PEGGI BLU / THE O'JAYS - TENDER MOMENTS / DON'T TAKE MY LOVE AWAY

Like many of today's top singers, Peggi Blu got her start in the church. At the age of three her mother used to sit her on the stage where she would, in the words of someone who remembers being there, "...sing up a storm!". By the time she was a teenager, she had toured all through the Carolinas, and decided to try her luck in New York. For the next fifteen years she established herself as one of New York's top background singers, backing up such stars as Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross, Bob Dylan, and many others. All this ‘backing up’ led to a record deal in 1980 with MCA, resulting in the album "I Got Love". This album yielded a single, "Dancing In The Streets", which reached #35 on Billboard's dance music chart; the title song "I Got Love" was featured in the ABC movie Off The Minnesota Strip (starring Hal Holbrook). Peggi also co-starred in two Broadway musicals - The Wiz (1983, with Stephanie Mills) and Marilyn, An American Fable (1984, with director Kenny Ortega and star Scott Bakula). In 1986, though, she got her biggest break yet. Her agent submitted her to "Star Search". They loved her. In only eight minutes and four shows (two minutes per song) Peggi Blu became the 1986 Grand Champion Female Vocalist, winning the $100,000.00 prize money! This massive television exposure led to a huge recording contract with Capitol Records. Moving to California, Peggi spent the rest of 1986 and most of 1987 working on "Blu Blowin'". This album did very well in England, reaching as high as #4 on the club charts. It also received critical raves from reviewers in Billboard, The New York Post, The New York Daily News, & USA Today. TV appearances included Entertainment Tonight, and Good Morning America. A single, "Tender Moments", stayed on Billboards' R & B charts for a respectable eight weeks, peaking at #28. On January 1st, 2000, Peggi sang with one of the biggest stars in the world at the biggest, most expensive concert ever - Barbra Streisand’s Millenium Concert at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. That event has been broadcast on FOX television repeatedly. At President Clinton’s inauguration in Washington Peggi was personally requested to appear and sing. She even got to ‘jam’ with the President at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Pasadena at an exclusive party thrown by his friends. In 1993 she released another single in England “Love Is The Magic”. It peaked at #9 on the Urban Contemporary chart and continues to sell well throughout Europe. From December of 1996 to May of 1997, Peggi headed to Germany to star in Michael Jackson’s Production of Sisterella - a successful 4-month long tour. A single from that show featuring Peggi was released by MJJ/Sony in Europe - “I Got The Money”. In February of 1998 she returned to Germany to co-star with Linda Hopkins in a revue Wild Women Blues. Peggi is a featured soloist on the title song to the Jean-Claude Van Damme movie Desert Heat, as well as singing on the soundtracks to Set It Off (with Queen Latifa & Jada Pinkett-Smith) and Hurricane (with Denzel Washington). She sings a duet with Gerald Alston on the new Manhattans’ CD Even Now, and has performed as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra under Esa Peka-Salonen, and with the Memphis and Hawaiian Symphony Orchestras with Burt Bacharach. In September of 2002 Peggi released her third album - “Livin' on Love”, initially in the UK & Europe on Expansion Records. So far it has received nothing but rave reviews - and has gone to #1 on radio charts in 5 different countries. Respected magazines such as Blues & Soul have given it glowing reviews. Excerpts from that CD have also appeared on numerous European compilations. Peggi has also added her talents to the Platinum-selling recordings of some very major stars: Quincy Jones (Back On The Block), Tracy Chapman, Kylie Minogue, Aaron Neville, David Foster (The 1996 & 2002 Olympics Themes), Brian Setzer, Young M.C., Cherelle, Burt Bacharach, Irene Cara, The Crusaders, Smokey Robinson, The Staple Singers, Phyllis Hyman, Sweet, Leonard Cohen, Philip Bailey of Earth, Wind & Fire, and a host of others. As a matter of fact, Peggi has appeared on TEN platinum selling albums! In March of 2006, Peggia was featured prominently on the ABC show “Miracle Workers” in a segment about her good friend and musical collaborator Valentino. They also sang one of their co-written songs together - “I’m Back”. Peggi currently is performing her new self-penned show, “Blu Sinatra”, in which she sings selections from the classic Sinatra songbook as if “Frank Sinatra were born a Black Woman named Peggi Blu!” © http://www.myspace.com/peggiblu Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

