  The Old School Rewind Podcast Features Jody Watley his week. Welcome Back Jody Vanessa Watley (born January 30, 1959 is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and artist whose music crosses genres including pop, R&B, jazz, dance, and electronic soul. In 1987, she won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist and has been nominated for three Grammy awards.Jody Vanessa Watley (born January 30, 1959 is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and artist whose music crosses genres including pop, R&B, jazz, dance, and electronic soul. In 1987, she won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist and has been nominated for three Grammy awards.In 2008, she was the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from Billboard magazine, and was also prominently featured in the historic black issue of Vogue Italia in 2008. Her early music influences are Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, The Jackson 5, The Carpenters, Roberta Flack, Prince, Grace Jones and various jazz artists including Nancy Wilson.  In December 2016 Billboard ranked her as the 21st most successful dance artist of all-time. and in 2017 Black Music Honors TV special recognized Watley as Crossover Music Icon Honoree for her groundbreaking achievements and influence. In August 2018 Billboard ranked Jody Watley as one of the top female artists of all-time, at number 53. Jody's Early career1977–1984: Soul Train and ShalamarWatley was born in Chicago, Illinois and made her first stage appearance at 8 years old with family friend and godfather Jackie Wilson. (CLIP JACKIE WILSON) She got her entertainment start on the TV dance show Soul Train at the age of 14. Documented by Ebony magazine in 1977 as a part of "The New Generation," Jody Watley was one of the most popular dancers on the show and recognized as a trendsetter for her style and dance moves. As standouts on the television show, Watley and fellow Soul Train dancer Jeffrey Daniel were selected to join Gary Mumford and become original members of the R&B group Shalamar, which was created by soul trains Don Cornelius. (Mumford was shortly replaced by Gerald Brown, and Brown himself was soon replaced by Howard Hewett as lead vocalist).  So The lineup now in shalamar of Hewett, Watley, and Daniel would be the most successful. Jody Watley remained with Shalamar from 1977 to 1983. In that time, The trio released several albums and scored several hits including the US Top 20 "Dead Giveaway", and the R&B hits "The Second Time Around", "For The Lover In You", and "A Night To Remember". A show exclusively for Shalamar up in a few weeks so I didn't mean to tease you their wit den jammies but few weeks we'll hook up with shalamars music..  after all of this and Because of conflicts within the group, disagreements about the artistic direction of Shalamar with Dick Griffey, and lack of payment from Solar Records, Jody Watley finally leaves the group in 1983, prior to the release of Shalamars "The Look" album

The Music & Story Of Grammy Artist, Jody Watley

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