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Kym Mazelle | |
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 Mazelle in 2014 | |
| Born | Kymberly Grigsby August 10, 1960 Gary, Indiana, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1986–present |
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| Website | officialkymmazelle |
Kym Mazelle (born Kymberly Grigsby; August 10, 1960) is an American singer. She is regarded as a pioneer of house music in the United Kingdom and Europe. [1] [2] Her music combines R&B, soul, funk, house music, dance, and pop. [3] She is credited as "The First Lady of House Music". [1] [4]
Mazelle was born in Gary, Indiana. [5] She lived on the same street as the Jackson family and knew Michael Jackson's mother and uncle. [6] In 1981, she attended Mundelein College in Chicago. In 1982, she transferred to Columbia College Chicago, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in Arts and Entertainment Media Management in 1986. [7] During college, she worked part-time as an intern and secretary at Lyric Opera of Chicago.
In 1987, she worked with record producer Marshall Jefferson (as House To House) on the single "Taste My Love", released on Police Records label. [6] In 1988, she released the single "Useless (I Don't Need You Now)", a hit on the club charts which reached at No. 53 on the UK singles chart. [8] Her next release, "Wait," a duet with Robert Howard from The Blow Monkeys in 1989, peaked at No. 7 in the UK. [8] In 1989, Mazelle's debut album Crazy was released in the UK and featured the single "Love Strain". [8] With the single "Was That All It Was" returned Mazelle to the UK Top 40 and "Useless (I Don't Need You Now)" was remixed by Norman Cook. [9]
In 1990, Mazelle joined British music group Soul II Soul. Her lead vocals on the single "Missing You" on their second album Vol. II: 1990 – A New Decade achieved major success worldwide. She also toured with the group throughout the year and their concert DVD A New Decade: Live from Brixton Academy was released in September 1990. In 1991, Parlophone Records repackaged Mazelle's debut album as Brilliant!! with remixes of her singles, two new tracks and remixes of "No One Can Love You More Than Me" and "Crazy 'Bout The Man". [10] [11] Mazelle also appeared as "Pattie Roman" on the show Trainer, a sitcom originating from Great Britain. [12] In 1992 Kym had a hit with Rapination also known as the Rapino Brothers with “Love me the right way” This was a euro piano house sound and was a popular hit in the U.K. particularly the club scene.
In 1994, she scored a No. 13 hit in the UK with a cover on "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)", with Jocelyn Brown. Two years later, in 1996, Mazelle released a cover version of the song "Young Hearts Run Free", which appeared in the 1996 Baz Luhrmann film William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet and also appeared on the director's remix album Something for Everybody . [13] The soundtrack went triple platinum in the United States of America. [14] The success of the single re-invited Mazelle to perform on Top of the Pops. [15]
She has appeared on two live albums by Maceo Parker, Life on Planet Groove and My First Name is Maceo. Mazelle released her second album The Pleasure Is All Mine in June 2004 and undertook a tour in the UK. [16] The album spawned two singles: "Love Magic" and "On My Own". [17] [18] In 2005, Mazelle took part in the British version of the reality TV show, Celebrity Fit Club . In April 2007, she appeared in the Ray Charles's tribute show "I Can't Stop Loving You". [19]
In July 2010, Mazelle joined the cast of UK theatre production of Smokey Joe's Cafe . [20] [21] She also appeared on the BBC Television series, Celebrity MasterChef . In September 2010, she released an extended play titled Destiny. [22]
She headlined Liverpool Pride on August 6, 2011. [23] On November 3, 2011, she headlined Prince Charles's Prince's Trust Ambassador Ball in Glasgow and helped to raise £93,000.00 for the charity on the night. On April 6, 2013, her appearance on The Voice UK was broadcast on the BBC. [24] In 2017, Mazelle embarked on her 30th Anniversary Tour, celebrating thirty years in the music industry.
