Monday, January 08, 2007

This Day in Music History: Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. and You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)


In 1975 the husband and wife team of Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. made a hard decision when they decided to leave the successful group of the Fifth Dimension to start solo careers. The original plan was for them to have seperate careers. But suddenly Billy decided they should have their first album be together and the songs would all be duets. Producer Don Davis had a song, You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show), that he thought would be perfect for them. It wasn't written as a duet but was rearranged for them. Getting top musicans Davis was able to produce a song that sounded like a fresh new record from Motown but it was really on ABC records. However, it was not the first song released from the album. The first was called I Hope We Get to Love on Time. It only reached #91 on the Billboard charts.
It was their second one that reached #1 on the charts on this day in music history, January 8, 1977 for one week. It was a huge cross over hit and won a Grammy as Best Vocal R & B Vocal Preformance by a Duo, Group or Chorus. Their success on the charts led them to have a summer variety TV series for 6 weeks in 1977. Later, Marilyn was host of the TV show Solid Gold. She later signed as a solo artist with RCA and released several songs solo and with Billy but none of them reached the top 100 on the charts.

No comments: