Lady Flash was an American trio of singers whose members were Reparata Mazzola, Monica Pege and Debra Byrd. They were the featured backup group for

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus; June 17, 1943) is an American singer and songwriter with a career that spans seven decades. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", " Somewhere Down the Road", " Mandy", "I Write the Songs", " Can ...

from 1974–1979 and released one hit of their own, 1976's "Street Singin'". The tune, which was written and arranged by Manilow, reached #27 on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

record chart. The song came from their album, ''Beauties In The Night'' which was also produced by Manilow. Originally called The Flashy Ladies, a reference to a song on Manilow's first album, the trio (with Ramona Brooks, whom Pege replaced in 1976) sang backing vocals for Manilow in live performance and on his first seven multiple platinum albums. Their first recorded appearance was in 1975 on Soundstage. They later appeared with Manilow on his Emmy-award-winning first special and on numerous TV shows including ''

Don Kirshner's Rock Concert ''Don Kirshner's Rock Concert'' is an American television music variety show that ran during the 1970s and early 1980s, created and produced by Don Kirshner and syndicated to television stations, initially through Viacom Enterprises, and later t ...

'', '' The Midnight Special'', ''

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'', abbreviated ''AB'', is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the pr ...

'' and ''

Donahue Donahue is the Americanized version of Irish surname Donohoe, which, in turn, is an Anglicized version of the ancient Irish name "Donnchadh" (sometimes "Donncha"). Donncha was a common “first name” in 9th Century Ireland, and when the use of ...

''. They performed with Manilow on his first European tour in 1978 with concerts at the Olympia in Paris, The Palladium and Royal Albert Hall in London, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Because Pege and Byrd were African-American, and Reparata, in the middle position, was Caucasian, Manilow often jokingly referred to them as "The Oreos." Since its inception, Debra Byrd was the vocal coach for contestants on ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to A ...

'' for 11 years, later joining as coach for ''

The Voice The Voice may refer to: Fictional entities * The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics * The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe * The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleop ...

''. In addition to singing on sessions in Los Angeles, including the Oscars, she is currently the vocal chair for the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles. Monica Pege sang with Barry Manilow again from 2004 to 2010 in Las Vegas at the Hilton and his Colosseum shows. In 1984, Pege was crowned the Female Vocalist grand champion on the debut season of ''

Star Search ''Star Search'' was an American television show that was produced by T.P.E./Rysher Entertainment from 1983 to 1995, hosted by Ed McMahon, and created by Al Masini. A relaunch was produced by 2929 Productions from 2003 to 2004. On both version ...

''. Reparata Mazzola was previously a member of

Reparata and the Delrons Reparata and the Delrons were an American girl group. They are best known for their 1965 recordings "Whenever a Teenager Cries" and "Tommy", for the 1968 European hit " Captain of Your Ship" and for Reparata's 1975 solo hit "Shoes". History 1962 ...

under the name Lorraine Mazzola. She changed her legal name to Reparata after losing a case against Mary O'Leary over the right to the stage name. Currently, Mazzola is a screenwriter and lives in Los Angeles.

References

Joel Whitburn Joel Carver Whitburn (November 29, 1939 – June 14, 2022) was an American author and music historian, responsible for setting up the Record Research, Inc. series of books on record chart placings. Early life Joel Carver Whitburn was born in Wa ...

. ''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits''. 7th edn, 2000 {{Authority control American pop music groups American girl groups RSO Records artists