The Great 70s

Thelma Houston

Thelma Houston (born May 7, 1946) is a Grammy Award-winning American R&B and Club/Dance singer-songwriter and actress. She scored a #1 hit in 1977 with her cover of the song "Don't Leave Me This Way".

In 1969, Houston released her first album titled, "Sunshower". In 1971, she signed with Motown Records, but her early recordings with them were largely unsuccessful. Her most notable single during that period was You've Been Doing Wrong For So Long which peaked at #64 on the R&B chart in 1974. In April of that same year she joined the cast of The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine, playing various characters during the shows skits. The show was canceled in August and for the next several years her work was limited to demo recordings and performing at small venues.

So she took acting classes and received her first role in the 1975 made-for-TV movie Death Scream. The following year she recorded songs for the soundtrack to the movie The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings starring Billy Dee Williams and James Earl Jones. She was then invited to sing backing vocals for Motown labelmate Jermaine Jackson on his 1976 album My Name Is Jermaine.

Houston recorded her third album Any Way You Like It in 1976. The first single released was her version of the Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes tune "Don't Leave Me This Way". In February of 1977 it hit #1 in the U.S. on both the Billboard pop and R&B charts as well as #1 on the Club Play Singles chart. The song won the 1977 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Later on that year she teamed-up with Jerry Butler to record the album Thelma & Jerry. In November 1977 she co-starred in the film Game Show Models. The following year she recorded the single "Love Masterpiece" for the disco/comedy film Thank God It's Friday.

In 1979, Houston released the single, "Saturday Night, Sunday Morning", which became her second, and final, top-40 hit in the United States, (#19 R&B, #34 Pop), from the Ride to the Rainbow album. She briefly returned to acting that same year, appearing in the independent film The Seventh Dwarf.

Wikipedia contributors. Thelma Houston. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. November 22, 2008, 17:39 UTC. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thelma_Houston&oldid=253425149. Accessed December 6, 2008.