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 th
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 four 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.
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