Jeffrey Osborne
(born March 9, 1948, Providence, Rhode Island, United States) is an American funk and R&B musician, songwriter, and former lead singer of the band, L.T.D.
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Early career
Osborne 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.
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.
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.
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
- 1982: "I Really Don't Need No Light" - US Pop #39, US R&B #3
- 1982: "On the Wings of Love" - US Pop #29, US R&B #13, UK #11
- 1983: "Eenie Meenie" - US Pop #76
- 1983: "Don't You Get So Mad" - US Pop #25, US R&B #3, UK #54
- 1983: "Stay with Me Tonight" - US Pop #30, US R&B #4, UK #18
- 1984: "We're Going All the Way" - US Pop #48, US R&B #16
- 1984: "Don't Stop" - US #44, R&B #6, UK #61
- 1984: "The Last Time I Made Love" (with Joyce Kennedy) - US Pop #40, US R&B #2
- 1984: "Plane Love"- US R&B #10
- 1985: "The Borderlines" - US Pop #38, US R&B #7, UK #98
- 1985: "Let Me Know" - US R&B #44
- 1986: "You Should Be Mine (The Woo Woo Song)" - US Pop #13, US R&B #2
- 1986: "Soweto" - US R&B #18, UK #44
- 1986: "Room with a View" - US R&B #29, UK #96
- 1987: "In Your Eyes" - US R&B #82
- 1987: "Love Power" (with Dionne Warwick) - US Pop #12, US R&B #5, UK #66
- 1988: "She's on the Left" - US Pop #48, US R&B #1
- 1988: "Can't Go Back On a Promise" - US R&B #28
- 1989: "All Because of You" - US R&B #48
- 1990: "Only Human" - US R&B #3
- 1991: "If My Brother's in Trouble" - US R&B #11
- 1991: "The Morning After I Made Love to You" - US R&B #24
- 2003: "Rest of Our Lives" - US R&B #75
- 2005: "Yes I'm Ready" - US R&B #64
Filmography
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."
"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
See also
L.T.D. discography
References
- VH1.com
- Last.fm
- British Hit Singles & Albums