Rhonda Heath (born 19 July 1955) is an American-German singer and actress, notable for being a member of the

Silver Convention Silver Convention were a German Euro disco recording act of the 1970s. The group was originally named Silver Bird Convention or Silver Bird. History The group was initiated in Munich, then West Germany, by producers and songwriters Michael Kun ...

and

La Mama La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (sometimes abbreviated as La MaMa E.T.C.) is an Off-Off-Broadway theater founded in 1961 by African-American theatre director, producer, and fashion designer Ellen Stewart. Located in the East Village neighborho ...

. Heath went on to launch a successful solo career in Germany and also starred in many German

TV shows A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platfo ...

Life and career

Rhonda Heath began playing the piano at the age of five. She later studied music education at

Adrian College Adrian College is a Private college, private United Methodist Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Adrian, Michigan. The college offers bachelor's degrees in 92 academic majors and programs. The 100 acre (0.40&nbs ...

in Michigan. Heath also went on to take acting lessons. During an appearance in a New York music club in the summer of 1976, she was discovered by

Sylvester Levay Sylvester Levay (originally Lévay Szilveszter, Serbian language, Serbian: Силвестер Леваи, ''Silvester Levai'') is a Hungarian people, Hungarian recording artist and composer, born in Yugoslavia (now Serbia). Life and career Levay ...

and

Michael Kunze Michael Rolf Kunze (born 9 November 1943, in Prague) is a foremost German musical theater lyricist and librettist. He is best known for the hit musicals ''Elisabeth (musical), Elisabeth'' (1992), ''Tanz der Vampire'' (1996), ''Mozart!'' (1999), ...

, who were looking for someone to replace Linda G. Thompson in their successful disco group —

. Heath was hired and traveled to Munich, West Germany later that summer to record the Madhouse album. The following year in 1977, Heath and the two other members of the group represented Germany with the song "

Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...

" at the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

in London. She would go on to record two other albums with the group — Summernights and Love in a Sleeper — before they split in 1979. After the breakup in 1979, Heath released her first solo single with Kunze's Karma

music label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and t ...

. In 1981, she won third place with her song "Forever and More" at the

Seoul Song Festival Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. By 1983, she had released more singles and two albums. In 1985 she replaced

Judy Cheeks Judy Cheeks (born February 13, 1954) is an American singer. In the 1970s and 1980s, she recorded as a soul and R&B singer, before releasing more dance-oriented music in the 1990s. Cheeks performed with Ike & Tina Turner as an Ikette. She also w ...

in the trio,

. The trio broke up later that same year. Heath has also worked as a guest and studio singer for many other well-known artists, such as

La Bionda La Bionda were an Italian disco duo consisting of siblings Carmelo (1949–2022) and Michelangelo La Bionda (born 1952). They are considered among the pioneers of the Italo disco music genre. The siblings were born in Ramacca, Sicily and move ...

and

Boney M. Boney M. is a German reggae, funk and disco music group founded in 1974. It achieved popularity during the disco era in the second half of the 1970s. The band was created by German record producer Frank Farian, who was the group's primary song ...

Later, she took part again in the

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

with Gary Lux, and

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

with

Mekado Germany has been represented at every Eurovision Song Contest since its inaugural edition in , except in when its entry did not qualify past the audio-only pre-selection round, and consequently did not enter the final and does not count as one ...

as a backing singer. Heath also pursued her acting career, as she starred in many ARD shows, such as Pfarrerin Lenau She married a German citizen in 1990 and continues to live in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

today.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heath, Rhonda 1955 births Living people 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singers 20th-century German women singers American emigrants to West Germany Singers from New York (state) 21st-century American women Silver Convention members