Robert Peapo "Peabo" Bryson ( ; born April 13, 1951) is an American singer and songwriter. He is known for singing soul

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

s (often as a duet with female singers) including the hit singles " Tonight, I Celebrate My Love", "You're Looking Like Love To Me" and "As Long As There's Christmas" with

Roberta Flack Roberta Cleopatra Flack (February 10, 1937 – February 24, 2025) was an American singer and pianist known for her emotive, genre-blending ballads that spanned R&B, jazz, Folk music, folk, and pop and contributed to the birth of the quiet storm ...

, "

A Whole New World "A Whole New World" is the signature song from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney's 1992 animated feature film Aladdin (1992 Disney film), ''Aladdin'', with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Tim Rice. A duet originally recorded by singers B ...

" with

Regina Belle Regina Belle (born July 17, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter who started her career in the mid-1980s. Known for her singles "Baby Come to Me (Regina Belle song), Baby Come to Me" (1989) and "Make It Like It Was" (1990), Belle is most notabl ...

, and " Beauty and the Beast" with Canadian singer

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion (born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Power Ballads", Dion's powerful, technically skilled vocals and commercially successful works have had ...

, the latter two being contributions to Disney animated feature soundtracks. Bryson is a winner of two

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

Early years

Born as Robert Peapo Bryson in

Greenville, South Carolina Greenville ( ; ) is a city in Greenville County, South Carolina, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, sixth-most pop ...

, he spent much of his childhood on his grandfather's farm in Mauldin, South Carolina. Bryson's love for music stemmed from his mother, who often took the family to concerts of well-known black artists at the time.

Career

Bryson marked his professional debut at the age of 14, singing backup for Al Freeman and the Upsetters, a local Greenville group. It was Freeman's difficulty in pronouncing Bryson's French West-Indian name, Peapo, that led Bryson to perform as Peabo. Two years later, he left home to tour the Chitlin' Circuit with another local band, Moses Dillard and the Tex-Town Display. Bryson's first break came during a recording session at Atlanta's Bang Records. Although Bang was not impressed with Dillard's band, the young backup singer caught the ear of the label's general manager, Eddie Biscoe. Biscoe signed Bryson to a contract as a writer, producer, and arranger and encouraged Bryson to perform his own songs. For several years, Bryson worked with hometown bands and wrote and produced for Bang. In 1976, he launched his own recording career with "Underground Music" on the Bang label. His first album, ''Peabo'', followed shortly thereafter. Although only a regional success, Bryson signed to Capitol Records in 1977. Bryson's greatest solo hits include 1977's "Feel the Fire" and "Reaching for the Sky", 1978's "I'm So into You" and "Crosswinds", 1982's "Let the Feeling Flow", 1984's " If Ever You're in My Arms Again" (his first Top 10 pop single, at No. 10 in the US), 1989's "Show and Tell", and the 1991 hit " Can You Stop the Rain". In 1985, he appeared on the soap opera ''

One Life to Live ''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as ...

'' to sing a lyrical version of its theme song. Bryson's vocals were added to the regular theme song in 1986 and his voice was heard daily until 1992. He recorded the successful album of

romantic love Romance or romantic love is a feeling of love for, or a Interpersonal attraction, strong attraction towards another person, and the Courtship, courtship behaviors undertaken by an individual to express those overall feelings and resultant ...

duets with

('' Born to Love'') in 1983. In partnership with

, Bryson recorded two hit duets: " Without You", the love theme from the

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

'' Leonard Part 6'', recorded in 1987, and "

", the main theme of the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

's animated

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

''Aladdin'', recorded in 1992. Bryson and Belle recorded four duets over the years: " Without You" (in 1987), "I Can't Imagine" (in 1991), "A Whole New World" (in 1992) and "Total Praise" (in 2009). Bryson won two

s: in 1992 for his performance of the song " Beauty and the Beast" with

and in 1993 for "

" with

. In early 1998, Bryson contributed his voice to '' Barney's Great Adventure: An Original Motion Picture Musical Soundtrack'', with the song "Dream (Twinken's Tune)". Bryson performed in

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

and operatic productions, most notably the

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

role of "Sportin' Life" in the Michigan Opera Theater of Detroit's version of ''

Porgy and Bess ''Porgy and Bess'' ( ) is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play ''Porgy (play), ...

