Kathy Sledge

Kathy Sledge

Kathy Sledge is an R&B singer-songwriter from Philadelphia, United States. She is best known as a member of Sister Sledge and later appears with the We Are Family Collective. Born in 1959, she sings lead on several of Sister Sledge’s best-known recordings, including “He’s the Greatest Dancer,” “We Are Family,” “Lost in Music,” “Got to Love Somebody,” “Reach Your Peak,” “All American Girls,” “My Guy,” and “B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Baby).”

Early life and Sister Sledge

The Sledge sisters — Debra, Joni, Kim and Kathy — start singing in church as “Mrs. Williams’ Grandchildren” in Philadelphia. After Debra begins school and joins a glee club, she returns home and teaches harmony to her sisters. Sister Sledge then performs professionally in their teens. In 1971, the group releases its first single, under the name Sisters Sledge, on the Money Back label.

A few years later, Sister Sledge signs to Atlantic Records’ Atco subsidiary and works with the production duo Tony “Champagne” Sylvester and Bert “Super Charts” DeCoteaux. Their first major-label single, “Love Don’t Go Through No Changes On Me,” is written by Patrick Adams and Fay Hauser and reaches number 31 on the R&B chart in late 1974. It appears on the debut album Circle of Love, which also includes tracks such as “Cross My Heart,” “Don’t You Miss Him,” “You’re Much Better Off Loving Me,” “Circle Oo Love” and “Give Into Love.” Gwen Guthrie co-writes several of the album’s songs with Patrick Grant, including “Love Don’t Go Through No Changes on Me,” “Don’t You Miss Him,” “Cross My Heart,” “Protect Our Love,” and “Fireman.”

Breakthrough records

After the group moves to Atlantic’s Cotillion label, it works with Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay, who write most of the songs on the 1977 album Together. On that record, Kathy co-writes “Do the Funky Do” with keyboardist Don Freeman and writes “Can’t Mess Around With Love.” She also leads the group on a version of Stevie Wonder’s “I Was Made to Love Him,” while another Stevie Wonder song, “As,” receives radio play as an album track. The album also includes “Funky Family,” which is described as a precursor to “We Are Family.”

Sister Sledge then works with Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic after Atlantic gives them freedom to choose artists on the label. Their first single together, “He’s the Greatest Dancer,” reaches number one on the R&B chart and number two on the pop chart in 1979. “We Are Family,” the title track of the group’s third album, becomes a major dance and radio hit, gives the group its first and only certified gold single, and reaches number one R&B and number two pop. The We Are Family album goes platinum and peaks at number three pop. The song is later adopted by the 1979 World Series-winning Pittsburgh Pirates and other organisations, and becomes a standard at family reunions.

The Rodgers and Edwards-produced follow-up Love Somebody Today includes “Got to Love Somebody” b/w “Good Girl Now,” which reaches number six R&B, as well as “Reach Your Peak” and “Let’s Go on Vacation.” The title track of the 1981 album All American Girls reaches number three R&B.

Solo career

In 1992, Kathy Sledge signs to Epic Records as a solo artist. Her first solo album, Heart, features producers including Barry J. Eastmond, Bryan Loren, Lemel Humes, Donald Robinson, Troy Taylor, Charles Farrar and Sami McKinney. The album includes the singles “Take Me Back to Love Again” and “All of My Love,” and the remix of “Take Me Back to Love Again” becomes a major dance hit. The title track is also issued as a single and becomes a dance hit.

After leaving Epic, she records further dance tracks on independent and foreign labels, including a cover of “Another Star” from Songs in the Key of Life and the maxi CD single Another Day. Related releases also include Robert Miles’ 23 AM, Elton John’s Ice on Fire and David Morales’ United DJ’s of America, Vol. 4.