DESCRIPTION:
Deniece Williams (born June Deniece Chandler) came to be in Gary, Indiana, the same town the Jackson Five were from. It's a good thing she dropped out of nursing school when she realized that she was not really dedicated to earning good grades. She did, however begin vocalizing part time at a club and found that she had the time of her life. Marking time by working for the telephone company as a ward clerk, she recorded as Deniece Chandler and created a classic Soul song, "I'm Walking Away". Her Motown connection began when Stevie Wonder hired her for Wonderlove, his backing vocal group. After paying her dues and learning the business, she moved on from Wonderlove and signed to Columbia Records and right into the hands of Maurice White and Charles Stepney, both of Earth, Wind & Fire fame. Her 1976 debut, "This Is Niecy" produced a #2 R&B classic, "Free" reaching #25 pop. The sky was the limit for her when she collaborated with Johnny Mathis for the 1978 pop classic "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" which peaked at #1 Pop, R&B and Adult Contemporary. This led to a second LP, "When Love Comes Calling" and the centerpiece #1 disco hit, "I've Got The Next Dance", produced by David Foster with help from the Phoenix Horns, EW&F's horn section. This disco stomper had everything, a boogie woogie piano riff, hot horn charts, drumming that you could feel in your gut, funky Chic like guitar riffs and proof that she could shout like the best of them. I have always loved this song and ran about searching for the extended disco version so I could play it at my gigs. Another one of those, "what the hell could I do to make this mix my own" records, I kinda turned it inside out to make the intro easier to mix into.