Jeffrey Osborne

Jeffrey Osborne - © Hugh Pickens

born on 9/3/1948 in Providence, RI, United States

Jeffrey Osborne

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Jeffrey Osborne
Born March 9 1948
Origin Providence, Rhode Island, United States
Genres Funk
R&B
Occupations Singer, drummer
Instruments Vocals, drums
Years active Member of L.T.D.: 1970–1981
Solo career: 1981–present
Labels A&M
Arista
Hip-O Records
Private Music
Koch Records
Associated acts L.T.D.
Website www.jeffreyosborne.com

Jeffrey Osborne (born March 9, 1948) is an American funk and R&B musician, songwriter, and former lead singer of the band, L.T.D.

Early life and career

Osborne was born in Providence, Rhode Island. He is the youngest of 12 children and is part of a musical family. He has five brothers and six sisters, some of whom went on to have music careers (his brother Billy was an L.T.D. bandmate). Osborne's father, Clarence "Legs" Osborne, was a popular trumpeter who played with Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington and died when Osborne was thirteen.[1] Osborne started his music career in 1970 with a band called Love Men Ltd., who would later become known as L.T.D.[2] The band recorded hit singles such as "(Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love Again", "Concentrate On You," "Love Ballad" and "Holding On (When Love Is Gone)". At first, Osborne was a drummer, but then became the lead vocalist. He left L.T.D. in late 1980 to start a solo career. His solo success includes five gold and platinum albums.[1]

Solo career

In 1982, Osborne released his self-titled debut album, which featured two hit singles, "On the Wings of Love" and "I Really Don't Need No Light", peaking at #29 & #39 on the pop chart respectively. This was followed up the next year by Stay With Me Tonight, his first gold album (later reaching platinum album status), which spawned two more hits, "Don't You Get So Mad" (#25) and the title track (#30). "Stay With Me Tonight" (Apr 1984, #18) and "On The Wings Of Love" (June 1984, #11) reach the UK Singles Chart.

In 1985, he wrote the lyrics to the Whitney Houston hit "All at Once" (music by Michael Masser). He appeared on USA for Africa's fundraising single, "We Are the World" in 1985. He would later appear on Celebrity Duets in 2006, performing "On The Wings Of Love" with Alfonso Ribeiro. Osborne lent his vocals to the theme song of the soap opera, Loving, from 1992 to 1995.[1]

Osborne had two more gold albums, Don't Stop and Emotional, the latter of which had his highest charting solo pop hit, "You Should Be Mine (The Woo Woo Song)", which peaked at #13 in 1986.

The following year, Osborne had the highest-charting hit of his career duetting with Dionne Warwick on "Love Power", which reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and also topped the Adult Contemporary singles chart. This was a turning point in his pop success, as his albums and singles began charting lower and lower on the pop charts. Osborne's 1988 single "She's on the Left" would be his final Hot 100 entry, as well as his only #1 R&B hit.

After scoring two more substantial R&B hits in the early 1990s, "Only Human" and "If My Brother's in Trouble", Osborne would be absent from the charts for the remainder of the decade.

In the new millennium, he returned with a series of albums that, while far from the success he enjoyed in the 1980s, returned him to Adult R&B radio, scoring modest chart singles such as "Rest of Our Lives" (#75, 2003) and his cover of Barbara Mason's classic "Yes, I'm Ready" (#64, 2005).

In 2008, Osborne sang the national anthem before Game 4 of the NBA Finals at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, a feat which he repeated in 2009, before Game 1 of the 2009 NBA Finals, also at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. He also regularly sang the national anthem before Hartford Whalers games.

On March 1, 2010, Osborne appeared in the The Bachelor (TV series) season finale, "After the Final Rose" singing his hit "On the Wings of Love" while Bachelor Jake Pavelka took to the dance floor with his newly announced fiance, Vienna Girardi.

