Shalamar

I still think Howard Hewett is as hot as ever in the current interviews of "Unsung"

Yeah there is/was always a lot controversy like that in the New Artist category. Cyndi Lauper was the lead singer of a band that had a little success and did some albums too but was then treated as a brand new discovery at the Grammys.

Dead Giveaway

My favorite Shalamar song.

Dancing in the Sheets

Jody Watley's music was FIERCE. She had some great songs in the late 80s.

The same year Jody Watley was allowed to compete (and win) for Best New Artist after being the co-lead singer of Shalamar for 5 years and several albums, Richard Marx was deemed ineligible because the year before, he contributed one song to the soundtrack for the Tom Hanks-Jackie Gleason film Nothing in Common. It was the only recording Marx had released prior to his 1987 debut album.

At the time of voting, Marx was in the midst of scoring four Top 5 hits from that album and, had he been nominated, would have likely won. In 1985, Whitney Houston was deemed ineligible for Best New Artist because she had sung duets on both Teddy Pendergrass' and Jermaine Jackson's 1984 albums. Yet in the previous two years, Eurythmics had been nominated even though Sweet Dreams was their 2nd album (third if you count their previous group, The Tourists) and the aforementioned situation with Cyndi Lauper.

Of course, then the Grammys changed the rule, so much so that in 2001, Shelby Lynne won Best New Artist after releasing her 6th album in 11 years.

They should have signed with Motown and been part of their new roster with Vanity, Rick James and Lionel Richie

Few bands ever topped Shalamar for sheer sunny, upbeat dance music. Howard and Jody's vocals dovetailed beautifully. Shame that they all totally hated each other by the time they (the Howard, Jody, Jeffrey line-up) split up. Howard sounds like he was a total heel.

I saw Howard Hewett at the Atlanta airport in 1986!

It happens a lot. I think Lauryn Hill won Best New Artist even though she was a massive star and had already won Best Rap Album as a member of The Fugees (and let's face it, the star member).

Love Jody Watley's music and style. Actually quite a groundbreaker too as the first pop artist with a rap feature (something that became the keystone of the music industry), as well as her fashion influence. She has been working the independent circuit (or 'legacy artist' circuit) these past couple of years and it's obvious she can't stand the other guys from Shalamar. Finally seems to be getting some traction, she was even on Wendy recently selling candles.

And before he made Fight Club, Se7en, Gone Girl, Zodiac, The Social Network, Benjamin Button, Mank etc....... David Fincher cut his teeth directing this fantastic music video.

Notorious thief Beyonce has stolen the 'bass... hi hat...' intro on a bunch of her own tours.

I'd still do him

From 3:52 onward you have Jody Watley, RuPaul, and Eartha Kitt shooting the shit together. I miss the 90s.

I remember the chic kids in French class being into Shalamar back in 1982

A few years ago I commented on an Instagram post that Tiffany Haddish seemed to resemble Ms. Waltey in a photo. Though nobody tagged her she found the post and interpreted my comment as an insult and let me have it. Before that I only recalled her guesting on that show with the angry white alcoholic lesbian...not Ellen, not Rosie, that personal trainer on Bravo.

Jody Watley's music still holds up. Looking For A New Love and Don't You Want Me, among others, have aged very well.

And Jody was the first to say "hasta la vista, baby" even though Arnold S. gets all the credit for that.

I think I remember hearing or reading that Jody Watley and Jeffrey Daniels were in a relationship for a while (prior to his brief marriage to Stephanie Mills), and that he was physically and emotionally abusive.

Howard Hewett was just arrogant, and treated the other two like underlings. He's a great singer, Jody is average at best (her early solo music was fantastic, but not because she's a phenomenal vocalist), and Jeffrey can't sing at all, so it was probably frustrating for him to have to share the spotlight with people who were less vocally gifted.

Jody Watley openly gloated in the press when she had more crossover success than either Shalamar or solo Howard Hewett. She'd been held back and denied, and ultimately proved Howard, Jeffrey, and the Solar execs all wrong. Good for her.

I do recall seeing a pic on Howard Hewett's Facebook of him in an airport with Jody Watley, probably about 6 or 7 years ago. They'd run into each other unexpectedly, and they were both all smiles. It seemed like all was forgiven.

Howard and ex-wife Nia Peeples

Is he making sure his pants are buttoned? R19

Nia Peeples! Wow, there's a name from the past. Haven't thought of her in years.

I met Nia Peeples when I worked on Pretty Little Liars and she was very friendly, nice, down-to-earth.

All I could think about was this song and video

r16 Tiffany wishes she looked like Jody. I thought Jody was gorgeous.

"Friends" is an underplayed Jody Watley song

she was a Solid Gold Dancer

The Shalamar story has always been fascinating from their start as Soul Train dancers to their early 80s success. Right in the middle of their popularity Jody had a baby and for years she wouldn't say who the father was. Turns out it was their producer Leon Sylvers who is unsung in his own right.

R23 I think so, too, it was intended as a complimentary observation about a specific image; ordinarily I wouldn't say there's much of a resemblance. I guess Jody hates Tiffany or found that comparison insulting and felt compelled to respond negatively on IG.

Dead Giveaway should really be playing everywhere

Jody Watley had a similar career track as Belinda Carlisle—several big hits in the late 80s, and pretty much nada once the 90s hit. My favorite Jody song is her second single, “Still a Thrill” which peaked at only #56 on the Hot 100. I had the cassingle!

Lots of 80s artists were done in the early 90s, for various reasons. Only the big A-List pop stars like Whitney and Madonna were able to keep their careers going at the same level.

A Night To Remember I love, but my favorite is Over and Over:

Does Jody still own the shalamar trademark? That was the biggest fuck you she could have possibly gave to Daniel, Hewitt and the Griffey family.

So many posters know a lot about them; are any of you in the music industry or just super fans?

Don Cornelius, host of Soul Train and creator of Shalamar, was an under appreciated American institution. Sadly, he killed himself by gunshot about a decade ago when he was in his mid 70s and dealing with declining physical and mental health issues after brain surgery he had many years ago. He was a huge force in introducing R&B, funk, soul, disco and early hip hop to his base of young Black people and to a wider white audience. Jody owes him everything for giving her that break every new act is looking for. I love her and Don. Incredible talents.

Man, she HATES those two. Must've treated her like shit.

Jody was so cool, beautiful, and creative. She deserved to have been even bigger. In her videos, she always had a very tall lanky fem black gay man with a flat top sort of hair so. Do any of you elder gays know anything about him?

I could of sworn this was a perfume that my aunt had?

Love the song Dead Give Away from Shalamar and one of my favorites from Jodi's solo career is a slow jam.

Though Jodi is not a great singer I love her vocals especially when she and Hewitt sang together.

Wish she had had some of the contacts Madonna had, she deserved to have more hits.

They fought like hell during the Dead Giveaway video shoot. The Unsung episode on them is really good. The above poster is right when they said Hewett really looked down on Jody. Plus all of them were screwed out of money I believe by their record company. Jody had no control or input over the music and she basically said (along with Jeffrey) fuck it I’m out. She felt vindicated when she won that Grammy. But she refuses to do a reunion with them.

R39: Babyface did a remake of For The Lover In You and the video was billed as a big Shalamar reunion. But if you see the video they are all filmed separately, they are never together in that video.

Thanks for that r40.

I miss real R&B falsetto.

I wonder if Jody Watley's cynical "Friends" is a response to Shalamar's "Friends"

Jody was and still is stunning. She has an awesome solo album straight out the gate. Hewitt was a scumbag who allegedly raped her. Back then it wasn’t spoke of, you sadly carried on and never named your abuser if you wanted to continue to work. And poster (16) Tiffany Haddisb looks NOTHING like Watley. Jody and The ageless stunner Angela Bassett have more of a look going. Bottom line, Shalamar and all the awesome 80s were the best of an era we will never capture again. It sucks that music is now a corporate nightmare, the Scooter Braun’s of the world force feeding is his “roster” when it’s one hit on you tube or Spotify and they’re “famous musicians”. Also poster who said Don Cornelius was an unsung hero is TRUTH! He has a show that really connected people to a culture that everyone could enjoy because it was based on the love of music and dance. Race WASN'T the factor it was all about love and fun and getting down! The dancers were the shit!

I always liked Shalimar back in the day - and Jody Watley – but never knew anything at all about them. Thanks to this thread, I got curious and now I’be spent hours going down rabbit holes about this. I am totally team Jody now – the guys in Shalimar were assholes to her – and the record company treated them all like shit. After reading everything I found, I don’t blame her one bit for never wanting to even see those guys again.

makes me want to DANCE

The funny thing about Shalamar, they were bigger stars in England and Europe than in their home country. Here they were just an R&B/Disco group which was a dirty word in America. In England they were big pop stars. Every year when they show the Do They Know It's Christmas Time video people still ask what was Jody Watley doing there. She had just left Shalamar and she was just as big as anyone else there.

Cyndi Lauper was eligible for Best New Artist because she was never credited as a solo artist before the year she was nominated. Whitney Houstin & Richard Marx were, rendering them ineligible at the time. This rule has since changed. The Grammy is based on American recordings, therefore Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams was technically their 1st album in the eyes Grammy academy.

R32

[quote] That was the biggest fuck you she could have possibly gave to Daniel, Hewitt and the Griffey family.

Oh dear.

r48 nobody done give a fuck bout your prissy trollin'

I highly doubt Howard "raped" Jody. She would be shouting that from the rooftops if that happened. Jody and Jeffrey were actually dating during that time, and he constantly cheated on her...and then married Stephanie Mills, while he and Jody were still sleeping together. They used to have huge physical fights..sometimes onstage. Meanwhile, Jody was having an affair with their producer, Leon Sylvers, and got pregnant. That was kept very hush, hush. But, goes to show, Jody was no angel. Howard WAS cocky and arrogant back then and did treat them like they were his background singers. He and Jody had a huge fight right before the Dead Giveaway video was filmed in London, where they cussed each other out. Jody said she was quitting the group and Howard famously told her that she would "never be sh-t without Shalamar". I guess she proved him wrong. Jeffrey and Howard still tour together as Shalamar, and still look very good. Ive seen some recent interviews that Howard has done and he actually seems like a nice guy- Jeffrey too. I wish one of them would write a tell-all book.

While I do still love Shalamar - my thing came a little late in the mid 1980's. Full Force - and one of the guys Paul Anthony - dear non-existent deity the body on him. Face not so much but I could have overlooked that.

Plus Full Force featured big in Kid n' Play's 2nd movie.

How snippy and petty she is on Instagram!

Someone mentions Amsterdam under a London ticket post? Jody: “THIS POST IS FOR LONDON ONLY”.

A girl mentions she went shopping back in the day to look like her under a photo? Jody: “MINE WAS CHANEL”.

A Shalamar mention? Jody: Who *vomit emoji*

A woman says “I loved your mus-“ Jody: LOVED?????

She truly is rather petty and humorless. The back and forth at the link because someone on Instagram with a few hundred followers made a post about an obscure '80s singer and invoked Jody as an artist with a similar vibe/sound to the no-hit artist. Miss Jody was not having it.

Jody on Tamron

Would be a great Bands Reunited episode

They have a surprising amount of albums

I love her collaboration with George Michael. She asked him if he would do a duet with her right after she left Shalamar. She was surprised he said yes. He kept his word. They recorded “Learn to Say No”. It should have been a big hit.