Harvey Fuqua

Harvey Fuqua (* 27. July 1929 in Louisville . Kentucky , † 6. July 2010 in Detroit , Michigan ) was an American doo-wop - a singer and rhythm-and-blues - producer .

Life

Fuqua, nephew of Ink Spots singer Charlie Fuqua , was born in Louisville and founded Crazy Sounds in 1951, which was renamed The Moonglows the following year . In 1954 the band had their biggest hit on Chess Records with Sincerely , a Fuqua composition. It then dissolved around 1957.

Fuqua then began with a band called The Marquees (with Marvin Gaye as the lead singer) under the name Harvey & the Moonglows, and later as The Moonlighters , to make recordings. In 1958 he left the band and moved to Detroit with Gaye to work for Anna Records .

There he produced recordings of Etta James (the duet "If I can't have you" was ranked in the R&B charts and number 52 in the pop charts), Lamont Dozier and Johnny Bristol , until he got two in 1961 founded his own labels, Tri-Phi and Harvey Records. On these labels he was able to engage artists such as the Spinners , Jr. Walker and the All-Stars and Shorty Long , worked with them for a while and finally got a job at Motown from Berry Gordy . Fuqua first brought Bristol and the Spinners to the legendary R&B label and later produced recordings by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell , as well as solo works by Temptations singer David Ruffin .

In 1971 Fuqua said goodbye to Motown and moved to RCA Records , where he helped the Nite-Liters and New Birth in the studio, among other things . In the following year he participated in a reunion of the Moonglows. Together with Gaye he recorded the album Midnight Love in 1982 , which made it into the top 10 of the pop charts and contained the hit single Sexual Healing .

Harvey Fuqua's nephew is the film director Antoine Fuqua .

Web links

• obituary in the Miami Herald

Individual evidence

1. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B / Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. P. 222.