 |
Octahvia (sometimes credited as Octavia or Octah'via) is the stage name of Octavia C. Lambertis, [1] a singer from New York City. While she would later have several hits as a featured vocalist for other artists, she is perhaps best known under her own name for the 1986 R&B/dance hit, "2 the Limit."
Born Octavia Lambertis, Octavia first rose to prominence in the mid-1980s when she received significant recognition for her performance as Doris Winter in the off-Broadway musical, Mama, I Want to Sing! [2] (for which a film version was released straight-to-DVD in 2012). During this time, she was discovered by budding hip hop singer-songwriter/record producer Kenny Beck, who had recently written the song "2 the Limit" (which was originally titled "It's Over Now"). [3] Beck invited Lambertis to record this song, and after being courted by several record labels, [3] she ultimately signed with Pow Wow Records. Her version of "2 the Limit," released simply under the name Octavia became a minor hit on the R&B chart in 1986.
The following year, she released another Beck-penned single on the Pow Wow label titled "Cutey," [4] but it failed to make an impression on the charts.
She would go on to score a pair of number-ones on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart: as part of the S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M. alongside Michelle Visage and Cindy Mizelle when they recorded "It's Gonna Be A Lovely Day" in 1992 and as the featured vocalist on José Nunez's 1998 hit "In My Life" (and the number nine follow up "Hold On" in 1999).
In 1997, Lambertis appeared on the self-titled Karma to Burn album providing additional vocals on "Bobbi, Bobbi, Bobbi – I'm Not God". [5]
She also provided vocals to "Big Love," a number-one U.S. dance hit for Pete Heller, in 1999.
While she has continued to record and release singles under her own name throughout her career, [4] to date, she has yet to release a full-length solo album.
Octavia also has two daughters.
The Weather Girls are an American female duo whose best-known line-up comprised Martha Wash and Izora Armstead. Formed in 1976 in San Francisco, California, Wash and Armstead began their musical careers as Two Tons O' Fun, the female backup duo for disco singer Sylvester. After several years of singing background for Sylvester, the duo was signed in 1979 to Fantasy Records as Two Tons O' Fun. The duo changed their name to The Weather Girls and were launched into somewhat more mainstream recognition following the release of the single, "It's Raining Men" (1982), which became their first number-one song on the US Dance Chart and their biggest hit. Despite having several hit songs on the Dance Chart as Two Tons O' Fun and The Weather Girls, the duo never achieved a top 40 hit on the main US Hot 100 and ultimately disbanded in 1988 after the release of their self-titled fifth album The Weather Girls.
Kim Carnes is an American singer and songwriter born and raised in Los Angeles. She began her career as a songwriter in the 1960s, writing for other artists while performing in local clubs and working as a session background singer with the famed Water Sisters. After she signed her first publishing deal with Jimmy Bowen, she released her debut album Rest on Me in 1971. Carnes' self-titled second album primarily contained self-penned songs, including her first charting single "You're a Part of Me", which reached No. 35 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in 1975. In the following year, Carnes released Sailin', which featured "Love Comes from Unexpected Places". The song won the American Song Festival and the award for Best Composition at the Tokyo Song Festival in 1976.
Deborah Cox is a Canadian singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Born and raised in Toronto, she began performing on television commercials at age 12, and entered various talent shows in her teenage years before becoming a professional backing vocalist for Celine Dion. In 1994, Cox relocated to the United States and was signed to Arista Records by Clive Davis, releasing her self-titled debut album the following year. Her second studio album, One Wish (1998), was certified platinum in the United States. It was marked by the commercial success of the pop crossover single "Nobody's Supposed to Be Here", which would become her most successful entry on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number two and remaining there for eight consecutive weeks. Cox signed with J Records for her third studio album The Morning After (2002), which saw moderate commercial success.
Phyllis Linda Hyman was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Hyman is best known for her music during the late 1970s through the early 1990s. Some of her most notable songs were "You Know How to Love Me" (1979), "Living All Alone" (1986) and "Don't Wanna Change the World" (1991).
Izora Margaret Rhodes-Armstead was an American singer. Known for her distinctive alto voice, Armstead first achieved success as one half of the duo Two Tons O' Fun, along with Martha Wash, as they sang backup for American disco singer Sylvester. The duo obtained their own record deal as Two Tons O'Fun in 1979. They released three consecutive songs that were hits on the Dance Chart. The duo was renamed The Weather Girls in 1982 after the release of their single "It's Raining Men", their most successful single. As a duo, The Weather Girls released five albums and were also featured on Sylvester's albums.
Elizabeth Jane Anderson was an American country music singer-songwriter who was one in a wave of new-generation female vocalists in the genre during the 1960s to write and record her own songs on a regular basis. Writing in The New York Times Bill Friskics-Warren noted, "Like her contemporary Loretta Lynn, Ms. Anderson gave voice to female survivors; inhabiting their struggles in a soprano at times alluring, at times sassy."
Pamela Yvonne Tillis is an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She is a daughter of country music singer and songwriter Mel Tillis and ex-wife of songwriter Bob DiPiero. Tillis recorded unsuccessful pop material for Elektra and Warner Records in the 1980s before shifting to country music. In 1989, she signed with Arista Nashville, entering top-40 on Hot Country Songs for the first time with "Don't Tell Me What to Do" in 1990. This was the first of five singles from her breakthrough album Put Yourself in My Place.
Regina Richards is an American pop singer born in Brooklyn, New York. She is best known for her hit song "Baby Love", which reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1986. "Baby Love" was her only song to chart on the Hot 100, making her a one-hit wonder. The song also reached number 50 on the UK Singles Chart that same year.
