Brenda Lee Eager (born August 8, 1947) is an American

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

singer, songwriter and musical theatre performer who has written and performed several hits, including "

Ain't Understanding Mellow "Ain't Understanding Mellow" is a song written by Homer Talbert and Herscholt Polk and performed by Jerry Butler and Brenda Lee Eager. The song was arranged by James Mack and produced by Gerald Sims and Jerry Butler. It was featured on Butler's ...

", " Close to You", and "

Somebody's Somebody "Somebody's Somebody" is a song from Prince's (his stage name at that time being an unpronounceable symbol, see cover art) 1996 album ''Emancipation''. The song is an R&B ballad about Prince being lonely and wanting someone to hold and wanting to ...

Life and career

She was born in Mobile, Alabama, and brought up in the small town of Lower Peach Tree, where she began singing in church as a child. She also started writing songs, and by the

tenth grade Tenth grade or grade 10 (called Year Eleven in England and Wales, and sophomore year in the US) is the tenth year of school post-kindergarten or the tenth year after the first introductory year upon entering compulsory schooling. In many parts of ...

led her own vocal group. She first sang professionally at the age of 17 at the Kings Club in

Prichard, Alabama Prichard is a city in Mobile County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 19,322, down from 22,659 at the 2010 census. It is a part of the Mobile metropolitan area. Prichard borders the north side of Mob ...

. She later relocated to

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, and by 1971 was the lead singer in

Jerry Butler Jerry Butler Jr. (born December 8, 1939) is an American soul singer-songwriter, producer, musician, and retired politician. He was the original lead singer of the R&B vocal group the Impressions, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame i ...

's backup group Peaches. She recorded several singles with Butler, including, "Ain't Understanding Mellow", which was her biggest chart success, reaching number 3 on the '' Billboard''

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

and number 21 on the Hot 100. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the R.I.A.A in April 1972. Their duet version of "

(They Long to Be) Close to You "(They Long to Be) Close to You" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The best-known version is that recorded by American duo the Carpenters for their second studio album '' Close to You'' (1970) and produced by Jack Daugherty. Rel ...

" reached number 6 on the R&B chart and number 91 on the pop chart in 1972. She also sang regularly in

Rev. Jesse Jackson Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. senator ...

Operation Breadbasket Operation Breadbasket was an organization dedicated to improving the economic conditions of black communities across the United States of America. Operation Breadbasket was founded as a department of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference ...

Choir in Chicago in the early 1970s. As a solo singer, she had two minor R&B chart hits, "Good Old Fashioned Lovin'" (

Playboy Records Playboy Records was an American record label, based in Los Angeles, California, and a unit of Playboy Enterprises. Artists recording for the label included Al Wilson, Barbi Benton, Blue Ash, Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers, The Weapons of Peace, ...

, 1975) and "Watch My Body Talk" ( Private-I Records, 1984). She worked as a backup singer for such artists as

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

, Mavis Staples, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder and

Graham Nash Graham William Nash (born 2 February 1942) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, photographer, and activist. He is known for his light tenor voice and for his contributions as a member of the Hollies and the supergroups Crosby, Stills ...

. She has also written songs recorded by

Bobby Womack Robert Dwayne Womack (; March 4, 1944 – June 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Starting in the early 1950s as the lead singer of his family musical group the Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing gui ...

, the Staples Singers, Aretha Franklin,

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

Gladys Knight Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944), known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer, actress and businesswoman. A seven-time Grammy Award-winner, Knight recorded hits through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her family group Gladys K ...

Shirley Brown Shirley Brown (born January 6, 1947, West Memphis, Arkansas) is an American R&B singer, best known for her million-selling single " Woman to Woman", which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1975. Biography Brown was born in West Memphis, but ...

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...

, and others. She released an album, ''Startin' Over'', in 2000. She performed in the musicals ''The Message is in the Music'', alongside

Della Reese Delloreese Patricia Early (July 6, 1931 – November 19, 2017), known professionally as Della Reese, was an American jazz and gospel singer, actress, and ordained minister whose career spanned seven decades. She began her long career as a s ...

, and ''Wild Woman Blues'', in Europe with blues singer Maine Weldon. Since 2006, she has directed The Heaven on Earth (T.H.E.) Choir at the City of Angels Church in Culver City, California. She has also written and performed in a one-woman musical theatre show based on her own life, ''Grace'', which premiered in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

in 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eager, Brenda Lee Living people American soul singers Musicians from Mobile, Alabama 1947 births Writers from Mobile, Alabama African-American women singer-songwriters 20th-century African-American women singers Singer-songwriters from Alabama