Angela Bofill
| Angela Bofill | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Angela Tomasa Bofill |
| Born | May 3, 1954 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Origin | The Bronx, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | R&B, dance, jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter |
| Years active | 1978–2004 |
| Labels | Arista Records (1978–1988) Capitol Records (1988) Jive Records (1993) Shanachie Records (1996-2006) |
| Website | Angela Bofill official website |
Angela Tomasa Bofill (born May 3, 1954) is an American R&B and jazz singer and songwriter.
Contents
Early life and success
Angela Bofill was born to a Cuban father and an Afro Puerto Rican mother.[1] Growing up, listening to latin music, she was also inspired by the African-American performers in those days. During her childhood, her weekends were taken up studying classical music and singing in a city chorus. It was as a teenager that her professional singing began. [2] She performed with Ricardo Marrero & the Group and Dance Theater of Harlem chorus prior to being introduced to Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen (of the jazz label GRP Records) by her friend, the jazz flautist Dave Valentin.[3] Grusin and Rosen signed Bofill and produced her first album, Angie, in 1978. Angie was well received both critically and commercially and included the chart single "This Time I'll Be Sweeter" (co-written by Gwen Guthrie), as well as Bofill's sprawling jazz composition, "Under the Moon and Over the Sky". Less than a year later, a second album, Angel of the Night was released and outperformed its predecessor. The album included the chart singles "What I Wouldn't Do (For the Love of You)" and the up tempo title track, as well as the self-written song "I Try" (covered by Will Downing in 1991). The reception of these albums positioned Bofill as one of the first Latina singers to find success in the R&B and jazz markets.
Following the release of Angel of the Night, the head of Arista, Clive Davis, (whose label had a distribution deal with GRP at the time) showed interest in Bofill, and she switched labels for the release of her next album, Something About You in 1981. The album, produced by Narada Michael Walden, was an attempt to move Bofill into more mainstream R&B and pop material, but performed less well than her earlier releases, despite the relative success of the singles "Holdin' Out for Love" and the title track, which both reached the R&B Top 40.[4] The following year, she and Walden reunited for Too Tough, this time achieving a major hit with the title track, which reached #5 on the R&B chart and spent four weeks at #2 on the Dance chart, as well as a Top 20 follow-up single "Tonight I Give In".[5] Several months later, Bofill released her final collaboration with Walden, Teaser. The album failed to match the success of Too Tough but did produce one Top 20 R&B hit, "I'm On Your Side", which has since been covered by several artists, most notably Jennifer Holliday, who had a Top 10 hit with it in 1991.[6]
Later career
She recorded two more modestly successful albums for Arista with the help of The System and George Duke, before leaving the label in the mid-1980s. Following the birth of her daughter, Bofill moved to Capitol Records and the producer Norman Connors for Intuition in 1988.[citation needed]
It was her last notable chart success, with Bofill's cover version of Gino Vannelli's "I Just Wanna Stop" reaching #11 on the R&B chart. She recorded three more albums over the next eight years of varying quality but limited commercial success, and provided backing vocals on a number of other albums for artists including Diana Ross, Kirk Whalum and for Connors' own Eternity in 2000. She continued to perform live (with a sizable audience internationally, particularly in Asia) and appeared in a number of stage plays during this time, including God Don’t Like Ugly and What A Man Wants, What A Man Needs. She also regularly toured the US and Europe in multi-artist jazz shows.[4]
Health issues and recent years
Angela Bofill suffered a stroke on January 10, 2006 and was subsequently paralyzed on her left side. Bofill convalesced at Sutter Hospital in Santa Rosa, California. She was released from intensive care on January 15 and required speech and physical therapy. Because Bofill did not have health insurance, a benefit concert was organized to pay her hospital bills. The show, planned by manager Rich Engel along with the New York radio stations Kiss FM and CD 101.9, was held on March 11, 2006, at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey. Similar events followed, and other aid was sought from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. Her album Live in Manila (recorded in 2004) was released during this time. Unfortunately, Bofill suffered another massive stroke in July 2007, which required a long period of therapy and left both her speech and mobility impaired.[citation needed]
Although she lost her ability to sing after her second stroke, in recent years Bofill did return to the stage (at the suggestion of manager Engel) in "The Angela Bofill Experience." The show consists of Bofill recounting her life and career, joined by Maysa Leak, Phil Perry and Melba Moore, performing Bofill's biggest hits and signature songs. In 2012, Bofill was profiled and interviewed for the TVOne documentary series, Unsung.[7][4]
Discography
Studio albums
| Year | Album | Chart positions[8] | Record label | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B |
US Jazz |
||||
| 1978 | Angie | 47 | 20 | 5 | GRP/Arista | |
| 1979 | Angel of the Night | 34 | 10 | 2 | ||
| 1981 | Something About You | 61 | 13 | 4 | Arista | |
| 1983 | Too Tough | 40 | 6 | — | ||
| Teaser | 81 | 20 | 21 | |||
| 1984 | Let Me Be the One | — | 39 | — | ||
| 1985 | Tell Me Tomorrow | — | 53 | — | ||
| 1988 | Intuition | — | 38 | — | Capitol | |
| 1993 | I Wanna Love Somebody | — | 51 | — | Jive | |
| 1996 | Love in Slow Motion | — | — | — | Shanachie | |
| "—" denotes the album failed to chart | ||||||
Live albums
| Year | Album | Chart positions | Record label | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B |
|||||
| 2006 | Live from Manila | — | — | Black Angel | ||
| "—" denotes the album failed to chart | ||||||
Compilation albums
| Year | Album | Chart positions | Record label | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B |
|||||
| 1986 | The Best of Angela Bofill | — | — | Arista | ||
| 1999 | The Definitive Collection | — | — | |||
| 2003 | Platinum & Gold Collection | — | — | |||
| 2004 | The Best of Angela Bofill | — | — | BMG | ||
| 2014 | The Essential Angela Bofill | — | — | RCA, Sony Legacy | ||
| "—" denotes the album failed to chart | ||||||
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart positions[8] | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B |
US A/C |
US Dance |
|||
| 1979 | "This Time I'll Be Sweeter" | 104 | 23 | 39 | — | Angie |
| "What I Wouldn't Do (For the Love of You)" | — | 18 | — | — | Angel of the Night | |
| 1980 | "Angel of the Night" | — | 67 | — | — | |
| 1981 | "Something About You" | — | 21 | — | — | Something About You |
| 1982 | "Holdin' Out for Love" | — | 26 | — | — | |
| "Break It to Me Gently" | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1983 | "Too Tough" | — | 5 | — | 2 | Too Tough |
| "Tonight I Give In" | — | 12 | — | — | ||
| "I'm on Your Side" | — | 20 | — | — | Teaser | |
| 1984 | "Special Delivery" | — | 65 | — | 34 | |
| "Can't Slow Down" | — | 59 | — | 15 | Let Me Be the One | |
| 1985 | "Let Me Be the One" | — | 84 | — | — | |
| "Who Knows You Better" | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Tell Me Tomorrow" | — | 72 | — | — | Tell Me Tomorrow | |
| 1986 | "I Don't Wanna Come Down (From Love)" | — | — | — | — | |
| "Still in Love" | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1988 | "I Just Wanna Stop" | — | 11 | — | — | Intuition |
| 1989 | "Love Is in Your Eyes" | — | — | — | — | |
| 1992 | "Love Was Never" (with Marion Meadows & Gene Rice) | — | 70 | — | — | Keep It Right There |
| 1993 | "I Wanna Love Somebody" | — | — | — | — | I Wanna Love Somebody |
| "Heavenly Love" | — | — | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes the single failed to chart | ||||||
Awards
- American Music Awards: 1984 - Best R&B/Soul Female Artist (nominated)
- Bay Area Music Awards (Bammies): 1984 Outstanding Black Contemporary Artist/Group
Television
- Soul Train Saturday May 28, 1983[9]
- The Pat Sajak Show January 26, 1989[10]
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ News One for Black America Angela Bofill Continues To Entertain, Even Without Her Signature Voice Jun 3, 2013 By Terrell Jermaine Starr
- ↑ SoulMusic.com Angela Bofill 2012 interview, soulmusic.com; accessed May 5, 2015.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Angela Bofill profile, soultracks.com; accessed May 5, 2015.
- ↑ "Too Tough", allmusic.com; accessed May 5, 2015.
- ↑ "I'm on Your Side", allmusic.com; accessed May 5, 2015.
- ↑ Jazz singer Angela Bofill makes a comeback without voice that made her famous By DeNeen L. Brown, washingtonpost.com, January 31, 2011.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 US Albums Charts > Angela Bofill at AllMusic. Retrieved October 20, 2011. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "allmusic_albums" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ TV.com Soul Train Season 12 Episode 17 - Aired Saturday May 28, 1983
- ↑ TV.com The Pat Sajak Show Season 1 Episode 14 - January 26, 1989
External links
- Biography on Yahoo! Music
- Angel Bofill on SoulMusic.com
- Artist profile on GospelCity
- Artist biography on High Stakes Entertainment
- Watch: Unsung Full Exclusive Angela Bofill
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Pages with reference errors
- Articles with hCards
- Pages using Template:Infobox musical artist with unknown parameters
- Articles with unsourced statements from May 2015
- 1954 births
- Living people
- American female singer-songwriters
- American soul singers
- American jazz singers
- American dance musicians
- American contraltos
- American musicians of Cuban descent
- American musicians of Puerto Rican descent
- Contraltos
- GRP Records artists