Discography

Albums

  • 1982: Jeffrey Osborne (A&M) - US Pop #49, US R&B #3
  • 1983: Stay With Me Tonight (A&M) - US Pop #25, US R&B #3, UK #56
  • 1984: Don't Stop (A&M) - US Pop #39, US R&B #7, UK #59
  • 1986: Emotional (A&M) - US Pop #27, US R&B #5
  • 1988: One Love: One Dream (A&M) - US Pop #86, US R&B #12
  • 1991: Only Human (Arista) - US Pop #95, US R&B #9
  • 1997: Something Warm for Christmas (A&M) - US R&B #86
  • 1999: Ultimate Collection (Hip-O)
  • 2000: That's for Sure (Private Music) - US Pop #191, US R&B #50
  • 2003: Music Is Life (Koch) - US R&B #50
  • 2005: From the Soul (Koch) - US R&B #72

[3]

Singles

Year Single Chart positions[4]
US
Pop
US
R&B
US
AC
UK
Pop[5]
1982 "I Really Don't Need No Light" 39 3
"On the Wings of Love" 29 13 7 11
1983 "Eenie Meenie" 76 18
"Don't You Get So Mad" 25 3 29 54
"Stay with Me Tonight" 30 4 18
1984 "Plane Love" 10
"We're Going All the Way" 48 16 6
"Last Time I Made Love" (with Joyce Kennedy) 40 2 37
"Don't Stop" 44 6 61
"The Borderlines" 38 7 98
1985 "Let Me Know" 44
1986 "You Should Be Mine (The Woo Woo Song)" 13 2 2
"Soweto" 18 44
"Room with a View" 29 96
"In Your Eyes" 82 15
1987 "Love Power" (with Dionne Warwick) 12 5 1 63
1988 "She's On the Left" 48 1
"Can't Go Back on a Promise" 28
1989 "All Because of You" 48
"Take Good Care of You and Me" (with Dionne Warwick) 46 25 93
1990 "Only Human" 3
1991 "If My Brother's in Trouble" 11
"The Morning After I Made Love to You" 24
2003 "The Rest of Our Lives" 75
2005 "Yes I'm Ready" 64
"—" denotes the single failed to chart

Filmography

  • The Young Messiah - Messiah XXI (2006) (DVD)

Occurrences of songs in the media

  • He sang with Vonda Shepard at the bar in the end of episode four ("Without A Net") of season four of the television show Ally McBeal.
  • Pam sang the first bars of "On The Wings of Love" from the album Jeffrey Osborne with Dwight's recorder accompaniment during a bird's funeral on The Office third season episode "Grief Counseling."
  • A snippet of "On The Wings of Love" is often played on the E! show The Soup as a reoccurring joke every time Joel McHale mentions the current Bachelor season. On the 5th of March he was nominated for one of The Soup Awards and lost to Heidi Montag. Despite the loss, he sang a parody of this song.

"Stay With Me Tonight"

  • Played in the 1984 movie, Splash.
  • Played in the television shows, Sisters and Knight Rider
  • Portrayed by J.O. on the Robert Townsend sitcom, The Parent 'Hood
  • Played in the 1988 TV movie, Ladykillers and was the showpiece song
  • Part of the playlist of 80s radio station Vice City FM in Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City

See also

  • L.T.D. discography

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 VH1.com
  2. Last.fm
  3. Roburts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums, 19th, London: Guinness World Records Limited.
  4. Jeffrey Osborne US singles chart history. allmusic.com. Retrieved on 2010-01-31.
  5. Jeffrey Osborne UK chart history. chartstats.com. Retrieved on 2010-01-31.

External links

  • Official website
  • Allmusic.com biography
  • Soultracks.com profile of Jeffrey Osborne
  • Jeffrey Osborne at Wenig-LaMonica Associates
  • VH1 bio on Jeffrey Osborne
This page was last modified 22.03.2010 16:46:17

This article uses material from the article Jeffrey Osborne from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.