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

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

and

urban contemporary gospel Urban/contemporary gospel, also known as urban gospel music, urban gospel pop, or just simply urban gospel, is a modern subgenre of gospel music. Although the style developed gradually, early forms are generally dated to the 1970s, and the gen ...

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 The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

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, 1943) is an American singer and actress. Beginning her recording career in the late 1960s, Houston scored a number-one hit in 1977 with her recording of " Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the Grammy for ...

and on a number of

Donna Summer Donna 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 "Queen of Disco", while her music ...

albums.

Career

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

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

, she traveled to

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 ...

, 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 and music producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering Euro disco and electronic dance music. His work ...

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

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 Inde ...

alongside Moroder. In 1974, Kelly was also hired 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), ...

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. History The group was initiated in Munich, then West Germany, by producers and songwriters 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 release ...

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 Soul music, soul and Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer. Over his career, he achieved eleven consecutive RIAA certification, RIAA-certified ...

. 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

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 focuses ...

, 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 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 Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

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, vocalist, choir master, composer, and arranger. He was one of the originators of the urban contemporary gospel sound. As the leader of the Edwin ...

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, German ...

" 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 the 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 ...

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

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

succeeded

John Paul I Pope John Paul I (born Albino Luciani; 17 October 1912 – 28 September 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 26 August 1978 until his death 33 days later. His reign is among the shortest in papal h ...

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. 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