Jazz and R&B singer Randy Crawford was born as Veronica Crawford on February 18, 1952 in Macon, Georgia and grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. Randy first began singing both at church and in school.
She started performing at nightclubs in Europe and America at age fifteen (her father acted as her chaperon). Among the notable artists Crawford has worked with throughout the years are Bootsy Collins, Cannonball Adderley, Ray Charles, George Benson, Quincy Jones, Al Jarreau, and Johnny Bristol. Randy released her first single 'If You Say the Word' at age twenty. In 1979 Crawford sang the fiery lead vocals on the stirring 'Street Life' for the group the Crusaders; this song not only peaked at #17 on the US R&B charts and #5 on the UK pop charts, but also has been featured on the soundtracks to the movies 'Sharky's Machine' and 'Jackie Brown.' Randy was named the Most Outstanding Performer at the 1980 Tokyo International Music Festival.
Find Randy Crawford biography and history on AllMusic - One of the most readily identifiable voices of.
She had substantial Top 20 UK pop radio hits with 'One Day I'll Fly Away,' 'You Might Need Somebody,' and an especially moving and inspired rendition of 'Rainy Night in Georgia.' Her 1981 album 'Secret Combination' stayed on the Billboard album charts for sixty weeks. Crawford scored another smash success in 1986 with 'Almaz,' which went all the way to #4 on the UK pop radio charts. In 1989 Randy recorded a hit cover of Bob Dylan's 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door' with Eric Clapton and David Sanborn. She still continues to tour and perform in concert all over the world.
More recently, Randy Crawford collaborated with pianist and composer Joe Sample on the 2006 album 'Feeling Good.' - IMDb Mini Biography By: Trivia (1).
From the day Randy Crawford first started recording professionally; her soulful voice has always poured out a special joy and has provided a spontaneous direction as to how a song could take shape. She was especially successful in covering popular hits for others - keeping the melody intact without sacrificing her ingenious vocal phrasing details. All these natural gifts were her bread and butter through her early career, yielding her critical acclaim but not consistently high album sales. But with the release of the internationally-known R&B, jazz, and dance smash hit from 1979 - 'Street Life' with the Crusaders - Crawford was delivered to the bigger stage. Growing up, Crawford and her five siblings were all encouraged to sing as much as possible. The Georgia-born Ohio native embraced all sorts of music growing up from singing in the church choir to the nightclubs. When Crawford was ready to step out professionally and travel extensively, her father acted as her chaperone.
Vocally mature beyond her years, Crawford had the privilege of performing overseas in France as a teenager, and fronting groups on the club circuit in New York City with modern jazz musicians Cannonball Adderly and George Benson and future Funkadelic bass guitarist Bootsy Collins. Many of her associates immediately gravitated to Crawford's seamless vocals that balanced power and emotion. On the strength of her work with Benson's group, she released her first single, 'If You Say The Word.' Adderly personally chose Crawford to play Carolina for the 1975 folk musical: 'Big Man: The Legend of John Henry.'
That year proved a turning point as Quincy Jones invited her to perform the jazz standard, 'Everything Must Change,' as a tribute for the late Adderly during an annual fundraiser for the World Jazz Association (WJA), backed by an orchestra conducted by Jones. Everything Must Change was also the title of Crawford's debut recording for Warner Brothers. This recording session also included the jazz fusion giants The Crusaders. They also backed Crawford on their undisputed biggest hit to this date - 'Street Life' - inspiring two action movie soundtracks, Sharkey's Machine and Jackie Brown; and several cover takes including Rashaan Patterson & Jill Scott. Of those musical cohorts who championed Crawford's voice in the early phases of her career, The Crusaders leader and co-founder Joe Sample was definitely her biggest advocate.
Crawford continued collaborating with The Crusaders and Sample on her 1981 disc Now We May Begin and various reunion concerts. Her relationship with Sample came full circle in the millennium eventually leading to a performing duo with two recent discs to their credit. Long after 'Street Life' faded from the hit parade, Crawford developed an enviable reputation for reinterpreting pop, R&B, and country hits into refreshing musical canvases. This was a remarkable feat considering her albums like rarely achieved gold or platinum sales status, mainly because marketing could not pin down a category for Crawford's diverse song choices.
The extraordinary list of covers includes the Brook Benton sweet country soul of 'Rainy Night In Georgia;' 'Imagine,' one of John Lennon's masterpieces; George Benson's biggest R&B hit 'Give Me The Night;' and a reunion with Sample on Journey's easy listening pop smash 'Who's Crying Now.' But Crawford had plenty of non-cover material that registered on either the domestic R&B or U.K pop charts, including 'Nightline,' 'I Don't Feel Much Like Crying,' 'Last Night At Danceland,' and 'Bye Bye.' In addition to her solo performances, Crawford showed her dexterity as a duet partner with Al Jarreau revisiting the sophisticated soul of Motown on 'Your Precious Love;' and Italian pop superstar Zucchero on 'Diamante.' Crawford was also a guest of Zucchero on his 'Live At The Kremlin' disc in a performance of 'Imagine.'
Audiences from all corners of the world continued their appreciation for the non-flashy soul/jazz stylist who regularly toured Europe, South Africa in a concert for Nelson Mandela, and in Tokyo, where she earned the Outstanding Performer award at the 1980 Tokyo Music Festival. She also developed a strong following in England during her recording tenure, and two sold-out appearances with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1988. There was a mild drought in her recording career in the early nineties, but she returned with two discs; Naked & True from 1995, and Every Kind of Mood-Randy, Randi, Randee; both tours-de-force exploring many genres. These efforts generated another tour of Europe in the mid-nineties and a new group of fans who appreciated Crawford's jazz/soul groove mixes. With over two decades of discography, there were plenty of hit compilations, even following Crawford's decision in the millennium to cut back on new recordings.
But that drought ended in 2006 as Sample and Crawford joined forces again for a series of intimate concerts in the U.S. With only Sample's trio as accompanists.
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These successful ventures inspired the 2006 Feeling Good and this year's. The quieter arrangements by Sample on these PNA Records releases may have been a slight change of pace for Crawford compared to the fuller orchestrations of her previous solo work. Yet this musical tinkering never hinders their inseparable musical chemistry of piano and vocals. In fact, the near-stripped down sound on Feeling Good and No Regrets reveals more clarity to Crawford's uncluttered voice handling her business as usual with a variety of pop, blues, jazz, and R&B material.
Clearly, these last two partnerships with Sample have added another wonderful musical chapter to the already satisfactory book of Randy Crawford's career. By Peggy Oliver.