Roberta Kelly (born November 23, 1942) is an American disco and

urban contemporary gospel Urban/contemporary gospel is a modern subgenre of gospel music. Although the style developed gradually, early forms are generally dated to the 1970s, and the genre was well established by the end of the 1980s. The radio format is pitched prim ...

singer who scored three hits on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart between 1976 and 1978. Her most successful US hit single, " Trouble-Maker", spent two weeks at No. 1. From 1975 until 1983, she also performed as a backing vocalist with

Thelma Houston Thelma Houston ( Jackson; born May 7, 1946) Retrieved . is an American singer. Beginning her recording career in the late 1960s, Houston scored a number-one hit record in 1977 with her recording of " Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the Gramm ...

and on a number of

Donna Summer LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the "Honorific nicknames in popular m ...

albums.

Career

Kelly grew up in Los Angeles, California. In August 1972, during the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

, she traveled to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, West Germany to pursue her dreams of becoming a singer. Prior to releases in the US through composer

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer, songwriter, and record producer. Dubbed the " Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering euro disco and electronic dance music. His work with synthesizers had ...

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

and produced by the songwriter-producer

Pete Bellotte Peter John Bellotte (born 28 August 1943)Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Birth Index: 1916–2005 atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Index ...

alongside Moroder. In 1974, Kelly was also hired by

Sylvester Levay Sylvester Levay (originally Lévay Szilveszter, Serbian: Силвестер Леваи, ''Silvester Levai'') is a Hungarian recording artist and composer, born in Yugoslavia (now Serbia). Life and career Levay was born on 16 May 1945 in Subotica ...

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'' (1992), ''Dance of the Vampires'' (1996), '' Mozart!'' (1999), ''Marie Antoin ...

to provide vocals on an upcoming album for what would eventually be known as 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. Career The group was initiated in Munich by producers and songwriters Sylvester Levay and Michael Kun ...

. In 1975 she released the single "Love Power" a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...

of a 1967 hit by the Sandpebbles, written by Teddy Vann, and later made famous as part of the repertoire of

Luther Vandross Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Known for his sweet and soulful vocals, Vandross has sold over 40 million records worldwide. He achieved eleven consecutive P ...

. The single was backed with "Drifter", never included in any album and an example of the pre-disco Moroder-Bellotte production, similar to Donna Summer's "Lady of the night" material. In April 1976, Kelly turned to disco with the single "Trouble-Maker" and released an album by the same name. The album contained five tracks, including an extended version of "Love Power". In 1977, she released ''Zodiac Lady'', a controversial album that

Casablanca Records Casablanca Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Republic Records. Under its founder Neil Bogart, Casablanca was most successful during the disco era of the mid to late 1970s. The label currently ...

, during the disco heyday, refused at first to release. Imports from Italy swamped the international dance floors, creating a hit for the title track and songs such as "Love Sign". This album spawned a twelve-inch single, "Zodiacs", which had major club and radio play. "Funky Stardust", "Love Sign" and "I'm Sagittarius" were released from that album, in addition to "Zodiacs" itself in different countries. "Zodiacs" peaked at No. 24 in the US Hot Dance/Club Play chart in 1977, and at No. 44 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in 1978. "Love Sign" was released as a single in few countries only. Both "Trouble-Maker" and "Zodiac Lady" were produced by Moroder and Bellotte. ''Gettin' the Spirit'', followed in March 1978. Produced by Giorgio Moroder and Bob Esty, it was an album consisting of

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

songs, performed in the disco style. The album featured dance versions of the

Edwin Hawkins Edwin Reuben Hawkins (August 19, 1943 – January 15, 2018) was an American gospel musician, pianist, choir master, composer, and arranger. He was one of the originators of the urban contemporary gospel sound. He (as leader of the Edwin Hawki ...

penned, "

Oh Happy Day "Oh Happy Day" is a 1967 gospel music arrangement of the 1755 hymn by clergyman Philip Doddridge. Recorded by the Edwin Hawkins Singers, it became an international hit in 1969, reaching No. 4 on the US Singles Chart, No. 1 in France, Germany, a ...

" and "To My Father's House", with both songs released on one single. "Gettin' the Spirit" was also released with a disco version of "

My Sweet Lord "My Sweet Lord" is a song by English musician George Harrison, released in November 1970 on his triple album '' All Things Must Pass''. It was also released as a single, Harrison's first as a solo artist, and topped charts worldwide; it was t ...

". It peaked at No. 9 on the US Hot Dance/Club Play chart in 1978. When

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

succeeded

John Paul I Pope John Paul I ( la, Ioannes Paulus I}; it, Giovanni Paolo I; born Albino Luciani ; 17 October 1912 – 28 September 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City from 26 August 1978 to his death 33 days later. Hi ...

in 1978, Kelly released the single "John Paul II", which never made it onto an album, but the B-side, "Tribute to Love", did in the late 1980 release, ''Roots Can Be Anywhere''. By this time, Kelly was no longer with Casablanca Records. Two singles were released: "Kabacka Shaka" and "Roots Can Be Anywhere", but the album had limited success also due to poor distribution. It was also released as "This is Roberta Kelly" with a longer version of Kabacka Shaka" and without "Coconut Rock". It was produced by Michael Holm. In 1981, Kelly released the album, ''Tell Me'', through Baby Records in Italy, featuring "Patty Cake", produced by Jürgen Koppers. It was a last attempt to revive disco. After that, Kelly's next release was not until 1995, when she issued ''The Sound of Color'' and "Jubilee in Germany", celebrating the 50th anniversary of the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. In mid-2008, Kelly resurfaced with the single, "America (The Sound of Colour Realized)".

Discography

Albums

*1976: ''Trouble-Maker'' *1977: ''Zodiac Lady'' *1978: ''Gettin' the Spirit'' *1980: ''Roots Can Be Anywhere'' *1980: ''This Is Roberta Kelly'' *1981: ''Tell Me'' *1995: ''Sound of Color''

Singles

*1974: "Kung Fu Is Back Again" *1975: "Love Power" *1976: "Trouble-Maker" *1977: "Zodiacs" *1977: "Love Sign" *1977: "Funky Stardust" *1977: "I'm Sagittarius" *1978: "Oh Happy Day" *1978: "Gettin' the Spirit" *1979: "John Paul II" *1980: "Roots Can be Anywhere" *1980: "Kabacka Shacka" *1981: "Patty Cake" *2008: "America (The Sound of Colour Realized)"

References

External links