Shalamar
The Los Angeles R&B vocal group created from Soul Train, whose 1982 album Friends gave them the UK top five "A Night to Remember".
From Soul Train to SOLAR
Shalamar is an American R&B group from Los Angeles, created in 1977 by Dick Griffey, a Soul Train booking agent, and Don Cornelius, the creator of Soul Train. Wikipedia's article carries a banner saying it may have been edited for undisclosed payment, so we use it with caution; MusicBrainz dates the formation to 1975. "Uptown Festival" (1977), recorded in 1976 at Bolic Sound, was a first hit credited to the group, and its success led Griffey and Cornelius to replace session singers with the Soul Train dancers Jody Watley and Jeffrey Daniel, who joined Gary Mumford. The group then moved to SOLAR Records.
In 1979 Howard Hewett replaced Gerald Brown and the group began working with the producer Leon Sylvers III. "The Second Time Around" (1979) was a US million seller. Their albums include Big Fun (1979) and Three for Love (1980), both gold in the US, Go for It (1981), Friends (1982), The Look (1983), Heartbreak (1984), Circumstantial Evidence (1987, co-produced by Babyface and L.A. Reid) and Wake Up (1990). "Dancing in the Sheets" from the Footloose soundtrack reached 17 on the Hot 100, and "Don't Get Stopped in Beverly Hills" is on the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack, which won the 1985 Grammy for best album of original score; "Dead Giveaway" was Grammy-nominated.
Changes and returns
Watley and Daniel left in 1983 and Hewett in 1985, after which Sidney Justin sang lead; Wake Up in 1990 was the last album before the group ended around 1991. In 1996 Watley, Hewett and Daniel reunited on Babyface's "This Is for the Lover in You" and performed it on Top of the Pops. Hewett and Daniel reformed the group in 1999 (the official site says 2001), toured the UK from 2000, and from 2001 toured with Carolyn Griffey. The group reached the final of the UK series Hit Me, Baby, One More Time in 2005, released "The Real Thing" in 2017, their first single since 1991, and received a stone on the Music Walk of Fame in Camden in 2023. The official site says the classic line-up sold over 25 million records.
Mixmag's first issue in February 1983 had Shalamar on the cover. British Hit Singles and Albums calls them fashion icons who helped introduce body-popping to the UK. Setlist.fm lists 154 setlists, the latest on the page in North Las Vegas on October 10, 2026.
Albums
- Friends 1982 · SOLAR Records
Their sixth album: ten tracks that reached 6 in the UK and 1 on the US R&B albums chart.
Songs
- A Night to Remember Friends · 1982
The second single from Friends, a UK number five led by Jody Watley and Howard Hewett, and the song of Jeffrey Daniel's Top of the Pops slide.
Sources
- Shalamar, Wikipedia
- Friends (Shalamar album), Wikipedia
- Shalamar, Shalamar
- Shalamar setlists, setlist.fm