View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
Basketball Fan Franchise Player
Joined: 03 Feb 2004 Posts: 24744
|
Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 6:09 pm Post subject: Joni Sledge, member of Sister Sledge dies at 60 |
|
|
http://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/joni-sledge-member-of-sister-sledge-dies-at-60/ar-AAo9zE9?li=BBnbfcL
Quote: | Joni Sledge, member of Sister Sledge, dies at 60
NEW YORK (AP) — Joni Sledge, who with her sisters recorded the enduring dance anthem "We Are Family," has died, the band's representative said Saturday.
She was 60.
Sledge was found dead in her home by a friend in Phoenix, Arizona, on Friday, the band's publicist, Biff Warren, said. A cause of death has not been determined. He said she had not been ill.
"On yesterday, numbness fell upon our family. We welcome your prayers as we weep the loss of our sister, mother, aunt, niece and cousin," read a family statement.
Sledge and her sisters Debbie, Kim and Kathy formed the Sister Sledge in 1971 in Philadelphia, their hometown, but struggled for years before success came.
"The four of us had been in the music business for eight years and we were frustrated. We were saying: 'Well, maybe we should go to college and just become lawyers or something other than music, because it really is tough,'" Joni told The Guardian in an interview last year.
But then they met Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers of the hit group Chic, and their breakout soon came. The pair wrote and produced their album "We Are Family," and soon the women had their first major hit with disco jam "The Greatest Dancer," which became a top 10 hit in May 1979. (It would sampled years later for Will Smith's hit "Getting Jiggy Wit It.")
But their biggest hit would come a month later with the title track, an infectious dance anthem that celebrated their familial connection with the refrain, "We are family, I got all my sisters with me." While it celebrated their sisterhood, the 1979 hit so also became an anthem for female empowerment and unity. It would become their signature hit, and was nominated for a Grammy. Both the song and album sold more than one million copies.
The women also had a hit with a cover of the Mary Wells song "My Guy" in 1982, but would never duplicate the success they had in the 1970s. Still, Sister Sledge continued; while sister Kathy left the group for a solo career, the trio of sisters continued to perform and record, including a performance for Pope Francis in 2015.
Warren said they last performed together in concert in October.
Joni Sledge is survived by an adult son, her sisters and other relatives. |
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
ChefLinda Moderator
Joined: 20 Sep 2006 Posts: 24113 Location: Boston
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
unleasHell Franchise Player
Joined: 16 Apr 2001 Posts: 11591 Location: Stay Thirsty my Friends
|
Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 10:25 am Post subject: |
|
|
dang, so young...rip _________________ “Always remember... Rumors are carried by haters, spread by fools, and accepted by idiots.” |
|
Back to top |
|
|
OregonLakerGuy Franchise Player
Joined: 23 Feb 2005 Posts: 13207 Location: Oregon
|
Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 1:53 pm Post subject: |
|
|
RIP Joni |
|
Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|