NUMBER ONE FLASHBACK

Forty years ago this week, The Sylvers were riding the top of the charts with "Boogie Fever". This family act originally from Memphis had found modest success as performers before this breakthrough took them to number one on both the pop and r&b charts.

There were a total of ten Sylvers children with nine of them part of the singing group at various points in their musical career. The four oldest children (Olympia, Leon, Charmaine, and James) began as a singing group called "The Little Angels" and performed on television and opened for several soul acts. A few years later, younger brothers, Edmund and Ricky joined the group and then became known as "The Sylvers". They released their self-titled debut album in 1972 with two singles, "Fool's Paradise" and "Wish I Could Talk To You" reaching the top-twenty on the r&b chart. The following year, the youngest member in the act, Foster had a hit solo single, "Misdemeanor" (written by Leon) that reached number seven on the U.S. soul chart.

By 1975, sisters, Angie and Pat became part of the group before The Sylvers signed to a major label, Capitol Records. The family was teamed-up with producer Freddie Perren (who had worked with another famous family act, The Jackson 5) and helped take them to the next level. Their fourth album, "Showcase" featured "Boogie Fever" and that single went on to sell over two million copies.

Charmaine decided to leave the group before the release of the follow-up album, "Something Special" in 1976. Also produced by Perren, the album featured two more hits, "Hot Line" and "High School Dance".

Wanting to take control over their music and feature a more mature sound, The Sylvers wrote and produced their next album, "New Horizons" in 1977.  This failed to reach the level of popularity of their previous efforts and while the group went on to create some critically-acclaimed records, they were never able to recapture the magic of their past success. The Sylvers came to an official end in 1985 after their final album, "Bizarre" failed to find an audience.

Let's go back and watch The Sylvers perform their hit live on The Midnight Special:

MY TUNE OF THE DAY

Back in the 70's, musical family acts were the rage because of the major success of The Jackson 5 and The Osmonds. There was another group of siblings that achieved some chart-topping hits. The Sylvers were originally from Memphis, TN and made up of four sisters (Olympia, Charmaine, Angie and Pat) and five brothers (Leon, James, Edmund, Ricky and Foster) who sang and played multiple instruments. The family had their first top ten r&b hit with "Wish That I Could Talk To You" in 1972 with their biggest hit being "Boogie Fever" which went to number one on the pop and soul charts in 1975.

Just like those other popular singing groups, The Sylvers had a prepubescent male vocalist who became a teen heartthrob. That is what leads us to today's tune of the day as Foster Sylvers, the youngest member of the act, released his first solo album in 1973. The single, "Misdemeanor" (written by brother, Leon) became a big hit, making it to number seven on the r&b chart. Despite being sung by an eleven year-old boy, the song remains an appealing slice of bubble-gum soul.

After the family's popularity began to wane by the mid-1980's, Foster went on to record a few other solo albums that went largely unnoticed as well as writing and producing for other artists such as Evelyn "Champagne" King and Janet Jackson. Recently, things have not being going well for Foster as he's currently in prison on drug charges.

Let's go back to a simpler time for Foster Sylvers with his hit single:

"Misdemeanor" - Foster Sylvers (1973)

Here is most of the family performing their biggest hit song, "Boogie Fever" on Soul Train: