The Sylvers

Formed in Watts, California in 1971, the Sylvers was an R&B / soul family band who achieved their greatest success during the disco era. The roots of the family’s musical career go back to the late 1950s when the four eldest members of the Sylvers family – Olympia, Leon, Charmaine, and James – performed and recorded as The Little Angels. Younger siblings James, Edmund, and Ricky joined the group in the late 1960s, and they changed the name of the group to the Sylvers. With Leon writing some of their material, they released the albums The Sylvers (1972), The Sylvers 2 (1973), and The Sylvers 3 (1974) and achieved chart success with the 1972 singles “Fool’s Paradise” (number 14 on the R&B Singles chart) and “Wish I Could Talk to You” (number 10). Three more members of the group were added to the line-up – Foster, Angie, and Pat – which meant that nine of the 10 Sylvers siblings were officially members of the group’s line-up. They signed to Capitol Records and released their fourth album, Showcase, in 1975. The album contained the group’s first chart-topping single, “Boogie Fever,” which hit number 1 in the US and Canada and entered the Top 10 in Australia and New Zealand. The album also featured the hit single “Cotton Candy.” Their next album, Something Special, included the international hit singles “Hot Line” (number 1 in Canada) and “High School Dance” (a Top 20 in the US, Canada, and New Zealand). But 1978, the group’s hits began drying up and members began to drift in and out of the group. With the public’s interest in disco and dance music moving in different directions, the Sylvers split up in 1985. Some of the members continued working in the music industry while others moved on to other things. The group continues to be a favorite of disco and R&B fans, and their music has been sampled on hip-hop / rap tracks throughout the years. Edmund Sylvers died on March 11, 2004

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