The O'Jays are an American R&B group (from Canton, Ohio, USA) formed in 1963 and one of the seminal Philly soul groups. The O'Jays originally consisting of Walter Williams (b. August 25, 1942), Bill Isles (January 4, 1941 – March 2019), Bobby Massey, William Powell (January 20, 1942–May 26, 1977) and Eddie Levert (b. June 16, 1942). The O'Jays were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004, and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. The O'Jays (now a trio after the departure of Isles and Massey) had their first hit with "Lonely Drifter", in 1963. In spite of the record's success, the group was considering quitting the music business until Gamble & Huff, a legendary team of producers and songwriters, took an interest in the group. With Gamble & Huff, the O'Jays emerged at the forefront of Philadelphia soul with Back Stabbers (1972), a huge pop hit, and topped the U.S. singles charts the following year with their anthemic "Love Train". They formed the group in Canton, Ohio in 1958 while attending Canton McKinley High School. Originally known as The Triumphs, and then The Mascots, the friends began recording with "Miracles" in 1961, which was a moderate hit in the Cleveland area. In 1963 they took the name "The O'Jays", in tribute to radio disc jockey Eddie O'Jay (Toop, 1991), and released "Lonely Drifter", which charted nationally. Their debut LP was Comin' Through. Throughout the 1960s, they continued to chart with songs such as "Lipstick Traces" (which they performed nationally on the ABC Television program, Shivaree), "Stand In For Love", "Let It All Out", "I'll Be Sweeter Tomorrow", "Deeper In Love With You" and "One Night Affair", along with several other regional and national Pop and R&B hits. In 1972, they finally scored with their first million-seller, "Back Stabbers", from the gold album of the same name. By this time, original member Bobby Massey had also departed, leaving the group a trio. This album produced several more hit singles, including "992 Arguments", "Sunshine", "Time To Get Down" and the #1 Pop smash, "Love Train". They became known as "The Mighty O'Jays" due to their exciting, emotion-packed stage performances, led by the dynamic Levert, and the cool, multi-range vocals of Walter Williams, coupled with the matinee idol looks and smooth first tenor voice of William Powell. During the remainder of the 1970s the O'Jays continued releasing chart-topping singles, including "Put Your Hands Together" (Pop #10), "For the Love of Money" (Pop #9), "Give the People What They Want", "Let Me Make Love To You", "I Love Music" (Pop #5), "Livin' for the Weekend", "Message in Our Music" and "Darlin' Darlin' Baby (Sweet Tender Love)". Original member William Powell died of cancer in 1977 at the age of just 35. After adding Sammy Strain (born December 9, 1941) (of Little Anthony & the Imperials), the O'Jays continued recording, though with limited success. 1978's "Use ta Be My Girl" was their final Top Five hit, though they continued placing songs on the R&B charts throughout the 1980s. Their 1987 album, Let Me Touch You, was a breakthrough of sorts, and included the #1 R&B hit "Lovin' You". Eddie Levert also got a copy of Kevan Tynes' "Loving You" prior to recording their version .Though they continued charting on the R&B charts in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the O'Jays never again achieved pop success. In 1992, Sammy Strain left the group, and returned to the Imperials, to be replaced by Nathaniel Best, and later, by Eric Grant. Later in the 1990s, the group did little recording, though they remained a popular live draw. Their latest album was Imagination in 2004. In 2003, they co-starred in the movie The Fighting Temptations, which starred Cuba Gooding Jr. and Beyonce Knowles. In the film, they played three barbers who joined the local church choir to help out the film's protagonist Darrin (Gooding) who was the choir director. In 2005 the O'Jays were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Original members Eddie Levert, Walter Williams, Bobby Massey and, posthumously, William Powell, were inducted. In a note of controversy, 70's O'Jays member Sammy Strain was also inducted with the group, while original member Bill Isles was not. (Strain is one of the few artists in popular music history who is a double RRHOF inductee: with The O'Jays in 2005, and The Imperials in 2009). In 2006, the O'Jays performed at the ESPY awards, hosted by Lance Armstrong. "For the Love of Money" is the theme song to the hit reality TV show The Apprentice, starring Donald Trump, which is ironic considering that the lyrics warn of the evil people will do for the love of money. On February 23, 2007, Radio-Canada's website reported that Canadian Industry Minister Jim Prentice had used the song "For The Love of Money" without the group's permission during a political event, a faux pas since Prentice is responsible for the application of the Copyright Act in Canada. Radio-Canada also reports that Prentice has since been contacted by the attorneys for both the O'Jays and Warner/Chappell Music. On June 28, 2009, at the 2009 BET Award Show in the Shrine Auditorium the O'Jays were honored with BET's 2009 Life Time Achievement Award. Tevin Campbell, Trey Songz, Tyrese Gibson, and Johnny Gill performed a medley of the groups songs followed by the presentation of the award by Don Cornelius. The group reminisced, joked with the audience and accepted their award before performing a rendition of their hit songs. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.