''. His tax problems caught up with him on August 21, 2003, when the U.S. Internal Revenue Service seized property from his home in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Georgia. He is reported to have owed $1.2 million in taxes dating back to 1984. The IRS auctioned many of his possessions, including both Grammy Awards, electronic equipment, his grand piano and multiple pairs of shoes. In 2002, Bryson's "Beauty and the Beast" music video was included on the platinum and Blu-ray edition of '' Beauty and the Beast''. His "A Whole New World" music video was included on the platinum edition DVD release of '' Aladdin''. Bryson's CD ''Missing You'' was released on October 2, 2007, on Peak Records, a division of Concord Music Group. On September 4, 2016, it was declared "Peabo Bryson Day" in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

and North Charleston, South Carolina, during the LowCountryJazzFest. The annual jazzfest is presented by ClosingTheGapInHealthCare.org, founded by Dr. Thaddeus Bell. In 2018, Bryson released his new album ''Stand For Love'', which was produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The project was released on Jam & Lewis' newly reactivated label,

Perspective Records Perspective Records is an American record label, launched in 1991 by the producing team Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, through a joint venture with A&M Records—which Jam & Lewis had had a prosperous working relationship with throughout the 1980s, wit ...

Personal life

Before marrying his present wife, singer and member of English R&B group The 411 Tanya Boniface, Bryson was engaged several times to Juanita Leonard, the ex-wife of

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

great

Sugar Ray Leonard Ray Charles Leonard (born May 17, 1956), best known as Sugar Ray Leonard, is an American former professional boxer. Often regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, he competed professionally between 1977 and 1997, winning quintuple c ...

. In the 1990s, he became engaged to Angela Thigpen, former Miss Virginia Teen USA and later a model and actress. He has a daughter"Peabo Bryson Reveals He Will Marry Juanita Leonard"
''Jet Magazine'' (July 8, 1991), Vol. 80 (12), p. 14. Retrieved October 14, 2018. from a previous relationship, along with three grandchildren. Tax problems caught up with Bryson on August 21, 2003, when the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seized property from his

, Georgia, home. He is reported to have owed $1.2 million in taxes dating back to 1984. The IRS auctioned many of his possessions, including both Grammy Awards, electronic equipment, his grand piano and multiple pairs of shoes; however, his Grammy for "A Whole New World (Aladdin's Theme)" was purchased by a close friend of the family who vowed to return it to Bryson. On April 29, 2019, it was reported that Bryson had suffered a heart attack, and had been taken to an Atlanta hospital, where he was said to be in a stable condition. He has since made a full recovery.

Discography

;Studio albums * '' Peabo'' (1976) * '' Reaching for the Sky'' (1977) * '' Crosswinds'' (1978) * ''

Paradise In religion and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human ...

'' (1980) * ''Turn the Hands of Time'' (1981) * '' I Am Love'' (1981) * ''Don't Play with Fire'' (1982) * '' Straight from the Heart'' (1984) * '' Take No Prisoners'' (1985) * '' Quiet Storm'' (1986) * '' Positive'' (1988) * '' All My Love'' (1989) * '' Can You Stop the Rain'' (1991) * '' Through the Fire'' (1994) * '' Peace on Earth'' (1997) * '' Unconditional Love'' (1999) * '' Missing You'' (2007) * '' Stand for Love'' (2018) ;Collaboration albums * '' We're the Best of Friends'' with (

Natalie Cole Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was the daughter of singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to prominence in the mid-1970s, with the release of her debut ...

) (1979) * '' Born to Love'' with (

) (1983)

References

External links

* Video of " Without You" as performed at the Soul Train: . * The official music video of "

": . * The official music video of " Beauty and The Beast": . * AllMusic entry
Peabo Bryson
a
Wenig-LaMonica Associates

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryson, Peabo 1951 births 20th-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American keyboardists 20th-century American keyboardists 20th-century American male singers 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singer-songwriters African-American male singers African-American record producers African-American songwriters American male singer-songwriters American rhythm and blues keyboardists American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters American soul keyboardists American soul singers American tenors American ballad musicians Capitol Records artists Columbia Records artists Grammy Award winners Living people Musicians from Greenville, South Carolina People from Mauldin, South Carolina Record producers from South Carolina Singer-songwriters from South Carolina Walt Disney Records artists

Early years

Career

Personal life

Discography

Awards and nominations

Daytime Emmy Awards

Grammy Awards

NAACP Image Awards

References

External links