Jody Vanessa Watley (born January 30, 1959) is an American singer, songwriter, and music producer. Watley first found musical success in 1977 when she became a part of the original lineup of the R&B group Shalamar. The group recorded the hits "The Second Time Around", "A Night to Remember" and "Dead Giveaway". After recording several albums with the group, Watley left the group in 1983.
Watley signed with MCA Records and the label released her self-titled debut album in 1987. The album launched three top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100: Number 1 R&B Hit "Looking for a New Love", "Don't You Want Me", and "Some Kind of Lover". The success of the album helped Watley to win the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1988. Watley would eventually record four more top ten singles between 1989 and 1996 including Number 1 R&B Hit "Real Love" and "Friends" with rapper Rakim. "Friends" would arguably helped propel the formula of pop or R&B and rap collaborations along with Chaka Khan's "I Feel for You" which was a US top five Hot 100 hit several years prior in 1984. After the success of her sophomore album, Larger than Life, her commercial success peaked and subsequent releases such as Affairs of the Heart and Intimacy failed to make much of an impact on the Top 200 Album chart. Jody Watley, known as a style icon, has continued to evolve creatively and independently across genres of dance and electronica
Since 2023, Watley has hosted the Sirius XM Satellite Radio show, The Jody Watley Show, a monthly life, music and culture show featuring celebrity guests and classic R&B hits.
Her honors have included a Billboard Dance Lifetime Achievement Award and a Crossover Music Icon honor at the Black Music Honors. In 2018, she was ranked the 53rd most successful female charting artist on the Billboard Hot 100. In March 2021, Watley was named the First Ambassador of the National Museum of African American Music. In 2022, Watley received an honorary doctorate in business and Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award from Joe Biden at Jody Watley Day at Georgia State Capitol, and was inducted into Women Songwriters Hall of Fame.
1974–1984: Soul Train and Shalamar
Watley was born the second eldest of three to parents Rose Watley, a choir singer, and John Watley, a radio evangelist, in Chicago. According to Watley, her home entertained famous musicians such as Sam Cooke, Joe Tex and Jackie Wilson, the latter of whom becoming Watley's godfather. According to Watley, her father's itinerant ministry "kept [them] on the move". When Watley was eight, Jackie Wilson brought the unsuspecting girl onto the stage with him during a performance. Three years later, while living in Kansas City, Watley organized a dance trio called "Black Fuzz". Shortly after the Watleys moved to Los Angeles in 1974, she began attending Dorsey High School, where she subsequently graduated from in 1977.
During her first week in Los Angeles, while attending James Cleveland’s Cornerstone Institutional Baptist Church, a parishioner there, Glen Stafford, approached her with an offer to be his temporary dance partner on the popular urban dance TV show, Soul Train, to which the 15-year-old happily accepted. Watley wouldn't become a regular dancer on the program, however, until 1975. By then, she had become dance partners with Jeffrey Daniel and shortly thereafter became a popular attraction on the show.
Not too long afterwards, in 1976, Soul Train host and founder Don Cornelius and his then business partner Dick Griffey formed Soul Train Records and bought masters for a record called "Uptown Festival", a disco medley of Motown classics that was billed with the name "Shalamar". The song had been led by Gary Mumford and background session singers. To promote the record, Cornelius decided to replace the background singers with Watley and Daniel. "Uptown Festival" was released in April 1977 and became a hit. Soul Train Records soon folded and Griffey formed SOLAR Records in 1978, with Shalamar and the Whispers as his first acts. By then, Mumford had left the group and was replaced by former session vocalist and Soul Train dancer Gerald Brown, releasing their second album, Disco Gardens, which featured the R&B hit, "Take That to the Bank", which was Watley's first recorded co-lead in the group alongside Brown. Around that same year, Watley and Daniel were both featured in an October 1978 issue of Ebony as she was noted as part of "The New Generation" in an article called "The 'Outrageous' Waack Dancers" on the magazine.
Brown left the group in early 1979 right before the release of another Brown-led single from the album. He was soon replaced by singer Howard Hewett, therefore assembling the "classic" lineup of the group. Between 1979 and 1983, Watley, Daniel and Hewett recorded five albums together — Big Fun (1979), Three for Love (1980), Go for It (1981), Friends (1982) and The Look (1983). Watley co-led on some of the group's biggest hits, namely "Make That Move" and "A Night to Remember", while singing background on other hits such as "The Second Time Around", "This Is for the Lover in You" and "Dead Giveaway".
During this period, three of Shalamar's albums — Big Fun, Three for Love and Friends — and one single ("The Second Time Around") all received gold certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America. Despite the success, all three Shalamar band mates had a contentious relationship with one another and with their SOLAR record label for lack of payment as well as artistic decisions that neither band mate could agree to. By the completion of The Look, Watley requested to be let go from the group as she eventually wanted to embark on a solo career. Following a UK promotional tour, where the group filmed the music video for "Dead Giveaway" in London, Watley and Daniel left the group. Despite The Look not performing as well as Friends, "Dead Giveaway" won the Watley-Hewett-Daniel lineup of Shalamar a Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.
Watley relocated to London after leaving Shalamar. During this period, Watley recorded session work with Musical Youth on their album, Different Style!. She also recorded with Gary Langan, Anne Dudley and J. J. Jeczalik (who later became Art of Noise). In 1984, she recorded two singles for Phonogram Records under the mononym "Jody" — "Where the Boys Are" and "Girls Night Out", which was released only in Europe and Australia.
In December 1984, Watley was one of only a few American acts — including R&B group Kool and the Gang — to participate in Bob Geldof's Band Aid recording of "Do They Know It's Christmas?", which included Bono, Boy George, Sting, George Michael, Phil Collins, Status Quo, Paul Weller, Bananarama and other prominent Irish and British artists.
1987–1988: Jody Watley and commercial breakthrough
In 1986, after more than two years in the UK, Watley returned to the United States where she signed with MCA Records. Working with former Prince collaborator André Cymone and Bernard Edwards of the group Chic, Watley released her self-titled solo debut, Jody Watley, in March 1987.
The album included six songs that were co-written by Watley. During her interview on the album with Rolling Stone, Watley stated she wanted to showcase her voice against "really funky hard dance tracks". The album would become a hit upon its release, reaching number 10 on the Billboard 200 and topped the Top Black Albums chart, later selling over four million copies worldwide and going platinum in the United States, remaining her best-selling album to date.
The album produced three top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including "Looking for a New Love", which peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified gold, "Don't You Want Me", which peaked at number 6 and "Some Kind of Lover", which reached number 10, along with minor hits "Still a Thrill" and "Most of All". The album is also notable for the George Michael-featured duet "Learn to Say No".