Gwen Guthrie
Born July 14 1950, Newark, New Jersey, U.S.A. (Died February 5, 1999)
Gwen was taught piano by her father at age eight, and sang in local groups including the Ebonettes, alongside another future star session singer, Brenda White; and the Matchmakers, with drummer and Cameo frontman-to-be Larry Blackmon. In the spring of 1973, Gwen was an elementary school teacher.
But she accepted a call to substitute for a sick backup vocalist on an April recording session for Aretha Franklin, and harmonized in her very first go-round with Cissy Houston, who had revolutionized background vocals, as the leader of the Sweet Inspirations in countless late-Sixties Atlantic R&B classics. The song was 'I'm in Love,' eventually Franklin’s fifteenth Number One R&B hit. "This is how I made my big break into the business," Guthrie later said: "Right at the top."
The top producers in pop and R&B gravitated to Gwen for her vocals, including Quincy Jones, Mtume and Reggie Lucas, Bob James, Ralph MacDonald, Gregg Diamond, and Phil Ramone (who'd engineered that lucky first session for Aretha). Her backup can be heard on records by Roberta Flack, Ray Charles, Madonna, Carly Simon, Stephanie Mills, Kenny Loggins, Phoebe Snow, Billy Joel, Maxi Priest and many others.
She continued to write with a variety of partners, and supplied backing vocals to many recording sessions. Working with Peter Tosh in the late '70s, Guthrie befriended reggae stars Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, who invited her to Nassau to record vocals for an album they were producing. Hearing her unique voice in the studio, Island Records founder Chris Blackwell inked her to a contract, and the Dunbar/Shakespeare project, assisted by David Conley of Surface, became her first solo release, a self-titled LP. She did score a dancefloor hit in the '80s in the UK with "It Should Have Been You," a ballad from the first album.
Her second LP, Portrait, released in 1983, followed the same formula: simplistic dance tracks and trite grooves. Album number three, Good to Go Lover, dropped in 1986, and spawned her chart-topper "Ain't Nothin' Goin' on but the Rent," plus the torching ballad "You Touched My Life." On Lifeline (1988), Guthrie was more involved in the writing and production. Hot Times was Guthrie's final LP release, hitting the streets in 1990. Like the previous LP, she wrote nearly everything, except for a moving remake of Stephanie Mills' "Never Knew Love Like This Before." Guthrie also had two LP releases: Just for You (1985) and Ticket to Ride (1988) on Fourth & Broadway Records.
Guthrie died on February 4, 1999, of uterine cancer
Albums
Gwen Guthrie (1982)
Portrait (1983)
Padlock (1985)
Just For You (1985)
Good to go lover (1986)
Ticket to Ride (1988)
Lifeline (1988)
Hot Times (1990)
Tracks currently playing/played on the station
It should have been you (Album: Gwen Guthrie)
Seventh heaven (Album: Portrait)
Peanut butter (Album: Portrait)
Padlock (Album: Padlock)
Outside in the rain (Album: Good to go lover)
Ain't nothing goin on but the rent (Album: Good to go lover)
(They long to be) Close to you (Album: Good to go lover)
You touched my life (Album: Good to go lover)
Can't love you tonight (Album: Lifeline)
Sweet Bitter Love (Album: Hot Times)
Gwen Guthrie Album info
More info on Gwen Guthrie