Sylvester Rivers (born October 28, 1953) is an American composer, arranger, pianist and producer, based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California. A prolific session musician, he has recorded with numerous major artists including

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

, Nancy Wilson,

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Diana Ross Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Known as the "Queen of Motown Records", she was the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown#Major divisions, Motown's most suc ...

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. He was the founder and frontman of the pioneering Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he ...

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Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (born Kenneth Donald Rogers) (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer and songwriter. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particul ...

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Deniece Williams June Deniece Williams (née Chandler; born June 3, 1950) is an American singer. She has been described as "one of the great Soul music, soul voices" by the BBC. She is best known for the songs "Free (Deniece Williams song), Free", "Silly (song ...

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Shalamar Shalamar () is an American R&B and soul music vocal group created by Dick Griffey and Don Cornelius in 1977 and active throughout the 1980s. Shalamar's classic lineup on the SOLAR label consisted of Howard Hewett, Jody Watley, and Jeffrey D ...

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and many others. He arranged many chart hits including the Number 1

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 Soul Single,

Candi Staton Canzetta Maria "Candi" Staton (, ) (born March 13, 1940) is an American singer–songwriter, best known in the United States for her 1970 cover of Tammy Wynette's " Stand by Your Man" and her 1976 disco chart-topper " Young Hearts Run Free". In E ...

's, " Young Hearts Run Free."

Early life

Born in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

and a Cass Tech graduate, Sylvester Rivers began playing the piano at the age of seven and was recording professionally by the time he was a teenager. In the early days, he played for Holland-Dozier-Holland's

Invictus Records Invictus Records was an American record label based in Detroit, Michigan. It was created by former top Motown producers Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Edward Holland, Jr. (known collectively as Holland–Dozier–Holland). It was the sister l ...

and

Hot Wax Records Hot Wax Records was a Detroit, Michigan-based record label, created by producers/songwriters Holland–Dozier–Holland ( Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland) in 1968 when they left Motown. History Until 1967, Holland, Dozier, and Hol ...

labels, which included artists such as the

Honey Cone Honey Cone is an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and soul music, soul girl group. Originally formed by lead singer Edna Wright (sister of Darlene Love) with Carolyn Willis and Shelly Clark in 1968. They are known for their List of Billboard Hot ...

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, The Chairmen of the Board,

100 Proof (Aged in Soul) 100 Proof (Aged in Soul) was an American funk/soul group, who formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1969. They were put together by former Motown songwriting team Holland-Dozier-Holland, signing the group to their new Hot Wax Records label. The group ...

, and the 8th Day and played on hits such as the

's million-selling

Number 1 Pop and Number 1 R&B single, "

Want Ads "Want Ads" is a song that was a million-selling No.1 pop and R&B hit recorded by female group, Honey Cone for their second album '' Sweet Replies'' and also appears on their third album '' Soulful Tapestry''. The song, recorded on the Detroit-ba ...

Career

After arriving in Los Angeles in 1974, Rivers began playing piano on recording sessions for an even wider range of artists, from

Stanley Turrentine Stanley William Turrentine (April 5, 1934 – September 12, 2000) was an American jazz tenor saxophone, tenor saxophonist and record producer. He began his career playing R&B for Earl Bostic and later soul jazz recording for the Blue Note Reco ...

. Rivers also worked often with the famous arranger,

Gene Page Eugene Edgar Page Jr. (September 13, 1939 – August 24, 1998) was an American conductor, composer, arranger and record producer, most active from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s. His sound can be heard in the arrangements he did for Jeffer ...

. At this point, Rivers began to focus more on arranging and orchestrating. He arranged and orchestrated for numerous artists, including Nancy Wilson and scored his first Number 1

Hot Soul Single and top twenty

Hot 100 single with

's, " Young Hearts Run Free" and later scored again with her hit single, "Victim." He quickly followed with a top twelve

Hot 100 single hit, High Inergy's, " You Can't Turn Me Off (In the Middle of Turning Me On)"." Soon thereafter, he received his first composer's credit for a Gold record, the title cut of the Michael Henderson album, " In the Night Time." Rivers arranged and orchestrated for the film soundtrack album, " Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo," and many others. He continued recording with major artists in the studio, working with

on the

Number 1 Country and Multi-Platinum album, " Share Your Love" bearing the

Number 1 Adult Contemporary single, " Through the Years," and the

Number 1 Country and Number 1 Adult Contemporary single, " I Don't Need You," with

and

on the Gold album, " Endless Love" soundtrack and the Multi-Platinum

album, "

," bearing the

Number 1 R&B single, " Mr. Telephone Man," among others. Rivers toured as music director with artists including

, ("

Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, three eccentric ...

"), with whom he also recorded, and he conducted the world tour of

Soul II Soul Soul II Soul are a British musical collective formed in London in 1988. They are best known for their two major hits; 1989's UK number five and US number eleven " Keep On Movin'", and its follow-up, the UK number one and US number four " Back to ...

(" Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)"). Rivers is a board member of ASMAC ( American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers).

References

External links

Official Site
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Sylvester Rivers Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2021) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rivers, Sylvester Living people American session musicians Musicians from Detroit 1953 births American keyboardists Cass Technical High School alumni American music arrangers Songwriters from Michigan