Odia Coates

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Odia Coates (born 1942 in Vicksburg , Mississippi , † May 19, 1991 in Oakland , California ) was an American soul singer . She became best known for the hit (You're) Having My Baby , a duet with Paul Anka .

Life

Coates grew up as the daughter of a minister in Watts, Los Angeles, California . As a child she played the piano and began as a gospel singer in the church choir ( Church of God in Christ ). As a teenager, she sang in the Southern California State Youth Choir, from which well-known pop musicians such as Billy Preston and Merry Clayton emerged . In 1967 she became a member of the Edwin Hawkins Singers . She has performed in clubs in Sunnyvale since 1968 - initially with the then little-known Sly & the Family Stone- while she worked as a secretary for an airline during the day. She later joined the band Brotherly Love , before moving to the group Sisters Love around Merry Clayton.

It was through Edwin Hawkins that Coates met Paul Anka, who then released her on his label United Artists . Anka was spontaneously enthusiastic about the young, talented singer and asked her to accompany him on his shows and tours. In 1974 she happened to be in the studio when Anka (You're) Having My Baby was recording. A United Artists manager suggested that the two sing the song as a duet. In August 1974, the duo replaced the British band Paper Lace with their song at the top and stayed at number one on the Billboard charts for three weeks . The song also made it into the charts in Europe. The following year it was used in the soundtrack of the film Jaws .

Anka and Coates recorded other songs together, including the US top 20 hits One Man Woman / One Woman Man , I Don't Like to Sleep Alone and (I Believe) There's Nothing Stronger Than Our Love . As a solo artist, Coates was now able to achieve some placements in the charts. In 1975, her only solo album, Odia Coates , was released, and Showdown reached number 71 in the US hit lists. In 1976 she released the disco hit Make It Up to Me in Love, written and produced by Anka . After that, her career ebbed, and Coates turned back to session work and the church.

Odia Coates was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987 , from the consequences of which she died four years later at the age of 49 at Kaiser Hospital Oakland.

Trivia

The name of the singer Odia Coates was initially not mentioned on the album cover of (You're) Having My Baby . "... but then it turned out that the white Paul Anka has a baby in this song with the colored Odia Coates. That was too much for some Puritan US citizens. (...) The scramble over the record turned out to be excellent promotion gag. "

Discography

Albums

  • 1975: Odia Coates (United Artists)

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT UK UK US US
1974 (You're) having my baby DE15 (9 weeks)
DE 		- UK6 (10 weeks)
UK 		US1
gold
gold

(15 weeks)US
with Paul Anka
One Man Woman / One Woman Man - - - US7 (16 weeks)
US
with Paul Anka
1975 I don't like to sleep alone - AT16 (8 weeks)
AT 		- US8 (15 weeks)
US
with Paul Anka
(I Believe) There's Nothing Stronger Than Our Love - - - US15 (13 weeks)
US
with Paul Anka
Showdown
Odia Coates 		- - - US71 (6 weeks)
US
Don't Leave Me in the Morning
Odia Coates 		- - - US91 (3 weeks)
US

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ The English Wikipedia states November 13th as the birthday without any evidence
  2. ↑ Star Alphabet 1976 , VN-Verlag, page 1020
  3. ↑ a b Nick Talevski: rock Obituaries - Knocking On Heaven's Door , Omnibus Press, London 2006, ISBN 1-84609-091-1 , entry Odia Coates , S. 88; Online at googlebooks
  4. ↑ The great white shark in the IMDb
  5. ↑ A cover version of the hit by the Electric Light Orchestra
  6. ↑ Make It Up to Me in Love at Discogs.com
  7. ^ Frank Laufenbergs Rock- & Pop-Lexikon, Volume 1 , Econ & List 1998, ISBN 3-612-26206-8 , entry Paul Anka , page 46
  8. ↑ Chart sources: DE AT UK US
  9. ↑ Music Sales Awards: US
personal data
SURNAME Coates, Odia
BRIEF DESCRIPTION american singer
DATE OF BIRTH 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Vicksburg (Mississippi) , United States of America
DATE OF DEATH May 19, 1991
Place of death Oakland , California, United States of America