Debra Laws
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Debra Renee Laws (born September 10, 1956) is an American singer and actress from
Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
, Texas. She is best known for her 1981 R&B/soul ballad " Very Special". In her music career, she works closely with her siblings, Eloise Laws,
Hubert Laws Hubert Laws (born November 10, 1939) is an American flutist, piccoloist and saxophonist with a career spanning over 50 years in jazz, classical, and other music genres. Laws is one of the few classical artists who has also mastered jazz, pop ...
and
Ronnie Laws Ronald Wayne Laws (born October 3, 1950) is an American jazz and smooth jazz saxophonist, and singer. He is the younger brother of jazz flutist Hubert Laws, jazz vocalist Eloise Laws and the older brother of Debra Laws. Biography Born and rai ...
, who are producers.


Biography

Born in
Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
, Texas, Laws is the seventh of eight children to Hubert Laws, Sr. and Miola Luverta Donahue. She has performed throughout the US in such prestigious venues as
Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...
, The Berkeley Jazz Festival and the
Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre and Urban park, public park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in the United States by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018 and was listed on ...
. She has also toured in Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Her most recent album is entitled ''Moments'', and she produced, wrote or co-wrote nine of the 12 songs contained in the album. The album is now in release in Japan and the first single, "Moments Like This", reached the number 18 spot in the Japanese charts.


Career

Her professional career started in 1977 when she was featured on her brother Ronnie's album entitled ''Friends and Strangers'', on
United Artists Records United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B. History Genres In 1958 ...
. In 1979, she was a lead vocalist on her brother Hubert's album, ''Land of Passion'', on
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...
. Laws made her debut as a solo recording artist in 1981 with the release of her album '' Very Special'' on Elektra Records. This album, produced by her two brothers sold in excess of 385,000 copies, while the two singles, "Very Special" and "Be Yourself" sold combined totals in excess of 260,000 copies. The third single, " Meant for You", was written by
Roxanne Seeman Roxanne Joy Seeman is an American songwriter and lyricist. She is best known for her songs by Billie Hughes, Philip Bailey, Phil Collins, Earth, Wind & Fire, Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, The Sisters of Mercy, The Jacksons, Jacky Cheung, and ...
and
David Lasley David Eldon Lasley (August 20, 1947 – December 9, 2021) was an American recording artist, singer, musician and songwriter. He was best known as a touring background singer for James Taylor, as a session singer on recordings by artists including ...
. "Meant for You" appeared in the Paramount film '' Fighting Back'' featuring
Tom Skerritt Thomas Roy Skerritt (born August 25, 1933) is an American actor and director, who has appeared in over 170 film and television productions since 1962. The beginning of his film career coincided with the New Hollywood movement, with a breakthroug ...
and
Patti LuPone Patti Ann LuPone (born April 21, 1949) is an American actress and singer. After starting her professional career with The Acting Company in 1972, she soon gained acclaim for her leading performances on the Broadway and West End stage. Known f ...
. From 1981 through 1990, Laws worked with her three siblings, recording and doing many live performances in the United States and abroad. In 1985, she recorded "Crusin' Tonight," written and produced by George Duke, for ''
The Heavenly Kid ''The Heavenly Kid'' is a 1985 American romantic comedy fantasy film directed by Cary Medoway and starring Lewis Smith, Jason Gedrick, Jane Kaczmarek and Richard Mulligan. Plot In the late 1960s, young greaser-type rebel Bobby Fontana chal ...
'' motion picture soundtrack. In June 1987, she won the first prize in the international TV singing competition Midnight Sun Song Festival in Lahti, Finland. In April and May 1991, she toured Europe with the
Commodores Commodores, often billed as The Commodores, are an American funk and Soul music, soul group. The group's most successful period was in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Lionel Richie was the co-lead singer. The members of the group met as m ...
for a 38 city tour. In November of that year, she performed with
Kool and the Gang Kool may refer to: People * Kool (surname), surname of Dutch origin * Robert "Kool" Bell (born 1950), American bassist and founder of Kool and the Gang * Roger Kool (1954–2005), Singaporean DJ (Roger Kiew) * Kool DJ Herc (born 1955), Jamaica ...
,
Third World The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Southern Cone, NATO, Western European countries and oth ...
,
Shabba Ranks Rexton Rawlston Fernando Gordon OD (born 17 January 1966), better known by his stage name Shabba Ranks, is a Jamaican dancehall musician. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was one of the most popular Jamaican musicians in the world. Throu ...
,
Rita Marley Alfarita Constantia "Rita" Marley OJ OD ( Anderson; born 25 July 1946) is a Jamaican reggae singer. She is the widow of reggae musician Bob Marley. Along with Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt, Rita was a member of the reggae vocal group the ...
, the Commodores and many others at a benefit for the children of Africa held in
Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...
, Nigeria. In 1992, she toured Asia in January and February, performing in Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan. She then began the writing and recording process for an album which was completed in October 1994. In November and December of that year, she toured Europe again. In addition to ''The Heavenly Kid'', she has also recorded soundtracks for '' Fighting Back'' and ''Prison Dancer'' and is featured on Pamela Williams' album ''Eight Days of Ecstasy''.