Martha Elaine Wash is an American singer-songwriter, actress, and producer. Known for her distinctive and powerful voice, Wash first achieved fame as half of the Two Tons O' Fun, who sang backing vocals for the disco singer Sylvester including on his signature hit "You Make Me Feel ". After gaining their own record deal, they released three consecutive commercially successful songs which all peaked at number two in the dance charts. The duo was renamed The Weather Girls in 1982 after they released the top-selling single "It's Raining Men", which brought them to mainstream pop attention. The Weather Girls released five albums and were heavily featured on Sylvester's albums.
The S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M. was an American R&B and dance music group, assembled by Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C&C Music Factory, that was active in 1992. The group featured lead vocals by Michelle Visage, who was formerly a member of another Clivilles & Cole group, Seduction. Rounding out the quartet were Octavia Lambertis, Gary Michael Wade, and Jamal Alicea. The S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M. produced one hit single, "It's Gonna Be a Lovely Day!", a pop/house song that sampled the 1978 Bill Withers song "Lovely Day". The song appeared on the 1992 film soundtrack The Bodyguard. It reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart, and peaked at number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 16 in the UK Singles Chart in 1993, and number 90 in Australia on the ARIA Chart in 1993. The song "It's Gonna Be a Lovely Day!" was the only song on the soundtrack performed by an artist other than Whitney Houston released as a single in the US.
Charlotte Kelly is a British singer-songwriter, composer, arranger, and record producer. Kelly rose to fame in the mid-1990s as one of the lead singers of British R&B group Soul II Soul, one of London's best-selling groups of all time. She performed lead vocals on their single "I Care" for their fourth studio album Volume V: Believe (1995). She continued to record and perform with the group until the release of their final studio album Time for Change (1997). During their hiatus, Kelly released her debut solo album Just Another Girl (1998), which sold exclusively in Japan. She released her second album Charlotte (1999), which included number-one dance hit "Skin".
Jeanie Tracy is an American singer-songwriter, actress, and record producer. She rose to fame in the late 1970s as a background singer of Sylvester, an American disco singer. Her first album, Me and You (1982), featured post-disco hits "I'm Your Jeanie","Sing Your Own Song" and the overlooked 1983 smash R&B and Funk hit,"Can I Come Over And Play With You Tonight". From late 1984 to early 1985, she performed on television Show Star Search where she was the winner in the Female Vocalist category for six weeks. In 1995, Tracy released her second album It's My Time.
"You'll Never Know", sometimes referred to as "You'll Never Know " in later years, is a popular song with music written by Harry Warren and the lyrics by Mack Gordon. The song is based on a poem written by a young Oklahoma war bride named Dorothy Fern Norris.
Robin Beck is an American rock singer. She topped the singles chart in the United Kingdom in 1988, and Austria, Germany, Norway, Netherlands and Switzerland in 1989, with her single "First Time", which had come to the public's attention via its use in a Coca-Cola commercial. Other well-known songs of hers are "Save Up All Your Tears", "In My Heart to Stay", "Tears in the Rain" and "Close to You".
Annerley Emma Gordon, most known professionally as Ann Lee, is a British Eurodance singer and songwriter, who rose to fame in the late 1990s. She is known primarily for her hit singles "2 Times" and "Voices".
Shirley Murdock is an American R&B singer-songwriter, who is best known for her 1986 R&B hit single "As We Lay" and for her vocals on Zapp and Roger's hit single "Computer Love". Her lead vocal special guest appearance with Smooth Jazz artist Ben Tankard, climbed to #1 Gospel and #20 on Billboard Top 200 on WOW Gospel 2006 and is certified Gold. Their collaboration of the Lionel Richie song "Jesus Is Love" is one of the most played songs on Sirius XM Radio gospel channel for eight years since its initial release.
Tiffany Evans is the self-titled debut album by R&B singer Tiffany Evans. It was released by Columbia Records on April 22, 2008, in the United States and on August 27, 2008, in Japan with two bonus tracks. The first single was "Promise Ring", which features Ciara and is Evans' most successful single to date. The second was "I'm Grown", which features Bow Wow. The album was executive produced by Ciara and The Clutch. Album peaked at number 134 on US Billboard 200.
Sons of the Desert was an American country music band founded in 1989 in Waco, Texas. Its most famous lineup consisted of brothers Drew Womack and Tim Womack, along with Scott Saunders (keyboards), Doug Virden, and Brian Westrum (drums). The band released Whatever Comes First for Epic Records Nashville in 1997, and recorded a second album for Epic which was not released. Change followed in 2000. Counting two singles from the unreleased album, Sons of the Desert charted eight times on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including the top ten hit "Whatever Comes First"; they were also guest vocalists on Lee Ann Womack's 2000 hit "I Hope You Dance" and Ty Herndon's "It Must Be Love", both of which reached No. 1 on that chart. Following the band's disestablishment, Drew Womack became a solo artist; he would join Lonestar in 2021.
"Every Time Two Fools Collide" is a song written by Jan Dyer and Jeff Tweel and recorded by American country music artists Kenny Rogers and Dottie West. It was released in January 1978 as the first single and title track from the album Every Time Two Fools Collide. The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart that spring, and established Rogers and West as a popular male-female duo pairing in country music.
Camille Filfiley, known professionally as Camille, is an American singer best known for her recordings with Eumir Deodato and her prominence in the early 1990s freestyle music and dance music genres.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
  | This article about a United States singer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This article on a house musician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
