Peabo Bryson, the smooth voiced, soul crooner who would win two Grammy Awards for his work on popular theme songs for two Disney animated features, has sadly passed away on June 2nd. The singer had a heart attack seven years ago but made a full recovery but recently had suffered from a stroke on May 31st and died from complications. He was seventy-five.
Born Robert Peapo Bryson in Greenville, SC, on April 13th, he began his career singing background vocals for a local band at the age of fourteen. Taking on his middle name as his stage moniker and changing the pronunciation to "Peabo", Bryson went to work with other bands before an opportunity lead him to Bang Records in Atlanta and was encouraged to move from the background and into the foreground as a performer. This lead to his debut album on Bang, "Peabo" in 1977 and this recording would capture the attention of a major label, Capitol Records who would sign him.
The song that first helped launch him as a performer was "Feel The Fire" which he wrote from his first album on Capitol, "Reaching for the Sky". This love ballad was later covered by Stephanie Mills in 1979 for her debut studio album, "What Cha Gonna Do with My Lovin'". Bryson would have more hit songs that included "If Ever You're in My Arms Again" (his first top-ten pop single), "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love", a duet with Roberta Flack, "Without You", a duet with Regina Belle for the soundtrack of the 1987 comedy, "Leonard Part 6" and "Can You Stop the Rain" which reached number one on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in 1991.
In 1991, Bryson was teamed with Celine Dion, a rising vocalist from Canada at the time, to perform a pop recording of the title track for the Disney animated film, "Beauty and the Beast". This ballad would also go on to win the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Song. Bryson would later be approached to record a pop music version of "A Whole New World" for the 1992 animated movie, "Aladdin" and would join forces again with Belle to duet on the love ballad. More major awards would be won for this song and Bryson and Belle would reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for this recording.
