The Sylvers

The Sylvers was an American black discosoul band from Los Angeles that was active from the 1970s to the 1980s. Her biggest hit was the song Boogie Fever , a number one hit in the US in 1976.

Band history

In the 1960s, single mother and former opera singer Shirley Sylvers formed the Little Angels out of her four oldest children . They performed in their home town of Memphis and after some success on casting shows they moved to New York where they had a larger audience. Eventually they settled in Los Angeles . There they also made it in television shows with Dinah Shore and Groucho Marx, among others . At times they toured the United States and even appeared as a tour accompanist for Ray Charles or Johnny Mathis in Europe.

In the early 1970s, the band was expanded to include younger siblings: of the 10 children, 9 were involved in the band over the years. They renamed themselves The Sylvers and joined the MGM sub-label Pride to release their own songs written by Leon Sylvers. In 1972 they had their first hit, Fool's Paradise , produced by Jerry Butler . The song reached number 14 on the R&B charts and also made it into the official singles charts . With Wish That I Could Talk to You and Stay Away from Me they had two other similarly successful songs. As with similar family bands such as the Jackson Five or the Osmonds , a member's solo career was also built: the youngest, Foster Sylvers , had two smaller hits of his own in 1973.

After that, however, there was no success, the third Sylvers album flopped on MGM and a planned fourth was not released. In 1975 they were brought to Capitol Records by Larkin Arnold . Freddie Perren , who had also produced the Jackson Five, took on the group and wrote their first single Boogie Fever with Ken St. Lewis . With the big label in the background, the song became a number one hit and a million seller .

With songs like Hot Line , their second million seller, and high school dance , they were able to build on their success in the following two years. Then they broke up with Perren because they wanted to change their sound and produce their own music. After that, however, there were no hits towards the end of the 1970s. Another label change brought only short-term success and they disappeared from the charts. Some of the members also went their own way. Leon Sylvers was very successful as a producer and songwriter and co-wrote The Second Time Around by Shalamar and And the Beat Goes On by the Whispers , both number one hits on the R&B and dance charts. Edmund Sylvers had a little solo hit in 1980.

In the mid-1980s, the Sylvers made another comeback as a band and had two smaller hits in the R&B charts. In 1985, however, they finally dissolved. In the 2000s her songs were used as samples by many well-known musicians such as 50 Cent , Snoop Dogg and Ghostface Killah .

Members

• Olympia-Ann Sylvers (born October 13, 1951)
• Leon Frank Sylvers III (born March 7, 1953)
• Charmaine Sylvers (born March 9, 1954)
• James Sylvers (born June 8, 1955)
• Edmund Sylvers (born January 25, 1957 - March 11, 2004)
• Ricky Silvers (born October 13, 1958)
• Angie Sylvers (born April 11, 1960)
• Patricia Sylvers (born March 25, 1961)
• Foster Sylvers (born February 25, 1962)

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes, label)		Remarks	Label
		US	R&B
1973	The Sylvers	US180 (7 weeks) US	R&B15 (12 weeks) R&B	Producer: Jerry Butler	Pride 0007
	The Sylvers II	US164 (5 weeks) US	R&B37 (14 weeks) R&B	Producer: Keg Johnson	Pride 0026
1976	Showcase	US58 (25 weeks) US	R&B23 (17 weeks) R&B	Producer: Freddie Perren	Capitol 11465
	Something special	US80 (18 weeks) US	R&B13 (22 weeks) R&B	Producer: Freddie Perren	Capitol 11580
1977	New Horizons	US134 (13 weeks) US	R&B43 (14 weeks) R&B	Producer: The Sylvers	Capitol 11705
1978	Forever Yours	US132 (8 weeks) US	R&B40 (8 weeks) R&B	Producer: Leon Sylvers III, James Sylvers, Al Ross, Bob Cullen	Casablanca 7103

More albums

• The Sylvers III ( MGM , 1974)
• Best of the Sylvers ( Compilation , Capitol, 1978)
• Disco Fever (Casablanca, 1979)
• Concept (Solar, 1981)
• Bizarre ( Geffen , 1984)

Songs

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes, label)		Remarks	Label
		US	R&B
1972	Fool's Paradise The Sylvers	US94 (3 weeks) US	R&B14 (12 weeks) R&B	Author: Leon Sylvers III	Pride 1001
	Wish That I Could Talk to You The Sylvers	US77 (10 weeks) US	R&B10 (13 weeks) R&B	Author: Leon Sylvers III	Pride 1019
1973	Stay Away from Me The Sylvers II	US89 (3 weeks) US	R&B33 (8 weeks) R&B	Author: Leon Sylvers III	Pride 1029
1974	Through the Love in My Heart The Sylvers II	-	R&B50 (9 weeks) R&B	Author: Leon Sylvers III	MGM 14678
1975	Boogie Fever Showcase	US1 gold (21 weeks)US	R&B1 (25 weeks) R&B	Authors: Kenneth St. Lewis, Freddie Perren	Capitol 4179
1976	Cotton Candy Showcase	US59 (7 weeks) US	R&B19 (15 weeks) R&B	Authors: Kenneth St. Lewis, Freddie Perren, Christine Yarian	Capitol 4255
	Hot Line Something Special	US5 gold (24 weeks)US	R&B3 (21 weeks) R&B	Authors: Kenneth St. Lewis, Freddie Perren	Capitol 4336
1977	High School Dance Something Special	US17 (17 weeks) US	R&B6 (11 weeks) R&B	Authors: Edmund Sylvers, James Sylvers, Leon Sylvers II, Ricky Sylvers	Capitol 4405
	Any Way You Want Me New Horizons	US72 (9 weeks) US	R&B12 (15 weeks) R&B	Authors: Edmund Sylvers, Leon Sylvers III	Capitol 4493
1978	New Horizon New Horizons	-	R&B45 (10 weeks) R&B	Authors: Leon Sylvers III, Ricky Sylvers	Capitol 4532
	Don't Stop, Get Off Forever Yours	-	R&B15 (14 weeks) R&B	Authors: Edmund Sylvers, Foster Sylvers, James Sylvers, Leon Sylvers II, Ricky Sylvers	Casablanca 938
1984	In One Love and out the Other Bizarre	-	R&B42 (10 weeks) R&B	Authors: Dana Meyers, Leon Sylvers III, Pamela Phillips-Oland	Geffen 29293
1985	Falling for Your Love Bizarre	-	R&B76 (6 weeks) R&B	Authors: Foster Sylvers, Pamela Phillips-Oland	Geffen 29061

More songs

• I'm Just a Lonely Soul (1971)
• Time to Ride (1972)
• I Aim to Please (1974)
• Forever Yours (1979)
• Mahogany (1979)
• Dance Right Now (1979)
• Hoochie Coochie Dancin ' (1979)
• Come Back Lover, Come Back (1981)
• Take It to the Top (1982)

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b} US singles: Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-2006. Billboard Books, New York 2007, ISBN 0-89820-172-1 / US albums: The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7
2. ↑ ^{a b} US R&B singles: Joel Whitburn : Joel Whitburn presents Hot R&B Songs 1942-2010 . Billboard Books, New York 2011, ISBN 0-89820-186-1 . / US R&B albums: Joel Whitburn : Joel Whitburn's Top R&B Albums 1965–1998 . Billboard Books, New York 1999, ISBN 0-89820-134-9 .
3. ↑ The Sylvers in the gold / platinum database of the RIAA (USA)

Web links

• The Sylvers at Allmusic (English)
• Leon Sylvers III at Allmusic (English)
• The Sylvers at Music VF.com
• The Sylvers at who sampled