David Conley | |
---|---|
Born | Newark, New Jersey, U.S. | December 27, 1953
Genres | Jazz, R&B, pop |
Instruments | Flute, vocals |
Formerly of | Surface |
David "Pic" Conley (born December 27, 1953) is an American jazz flute player, songwriter, and producer.
Conley was born in Newark, New Jersey. Shortly after graduating high school, Conley purchased his first instrument, a flute, for $10 with the idea of selling it for double price. Conley instead taught himself to play the instrument. [1]
Conley began his professional career when he moved to Los Angeles with the group Port Authority of Music, which included members David Townsend and Art McAllister in 1976. The group recorded an album produced by Ed Townsend, David Townsend's father. The group was signed to 20 Century Records, but the album was never released. Conley left the group to join Mandrill in 1977. In 1978, he made his television debut with Mandrill on the show Soul Train . Conley released only one album with Mandrill, New Worlds , in 1979. Conley left the group and after a short hiatus and became a founding member of Surface. Surface released their debut single, "Falling in Love", which peaked at #84 on Billboard's Black Singles chart. In 1985, Conley became a staff writer for Screen Gems BMI. He wrote music for Sister Sledge, New Edition, Gwen Guthrie, Isaac Hayes, Rebbie Jackson, The Jets, Sheila Hylton, Carol Lynn Townes, Jermaine Jackson, Melba Moore, Aretha Franklin, [2] Classic Example, MN8, IMx, Kool G Rap, and others. [3] [4]
In 1986, Surface landed a record deal with Columbia and the group released their debut album in 1987. The album peaked at #55 on the Billboard 200 and #11 on Billboard's R&B Albums chart. In 1989, Surface released their second album, 2nd Wave, which peaked at #56 on the Billboard 200 and #5 on Billboard's R&B Albums chart. The album was certified Platinum by the RIAA. The single "Shower Me With Your Love" peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, #3 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart, and became Surface's second #1 R&B hit, topping Billboard's Hot Black Singles chart for a week in July 1989, staying on the chart for 20 weeks. [5]
Aretha Louise Franklin was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Queen of Soul", she was twice named by Rolling Stone magazine as the greatest singer of all time.
Lady Soul is the twelfth studio album by American singer Aretha Franklin released in early 1968 by Atlantic Records. The album stayed at #1 for sixteen weeks on Billboard's R&B album chart, and it hit number 2 on the pop album chart during a year-long run.
Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. was an American soul and R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer. Throughout his career, he achieved eleven consecutive RIAA-certified platinum albums and sold over 40 million records worldwide. Known as the "Velvet Voice", Vandross has been recognized as one of the 200 greatest singers of all time (2023) by Rolling Stone, as well as one of the greatest R&B artists by Billboard. In addition, NPR named him one of the 50 Great Voices. He was the recipient of eight Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year in 2004 for a track recorded shortly before his death, "Dance with My Father". In 2021, he was posthumously inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.
Surface was an American music group from New Jersey, active from 1983 to 1994. They are best known for their No. 1 pop and R&B hit "The First Time". During its heyday, the group consisted of singer/bassist Bernard Jackson, David Townsend, and David "Pic" Conley.
"Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)" is a song by American soul group the Delfonics, co-written by producer Thom Bell and lead singer William Hart. It was released as a single in 1969 on the Philly Groove record label and appeared on their self-titled third album the following year. The song reached number three on the Billboard R&B chart and number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970. Overseas, the song peaked at number 22 on the UK Singles Chart in and number 81 in Australia. The Delfonics won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for the song in 1971.
"Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)" is a song written by Morris Broadnax, Clarence Paul, and Stevie Wonder. The song was originally recorded by Stevie Wonder in 1967, but his version was not released as a single and did not appear on an album until 1977's anthology Looking Back. The best-known version of this song is the 1973 release by Aretha Franklin, who had a million-selling top 10 hit on Billboard charts. The song reached No. 1 on the R&B chart and No. 3 on the Hot 100 chart in 1974. It became an RIAA Gold record.
A Rose Is Still a Rose is the thirty-fourth studio album by American recording artist Aretha Franklin. It was released on March 24, 1998, by Arista Records. Conceived after a longer hiatus and a complete departure from her previous studio album What You See Is What You Sweat (1991), the album includes influences of 1990s hip hop as well as modern-day contemporary R&B and soul music. Throughout the project, Franklin worked with many famed hip hop producers and rappers, such as Lauryn Hill, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Jermaine Dupri, and Daryl Simmons. With the latter acts producing most of the album, A Rose Is Still a Rose deviated from the adult contemporary sound of Franklin's older work.
