Evelyn "Champagne" King ~ Shame 1977 Disco Purrfection Version

Evelyn King was born July 1, 1960 in the Bronx, but was raised in Philadelphia. As a child she received the nickname "Bubbles" which graduated to "Champagne" as a teenager. Her mother was a cleaner at the famed Sigma Studios where Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff built an empire on the strength of their Sound of Philadelphia records.

Her father once a member of the Orioles, a groundbreaking group that helped to establish doo wop in the 40's & 50's. They are credited with being the first R&B group by melding rhythm with their intricate harmonies. He was hired by Sigma as a maintenance man and his wife Johnniea split her time there as a part time receptionist and cleaning person. One day she brought Evelyn to help her out and while cleaning the studio and offices one night after hours, she asked her to sing a song.
Evelyn picked Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come". She was vocalizing while vacuuming she was surprised by a man who stayed late to finish some work and came out to see who was singing.

Theodore Life was walking through the building and overheard Evelyn singing away as she was helping her mother with the cleaning. He introduced himself and began to help Evelyn develop her singing style which led to her signing with RCA Records in 1977. Her debut album, "Smooth Talk" was released in the late summer of 1977, but did not catch on until the fall when one track from that album, "Shame" began to get plays on the club circuit.

RCA commissioned a disco single and the song remix was sharpened, lengthened and released the week of December 3, 1977 where the clubs jumped on the tune and helped it reach #8 on the disco charts. The club buzz pushed RCA to release a radio single which then entered the pop charts in June of 1978 peaking at #9 the week ending September 9, 1978 spending a total of 19 weeks on the survey.

Her follow up was "I Don't Know If It's Right" peaking at #23 in the spring of 1979. You may have noticed that Teddy Pendergrass contributed a song called "Dancin Dancin Dancin" and that the sweet sweet background vocals were handled by none other than the Sweethearts Of Sigma, Carla Benson, Evette Benton and Barbara Ingram, who were heard on every single that Philadelphia International issued in the 70's.

I am so stoked by this remix, being able to bring out elements you never heard before as well as bringing up the background vocals. 40 years ago this week Vince Aletti, (THE definitive historian of disco) noted that the 12 remix was made available to the DJ record pool and that the remixers David Todd and Al Garrison "had revitalized the cut" so completely from the original short album version that it "snaps and sparkle like it never did before so that the new track grabs you from the very start and never lets you go".

Subsequent pressings of "Smooth Talk" replaced the short LP version with the new remix, making the original run of the album something of a collectors item. Just for reference, other disco club play songs on the chart that week Chic with "Dance, Dance, Dance", Donna Summer with all cuts from "Once Upon A Time", Andrea True "What's Your Name, What's Your Number" and Cerrone with "Supernature". Heady times then, the music was intoxicating and for a while, Evelyn was the queen of disco with "Shame".

Two other albums with T. Life at the helm failed to deliver on the promise of her debut. However, a makeover in 1981 landed her a #1 smash disco and R&B tune "I'm In Love" when Kashif became her Svengali and then bettered that feat with 1982's "Love Come Down" which spent 5 weeks #1 R&B, 3 weeks at #1 disco and peaked at #17 pop.

Strangely enough, "I'm In Love" peaked at #40 on the pop chart. Part of his strategy was to have Evelyn sing in a higher register and dropped the "Champagne" moniker without telling her. The higher register took her voice away from the mature and soulful sound of shame, but brought her greater fame and recognition. Evelyn's talent still shows through even as recently as 2008 when she released "Open Book". Visit her at http://www.evelynchampagneking.com/