| Single | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [25] | US Dance [26] | AUS [27] | BEL [28] | FRA [29] | GER [30] | NED [31] | NZ [32] | UK [8] | |||
| "Useless (I Don't Need You Now)" | 1988 | — | 13 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 53 | Crazy(UK/EUR) Brilliant!(US/CAN) |
| "Wait!" (duet with Robert Howard) | 1989 | — | — | — | 20 | — | 26 | 32 | — | 7 | |
| "Got to Get You Back" | — | — | — | — | — | 57 | — | — | 29 | ||
| "Love Strain" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 52 | ||
| "Was That All It Was" | 1990 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 33 | |
| "Don't Scandalize My Name" | — | 22 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Useless (I Don't Need You Now)" (Norman Cook Remix) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 48 | Brilliant! (European remix compilation) | |
| "No One Can Love You More Than Me" (Boilerhouse Remix) | 1991 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 62 | |
| "Woman of the World" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Trainer — OST | |
| "Love Me the Right Way" (with Rapination) | 1993 | 97 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 22 | Non-album single |
| "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" (duet with Jocelyn Brown) | 1994 | — | — | 48 | 46 | — | — | — | — | 13 | |
| "Gimme All Your Lovin'" (duet with Jocelyn Brown) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 22 | ||
| "Love Me the Right Way '96" (with Rapination) | 1996 | — | 20 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 55 | |
| "Young Hearts Run Free" | — | — | 11 | — | 29 | 88 | — | 16 | 20 | Romeo + Juliet — OST | |
| "Have a Nice Day" | 1997 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single |
| "A Place in My Heart" | 1998 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Love Magic" | 2004 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | The Pleasure Is All Mine |
| "On My Own" | 2005 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Here Comes the Light" | 2010 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Destiny |
| "Can You Feel It" (with Junior and Sinitta) [33] | 2021 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | non album single |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released. | |||||||||||
| Single | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US R&B [34] | US Dance [35] | IRE [36] | NED [37] | UK [8] | |||||||||||||
| "Taste My Love" (House to House featuring Kym Mazelle) | 1987 | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | ||||||||||
| "Missing You" (Soul II Soul featuring Kym Mazelle) | 1990 | 29 | 39 | 24 | 74 | 22 | Vol. II: 1990 – A New Decade | ||||||||||
| "Love Me or Leave Me" (Kamasutra presents Kym Mazelle) | 1995 | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | ||||||||||
| "Searching for the Golden Eye" (Motiv-8 and Kym Mazelle) | 1996 | — | — | — | — | 40 | |||||||||||
| "Free, Gay & Happy" (Paradise People featuring Kym Mazelle) | 1997 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||
| "Truly" (Peshay featuring Kym Mazelle) | 2000 | — | — | — | — | 55 | Miles from Home | ||||||||||
| "Perhaps" (Sunray featuring Kym Mazelle) | 2001 | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | ||||||||||
| "Dance Little Dreamer" (Infinito featuring Kym Mazelle) | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "Feel Like Dancin'" (House Bros. featuring Kym Mazelle) | 2003 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||
| "Change" (Yann Vedra featuring Kym Mazelle) | 2014 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||
| "Lovin'" (David Morales presents The Face featuring Kym Mazelle) | 2015 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released. | |||||||||||||||||
| Year | Title | Role | Episode | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Trainer | Pattie Roman | "A Question of Loyalty" | [12] |
| "Business or Pleasure" | [12] |
William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. is an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. He was the founder and frontman of the pioneering Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief songwriter and producer. He led the group from its 1955 origins, when they were called The Five Chimes, until 1972, when he retired from the group to focus on his role as Motown Records vice president. Robinson returned to the music industry as a solo artist the following year. He left Motown in 1999.
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The Blow Monkeys are a British pop band formed in 1981. Their first single, "Live Today Love Tomorrow", was released in 1982. They subsequently enjoyed a successful career with several hit singles and albums throughout the 1980s before splitting up at the beginning of the 1990s. Their first hit song was "Digging Your Scene" which hit No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 14 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in August 1986. They had four albums and eleven singles in the UK charts between 1986 and 1990.
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"Missing You" is a song by British Contemporary R&B band Soul II Soul, released in November 1990 as the fourth and last single from their second album, Vol. II: 1990 – A New Decade (1990). It features American singer-songwriter Kym Mazelle on lead vocals and Lamya on background vocals. It was a top 30 hit in Ireland and the UK. Outside Europe, it peaked at number nine in Zimbabwe, number 39 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart in the US and number 166 in Australia. A black-and-white music video was produced to promote the single. It shows Mazelle and Jazzie B dancing together on a dancefloor while performing it.
"Love Me the Right Way" is a song by Italian record producers Charlie Mallozzi and Marco Sabiu as Rapination. It features vocals by American singer-songwriter Kym Mazelle, who also is credited for co-writing the song. Released in 1992 by Arista, Logic and RCA, it peaked at number 22 in the UK, and also charted in Finland, Ireland and Sweden. In 1996, a new remix of the song was released, reaching number 20 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart as well as number 15 on the UK Dance Singles Chart.
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