Originally published June 10, 2009 The hit urban dance television show Soul Train was the place for dancers to showcase their talent and for artists to perform for their fans. Many dancers were mainstays on the show and while they weren’t often known by name, they stood out with their signature outfits or slick moves. One of the most popular dancers on the show in the 1970s was a teenaged Jody Watley. Watley, a Chicago native, said her sights were always set on being a singer, and her mother was a witness to those aspirations. The Grammy Award-winning R&B singer said since she was 4 years old, she knew she would be in the entertainment business, and Soul Train was her introduction into the industry that led to her success with the group Shalamar and eventually as a solo artist. “My mom will tell you I was doing songs from the Supremes from the patio of our house. In junior high I would be in talent shows, I would sing for school plays and I wrote poetry,” Watley told the Defender. Watley and her family left the Windy City when she was about 7 years old. She later returned and attended Kenwood and Calumet high schools for a brief time before returning to Los Angeles. When she graced the dance floor on Soul Train, Watley was just 14-years-old and soon became the most popular girl on the show. She would always dance side-by-side with the most popular guy on Soul Train, Jeffery Daniels. Daniels and Watley were the initial members of Shalamar before Howard Hewett joined the group. As Watley lit up the dance floor, Soul Train executives looked to form a music group, but needed recognizable faces to front the group and its first single, “Uptown Festival.” Enter Watley and Daniels, and Shalamar was born. But, the energetic teen wasn’t asked to sing, she said. “They were going to get another woman in the group because they didn’t know I could sing. I immediately said, ‘No, no, no. No other girl. I can sing,’” she told the executives. Watley said she belted out a Barbra Streisand tune, “Evergreen,” and the decision to make her a singer was final. Shalamar reveled in success in the United States and overseas, but behind the scenes the group was a mess. “Working in Shalamar was often very stressful because of the dynamics. Shalamar was a put-together group, and sometimes things just don’t work out in those situations,” she said. They eventually parted ways and Watley went solo. “I don’t think it was ever going to last. It was bound to happen. Leaving the group was to save my own life and be at peace. I was probably 22 or 23 years old when I quit the group in 1984 and went solo. I’ve been on my own for much longer than when I was in the group,” said the 50-year-old mother of two. Watley opens up for the first time about Shalamar’s success and demise in an upcoming episode of “Unsung” on the cable channel TV One. She said her solo career has quieted naysayers who told her she was making a poor decision to leave the group, and left her with a greater sense of her own power and inner strength. “Everyone in that organization said it would be the biggest mistake of my life and I would regret it. Of course, I’ve never regretted it or worried about it,” Watley said. Since her debut album in 1986, “Looking for a New Love,” and nine albums later, Watley’s garned a Grammy Award for Best New Artist, several Soul Train and MTV Music award nominations and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Billboard. She’s now working on another album, “Chameleon,” to be released next year on her own label, Avitone Records. “All of the things I’ve achieved and continue to achieve, I never would’ve known that if I hadn’t broken away. Now, I’m excited to be able to get my mogul potential on,” a laughing Watley said, adding that her single “Candlelight” is currently in the top 30 on Billboard’s Dance Chart. In the meantime, fans can connect with her the Twitter and Facebook social networking sites, she said. Watley is scheduled to perform in Chicago in August. Copyright 2009 Chicago Defender
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