Lawsuits against Sony Music and Elektra Entertainment Group

In March 2003, Debra Laws sued
Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...
/
Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...
in the
United States District Court for the Central District of California The United States District Court for the Central District of California (in case citations, C.D. Cal.; commonly referred to as the CDCA or CACD) is a United States district court, federal trial court that serves over 19 million people in South ...
, over the use of samples from "Very Special" in
Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Lopez (born July 24, 1969), also known by her nickname J.Lo, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer and businesswoman. Lopez is regarded as one of the most influential entertainers of her time, credited with breaking ...
's recording of " All I Have" on her album '' This Is Me... Then''. Although Sony had been granted permission to use the samples by Elektra Entertainment Group, which held the copyright to the song, Laws claimed that the use of her voice without her consent nonetheless violated her statutory and common law
right of publicity Personality rights, sometimes referred to as the right of publicity, are rights for an individual to control the commercial use of their identity, such as name, image, likeness, or other unequivocal identifiers. They are generally considered as p ...
under California law. In November 2003, Judge Lourdes Baird granted Sony Music's motion for summary judgment on the ground that Laws's state law claims were preempted by Section 301 of the
United States Copyright Act The copyright law of the United States grants monopoly protection for "original works of authorship". With the stated purpose to promote art and culture, copyright law assigns a set of exclusive rights to authors: to make and sell copies of thei ...
. In 2006, that decision was affirmed by the
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts for the following federal judicial districts: * Distric ...
. In 2004, after losing the lawsuit against Sony Music, Laws and her production company, Spirit Productions, Inc. (which is owned and controlled by her brother,
Hubert Hubert is a Germanic masculine given name, from ''hug'' "mind" and '' beraht'' "bright". It also occurs as a surname. Saint Hubert of Liège (or Hubertus) (c. 656 – 30 May 727) is the patron saint of hunters, mathematicians, opticians, and m ...
), sued Elektra Entertainment Group (as well as Elektra's parent company,
Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "Record label#M ...
, and former parent, Warner Communications, Inc.), claiming that Elektra was contractually obligated to obtain consent before agreeing to allow the "Very Special" sound recording to be used in "All I Have." Laws's claims were dismissed early in the case on ''
res judicata ''Res judicata'' or ''res iudicata'', also known as claim preclusion, is the Latin term for ''judged matter'', and refers to either of two concepts in common law civil procedure: a case in which there has been a final judgment and that is no lon ...
'' grounds, and Spirit's claims settled in early 2007 on undisclosed terms.


Discography


Albums


Singles


Acting career

Theater *'' It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues'' *''Clothes Pins and Dreams Suds'' *''The Choice Is Yours'' *''The World Is a Playground and a Great Big Circus'' Film *''
Crossroads Crossroads is a junction where four roads meet. Crossroads, crossroad, cross road(s) or similar may also refer to: Film and television Films * ''Crossroads'' (1928 film), a 1928 Japanese film by Teinosuke Kinugasa * ''Cross Roads'' (film), a ...
'' *''
Jailbird Rock Jailbird or Jail Bird may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' The Jailbird'', a 1920 US film * ''Jailbird'' (novel), a 1979 book by Kurt Vonnegut * "Jailbird", a song on the 1994 album '' Give Out But Don't Give Up'' by Primal Scream *'' Jail B ...
''


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Laws, Debra American stage actresses American women singer-songwriters 1956 births Living people Actresses from Houston Singers from Houston American film actresses 20th-century American singer-songwriters 20th-century American actresses American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Texas 20th-century American women singers 21st-century American women