18/09/2024
🌹REMEMBERING PHYLLIS HYMAN...
Phyllis Linda Hyman (July 6, 1949 – June 30, 1995) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Hyman is best known for her music during the late 1970s through the early 1990s, some of her most notable songs were "You Know How to Love Me" (1979), "Living All Alone" (1986) and "Don't Wanna Change the World" (1991).
The eldest of seven children, Hyman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and grew up in St. Clair Village, the South Hills section of Pittsburgh. She went to Carrick High School and Robert Morris University. Hyman was also the cousin of actor Earle Hyman, best known for his recurring role on The Cosby Show as Cliff's father, Russell Huxtable.
After leaving Pittsburgh, her music training started at a music school. On graduation, she performed on a national tour with the group, New Direction, in 1971. After the group disbanded, she joined All the People and worked with another local group, The Hondo Beat. She appeared in the film Lenny (1974). She also did a two-year stint leading a band called "Phyllis Hyman and the P/H Factor."
In 1975, music industry veteran, Sid Maurer, and former Epic Records promoter, Fred Frank, discovered and signed her to their Roadshow Records/Desert Moon imprint.
Hyman moved to New York City where she did background vocals on Jon Lucien's Premonition and worked in clubs. In 1975 when Norman Connors was laying tracks for You Are My Starship (1976), he could not get permission to use Jean Carne for the album. He heard about Phyllis Hyman, who was working at a club on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. One night after a Jon Lucien concert at Carnegie Hall, he saw Hyman perform and offered her a spot as the female vocalist on his fourth album for Buddah Records. After the title song got airplay on jazz radio, You Are My Starship went gold, catapulting Hyman's, Norman Connors's, and Michael Henderson’s careers to new heights.
Hyman also performed on Broadway in the 1981 musical based on the music of Duke Ellington, Sophisticated Ladies, which ran from 1981 until 1983. The musical earned her a Theatre World Award and a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical.
JAMES BOND MOVIE (TITLE SONG)
In 1983, Hyman recorded the song "Never Say Never Again" as the title song for the James Bond movie of the same name, written by Stephen Forsyth and Jim Ryan. Co-writer Stephen Forsythe said that legendary Phyllis Hyman was his first choice to sing the song and working with her was one of the highlights of his musical career.
"I personally auditioned and sang the song to her while she was having breakfast in her manager's office. After agreeing to sing the song, she arrived at the studio and, without any rehearsal and only having heard the song sung once at the breakfast audition, sang the song in one perfect take."
However, Warner Brothers informed Forsyth that Michel Legrand, who wrote the score for the film, had threatened to sue them, claiming he contractually had the rights to the title song. Unfortunately, they had to use an alternative title song sung by a different singer.
In 2008, the original version of the James Bond theme "Never Say Never Again", was finally released by the track's co-writer Stephen Forsythe.
FILMS
Lenny (1974)
Too Scared to Scream (1985)
School Daze (1988)
Soda Cracker (1989)
DISCOGRAPHY
Phyllis Hyman (1977)
Sing a Song (1978)
Somewhere in My Lifetime (1978)
You Know How to Love Me (1979)
Can't We Fall in Love Again? (1981)
Goddess of Love (1983)
Living All Alone (1986)
Prime of My Life (1991)
I Refuse to Be Lonely (1995)
Forever with You (1998)
