front Sylvester and his Hot Band, a rock act that released two commercially unsuccessful albums on Blue Thumb Records in 1973 before disbanding.

Sylvester

Sylvester is a name derived from the Latin adjective silvestris meaning "wooded" or "wild", which derives from the noun silva meaning "woodland". Classical Latin spells this with i. In Classical Latin y represented a separate sound distinct from i, not a native Latin sound but one used in transcriptions of foreign words. After the Classical period y came to be pronounced as i. Spellings with Sylv- in place of Silv- date from after the Classical period.

Sylvester may refer to

Surname

Do Ya Wanna Funk

"Do Ya Wanna Funk" is a dance song recorded by American recording artist Sylvester. The song was released in 1982 and it was produced by Patrick Cowley, who incidentally died the same year. "Do Ya Wanna Funk" was mostly successful in Europe, especially Switzerland, Netherlands, Norway (where it became a top-10 hit) and even in the United Kingdom where it made the top 40. It also made the Top 30 in Australia.

The song is heard throughout the entire scene where Billy Ray Valentine hosts a party in Trading Places, a comedy movie starring Eddie Murphy as Billy Ray Valentine and Dan Aykroyd as Louis Winthorp III.

Track listing

Chart performance

References

...Phobia

...Phobia is the second studio album by electronic musicians Benassi Bros., released in 2005. It is the follow-up to their debut album Pumphonia. It went gold in France, followed by huge acclaims for the singles "Every Single Day" and "Make Me Feel".

A part of the "Feel Alive"s melody is based on a remix of the main guitar riff from Eric Clapton's 1970 hit "Layla".

Track listing

You Make Me

"You Make Me" is a song written and recorded by Swedish DJ, remixer and record producer Avicii and Swedish musician and singer Salem Al Fakir in collaboration with Swedish songwriter Vincent Pontare and producer Arash Pournouri. It was produced for Avicii's debut studio album, True and appears as the second track on the album. The song was released as the second single from True on 30 August 2013 as a follow-up to "Wake Me Up". The single made its worldwide debut on BBC Radio 1's The Pete Tong Show on 16 August.

Music video

A lyric video for "You Make Me" made by Jesper Eriksson was uploaded to Avicii's VEVO YouTube account on 30 August 2013. The video depicted city scenes (from, among others, Bangkok, Bochum, Chicago and Tokyo) heavily using the miniature photography technique.

The official music video, directed by Sebastian Ringler premiered on the same channel on 16 September 2013, in which according to Vevo "down at the skate rink a little bit of jealousy explodes into ninja battle". The official video has received more than 60 million views as of January 2016.