So Damn Happy is the thirty-fifth studio album by American singer Aretha Franklin. Her first studio album in five years, the album featured the Grammy Award-winning track "Wonderful", a single co-written and produced by Ron "Amen-Ra" Lawrence.
"Day Dreaming" is a soul single by American singer Aretha Franklin. Released from her album Young, Gifted and Black, it spent two weeks at the top of the Hot Soul Singles chart in April 1972 and peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 11 on the Easy Listening singles chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 61 song for 1972.
David Edward Townsend was an American musician best known as the guitarist for the R&B band Surface.
"Rock Steady" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Aretha Franklin, released in October 1971 from her eighteenth album, Young, Gifted and Black (1972). The single reached the #9 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 charts that same year. It also peaked at #2 on the Best Selling Soul Singles chart. The original A-side, a rendition of the song "Oh Me Oh My ", peaked at #73 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #9 on the Best Selling Soul Singles chart.
"Falling in Love" is the first single by the American post-disco/R&B trio Surface, released in the United Kingdom and the United States in 1983 on Salsoul Records.
"Happy" is a song originally recorded by British funk band Hi-Tension in 1984, titled as "You Make Me Happy". It was later covered by Surface for their self-titled album released in 1986. A hit single, Surface's version reached number 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 2 on the Billboard R&B charts in 1987. "Happy" was also featured on Surface's compilation album Perfect 10 and was produced by members Bernard Jackson, David "Pic" Conley and David Townsend.
2nd Wave is the second studio album by Surface, released in October 1988 on Columbia Records.
"Gimme Your Love" is a song recorded as duet between American singers Aretha Franklin and James Brown in 1989. The two singers' only collaboration, it is the lead track on Franklin's album Through the Storm and also appeared on Brown's Soul Session Live. It was written by Narada Michael Walden and Jeffrey Cohen, and produced by the former. It was released as the album's third and final single on September 18, 1989, by Arista Records and peaked at No. 48 on the Billboard R&B singles chart. The song was poorly received by critics, with Rolling Stone describing it as "a series of whoops and grunts as challenging to [the singers] as yawning". Nevertheless, it was nominated for the 1990 Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
Surface is the debut studio album from the band of the same name. Three years after releasing the midtempo boogie track "Falling in Love" on Salsoul, Surface released their first album self-produced and released in 1986 on Columbia Records. The album peaked at number 11 on the Billboard R&B albums chart and number 55 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart. At the same time, the hit single "Happy" peaked at number 2 on Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks. The other song, "Lately" peaked at number 8 on the Billboard singles chart.
3 Deep is the third studio album by Surface, released in 1990 on Columbia Records. The first single from the album, "The First Time" claimed the top spot on the U.S. pop charts for two straight weeks. The second single, "All I Want Is You", teams Bernard Jackson with singer Regina Belle on vocals and peaked at number eight on the Hot R&B Singles chart. The third single, "Never Gonna Let You Down", peaked at number 17 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts.
Love Zone is the fourth and last studio album by Surface, released by Victor Entertainment Inc. on July 14, 1998, and distributed for the Japanese market only. It was the last album to feature the best-known lineup of the group; Jackson, Townsend and Conley.
A Woman Falling Out of Love is the thirty-seventh studio album by American singer Aretha Franklin. It was released by Franklin's own label Aretha's Records on May 3, 2011 in the United States. Sold exclusively through US retailer Walmart until June 3, it marked the singer's debut with her label following her departure from Arista Records and the release of the Christmas album This Christmas (2008). Featuring modern standards and familiar classics as well as guest vocalists Ronald Isley, Eddie Franklin, and Karen Clark-Sheard, Franklin produced most of the material herself.
The Atlantic Singles Collection 1967–1970 is a compilation album of singer Aretha Franklin, released by Rhino Records in September 2018. The album contains her first 17 singles for Atlantic Records released in the United States from her debut for the label "I Never Loved a Man " of February 1967 through "Border Song " of October 1970. The Amazon sales website identifies these as digitally remastered versions of the original mono issues, although that is not indicated in the set's liner notes or packaging. The original recordings were produced by Jerry Wexler, at times in collaboration with Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin.