THE TRAGIC LIFE OF PHYLLIS HYMAN! IT ALL ENDED FOR HER A MONTH SHY OF FIFTEEN YEARS AGO TODAY!

OLE GAL HAD A FLAIR FOR DRAMA AND HER CLOTHES WERE NO EXCEPTION. GORGEOUS FROM HEAD TO TOE..AND DONT HATE ON THIS GET-UP 'CAUSE IT WAS THE "DYNASTY" T.V. SHOW ERA FOLKS. IF ANYONE OUT THERE THINKS THIS LOOK IS DATED? I JUST SAW MISS UNIVERSE 2010...THOSE HOTTIES ARE STILL WEARING THIS STUFF FOLKS AND IT'S STILL VERY MUCH RIGHT ONTIME FOR A DIVA-LOOK!

 

I NORMALLY NEVER POST MY FAVORITE SONG BY AN ARTIST FIRST, HOWEVER IN THIS CASE AND BECAUSE THE SONG IS SO UPBEAT AND FULL OF LIFE, I WANTED TO SHOW YOU GUYS THE RANGE OF TALENT THIS INCREDIBLE, FORGOTTEN GODDESS POSSESSED! POSSESSED IS THE PERFECT WORD. FROM THE MINUTE YOU HEAR THE FLUTE INTRODUCTION … THIS SONG MADE YOU WANDER THE CLUB/THE DANCE FLOOR, LOOKING FOR THE PERSON YOU HAD YOUR EYE ON ALL NIGHT…WITH INTENT TO SHOW YOUR STUFF! I FELL IN LOVE DANCING TO “YOU KNOW HOW TO LOVE ME” SO MANY TIMES…I WANTED TO CHANGE THE NAME TO “I KNOW HOW TO WORK YOU”!    

THIS NEXT SONG BELOW, FROM LATER IN HER CAREER WAS MORE TELLING OF HOW UNHAPPY HER LIFE WAS TO BECOME. I INSIST THAT SHE HAD TO BE HAPPY WHEN SHE RECORDED THE ONE ABOVE, BECAUSE THE SONG MADE ME SO HAPPY WHENEVER I HEARD IT. I HAVE TO BELIEVE THIS…OR MAYBE SHE WAS JUST A GOOD ACTRESS WITH THE VOCALS!  WHATEVER THE CASE, BLESS UP FOR “LIVING ALL ALONE”!  

    

 I CANNOT HELP BUT WONDER IF THIS SONG WAS HER TRYING TO TELL US SOMETHING. I WAS A FAN FOR SEVERAL REASONS. FIRST THE VOICE WAS OFF THE CHAIN. GOD!…. TO HEAR HER SING “BETCHA BY GOLLY WOW”? SHE WAS  AN AMAZON OF A WOMAN! SHE WAS A BIG/TALL GIRL OR FULL FIGURED GAL AS THEY SAY. SHE TOWERED OVER THE AVERAGE GUY AND SO DID HER PERSONALITY. LISTEN UP WHILE THIS SULTRY SIREN DOES HER OWN TWIST ON A CLASSIC STYLISTICS  TUNE! LAWD HAM MERCY! WHEN I HEAR HER VERSION OF THIS I SEE CANDYLAND APPEAR , JUST LIKE THE SONG SAYS! YOU BETTER SANG GIRL! OH DO I MISS YOU SOMETHING TERRIBLE! O.K..BLESS UP FOR “BETCHA BY GOLLY WOW” WITH NORMAN CONNERS!    

    

BELOW I HAVE POSTED CLIPS OF AN INTERVIEW SHE DID FOR EBONY/JET MAGAZINE. RARE STUFF SHOWING YOU HOW NATURALLY PRETTY SHE WAS WITH NO WEAVES OR ADDITIVES OTHER THAN MAKE-UP.  THE FULLEST LIPS, THE BEDROOM EYES, THE MANE OF HAIR PULLED AND COIFFED TO DEATH! SHE WAS A KNOCK OUT.    

 ONLY THE MOST ASTUTE LISTENER WILL PICK-UP ON HOW…ER…MISERABLE SHE REALLY IS WHEN SHE IS GIVING THE INTERVIEW. THOUGH SHE CHOOSES HER WORDS CAREFULLY , THE DRAMA PEEKS IT’S HEAD OUT AND SHE MAKES SOME REFERENCES TO HER CAREER NOT BEING WHAT SHE WANTS IT TO BE, EXCEPT THE ON HER LATEST WORKS, HER LIFE NOT BEING HAPPY IN LIFE IN GENERAL. SHE TALKS ABOUT BEING THE CONTROL FREAK AND NON TRUSTING OF PEOPLE AROUND HER OR IN BUSINESS…..CHECK HER OUT.    

IN THIS SEGMENT SHE TALKS ABOUT THE LACK OF MEN IN HER LIFE. SURPRISING AT FIRST BECAUSE SHE IS SO GORGEOUS TO THE EYE…BUT WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT? IF SHE FINDS SUCH FAULT IN HERSELF LOOKING LIKE SHE DOES? WHAT DOES SHE FIND IN THE SHORTCOMINGS OF OTHERS ..ESPECIALLY A MALE THAT MIGHT BE TRYING TO SEEK HER FAVOR, BUT DOES NOT MEET HER HIGH STANDARDS? JUST SAYIN!!!    

THIS NEXT AND FINAL CLIP SHE CANDIDLY TALKS ABOUT THE PRESSURES OF WORKING WITH PEOPLE SHE BASICALLY THOUGHT DIDN’T KNOW SHIT! SHE MENTIONS NORMAN CONNERS AND OTHERS…BUT NEVER A WORD OF WHITNEY’S MENTOR, CLIVE DAVIS, WHO BANNED HER TO HELL AND REFUSED TO PUT OUT ANY OF HER WORKS UNTIL SHE WAS DEAD. THEY HAD A FALLING OUT (WELL NOT A FALLING OUT…LET’S KEEP IT REAL) PHYLLIS WENT OFF ON HIM AT A BOARD MEETING AND CALLED HIM ALL KINDS OF “FAGGOTS” AND SUCH WHEN HE WOULD NOT LET HER PUT OUT AN ALBUM OR RELEASE ANY OF HER WORKS, BUT ALSO WOULD NOT LET HER OUT OF HER RECORD CONTRACT.    

    

O.K…ENOUGH OF THE PRETTY, STUDIED AND WELL-THOUGHT-OUT-CAREFULLY-CHOOSING- HER-WORDS PHYLLIS…LOL…CHECK OUT ANOTHER SIDE OF THIS SONGSTRESS WHEN SHE IS NOT SO DELICATE OR PATIENT AND SHE JUST WANTS TO “GET THE FUCK ON WITH IT” ‘CAUSE THE MUSIC BUSINESS HAS WEIGHED ON HER. BESIDES HER OWN ISSUES WITH WEIGHT, DEPRESSION AND GOD ONLY KNOWS WHAT ELSE…O.K..NOW WHO WHISPERED “COCAINE” JUST NOW? ANY WHO!!!!    

LOL…AS YOU CAN SEE SHE IS A LITTLE BIT MORE THAN CRANKY, BUT STILL CIVIL (ENOUGH) TO BLESS UP FOR NAOMI SIMS THE TOP MODEL ( A LA “TYRA” OF THE DAY..ALSO HER HOMEGIRL FROM HIGH SCHOOL PICTURED TWICE BELOW)     

     

JUST FOR THE RECORD MS. SIMS DIED AUG. 4, 2009 AFTER A LONG BATTLE WITH BREAST CANCER IN NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.    

 MOSTLY KNOWN FOR HER WIGS AND COSMETIC LINES FOR WOMEN OF COLOR (MY MOM WAS A BIG FAN) SHE WAS A TRAILBLAZER LONG BEFORE THERE WAS A TYRA, NAOMI CAMPBELL, AND MANY OTHERS! R.I.P. MS. SIMS.    

    

LIKE LUTHER VANDROSS, PHYLLIS MADE A GOOD LIVING OFF DOING JINGLES FOR BURGER KING AND CLAIROL BACK IN THE DAY…    

Phyllis Hyman
Phyllis Hyman, 1991
Background information
Born	July 6, 1949(1949-07-06) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died	June 30, 1995 (aged 45) New York City, New York
Genres	Jazz, Soul, R&B, Disco
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actress
Years active	1971–1995
Labels	Buddah (1976-1978) Arista (1978-1984) Philadelphia Int’l (1985-1995)

Phyllis Linda Hyman (July 6, 1949 — June 30, 1995) was an American soul singer and Tony-nominated actress.

Contents [hide]     1 Early years 2 Career 3 Death 4 Posthumous works 5 Discography 6 Filmography 7 References in popular culture 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Early years

Phyllis Hyman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and grew up in the St. Clair Village, the South Hills section of Pittsburgh. After leaving Pittsburgh, her music training started with a scholarship to a music school. On graduation, she performed on a national tour with the group New Direction in 1971. After the group disbanded, she joined All the People and worked with another local group, The Hondo Beat. At this time, she appeared in the film Lenny (1974). She also did a two-year stint leading a band called Phyllis Hyman and the P/H Factor. Hyman was discovered in 1975 by internationally known pop artist and music industry veteran Sid Maurer, and former Epic Records promoter Fred Frank, and signed to their Roadshow Records/Desert Moon imprint.    

Hyman moved to New York City to work on her reputation. She did background vocals on Jon Lucien‘s Premonition and worked in clubs. It was during one of these performances that she was spotted by Norman Connors, who offered her a spot as a vocalist on his album, You Are My Starship (1976). The duo scored on the R&B charts with a remake of The Stylistics‘ “Betcha by Golly Wow!”.    

[edit] Career

Hyman sang with Pharoah Sanders and the Fatback Band while working on her first solo album, Phyllis Hyman, released in 1977 on the Buddah Records label. When Arista Records bought Buddah, she was transferred to that label. Her first album for Arista, Somewhere in My Lifetime was released in 1978; the title track was produced by then-labelmate Barry Manilow. Her follow-up album You Know How to Love Me, made the R&B Top 20 and also performed well on the club/dance charts. In the late 70’s, Hyman married her manager Larry Alexander (who is the brother of Jamaican pianist and melodica player Monty Alexander), but both the personal and professional associations ended in divorce. Larry introduced Phyllis to cocaine which led to a life long dependency and spent a lot of her money during the years. The relationship was tumultuous to say the least.    

Hyman’s first solo Top Ten hit came in 1981 with “Can’t We Fall In Love Again”, a duet with Michael Henderson. The song was recorded while she was performing in the Broadway musical Sophisticated Ladies, a tribute to Duke Ellington. She performed in the role for almost two years, receiving a Tony Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical and winning a Theatre World Award for Best Newcomer.    

Problems between Hyman and her label, Arista, caused a pause in her recording career. She used the time to appear on movie soundtracks, television commercials and guest vocals, working with Chuck Mangione, The Whispers and The Four Tops. Hyman provided vocals for three tracks on jazz pianist McCoy Tyner‘s Looking Out (1982). She toured often and did a college lecture tour.    

In 1983, Hyman recorded the song “Never Say Never Again” as the title song for the James Bond movie of the same name, written by Stephen Forsyth and Jim Ryan. However, Warner Brothers informed Forsyth that Michel Legrand, who wrote the score for the film, had threatened to sue them, claiming he contractually had the rights to the title song. An alternate title song composed by Legrand was eventually used for the film and performed by singer Lani Hall, formerly of Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66.    

    

Free from Arista in 1985, she released the album, Living All Alone on Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff’s Philadelphia International label the following year, capitalizing on the torch songs, “Old Friend” and the melancholy title track, as well as “You Just Don’t Know” and “Screaming at the Moon”. Shortly afterwards, she appeared in the films School Daze and The Kill Reflex. She would also continue to lend her voice to albums for other artists and musicians like Grover Washington, Jr. and Lonnie Liston Smith, while at the same time doing international tours.    

Her next album, again on Philadelphia International, called Prime of My Life, released in 1991, was the biggest of her career. It included her first number one R&B hit as well as her first Billboard Top 100 hit, “Don’t Wanna Change the World“. The album provided two more top 10 R&B singles in “Living in Confusion” and “When You Get Right Down to It”, and the less successful “I Found Love”. Just over a year later, she appeared one last time on a Norman Connors album, singing the title song, “Remember Who You Are”, which became a minor R&B hit. Prime of My Life eventually sold 454,000 copies to date. The album and debut single were both RIAA certified Gold in 1992.    

Hyman’s last album, I Refuse to Be Lonely, was a journey into her personal life. Both the title track and the single “I’m Truly Yours” became minor R&B hits.    

[edit] Death

On the afternoon of June 30, 1995, Hyman committed suicide by overdosing on pentobarbital and secobarbital in her New York City apartment.^[1] She was found hours before she was scheduled to perform at the Apollo Theatre.^[2] Her suicide note read in part:    

“I’m tired. I’m tired. Those of you that I love know who you are. May God bless you.”^[2]      

^{THAT’S NOT ALL SHE SAID FOLKS:}    

 ^{I GUESS OUT OF RESPECT THEY ONLY PUSBLISHED PART OF THIS LETTER BECAUSE NOBODY LIKES TO TALK ABOUT THE UGLY SIDE OF A TORTURED SOUL THAT LOSES ALL RESPECT FOR THE INDUSTRY….LUCKILY I HAVE A SHARP MEMORY OF WHAT THE OTHER PARTS OF THE SUICIDE NOTE SAID: IN SHORT IT READ…”TO ALL YOU MOTHERFUCKERS OUT THERE THAT DIDN’T PLAY MY MUSIC WHEN I WAS ALIVE? DON’T BOTHER PLAYING IT WHEN I AM DEAD!”…SHE OBVIOUSLY MEANT THE RADIO PERSONALITIES LIKE FRANKIE CROCKER OR WHOMEVER ELSE WAS BIG AT THE TIME WHOM SHE FELT LET HER DOWN!}    

She was 45 years old. A memorial service was held at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Manhattan. The following month would have been her 46th birthday.^[2]    

[edit] Posthumous works

In November 1995, Hyman’s posthumous album I Refuse to Be Lonely, was released. Although the project had an overdrawn gestation, to combat the delay in its commercial release, Hyman started performing the tracks, “This Too Shall Pass” and “I Refuse To Be Lonely” in concert. The delay in the album’s release adversely affected Hyman both emotionally & financially and the delay was said to be cited over “cost negotiations.”    

    

I LOVED PHYLLIS HYMAN FOR MANY REASONS, BUT WHAT I REALLY LOVED ABOUT HER WAS THAT EVERYTHING ABOUT HER WAS AS BIG AS LIFE. THE WARDROBE, THE HAIR, THE MAKE-UP ETC…ALL OF IT WAS USUALLY, IF NOT ALWAYS, OVER-THE-TOP. THERE WAS NOTHING SUBTLE OR SUBLIME ABOUT THIS BEAUTY. LOL…SHE WAS A ”DRAMA-QUEEN”!    

CHECK HER OUT IN THIS BROADWAY PRODUCTION IN HER SHOWGIRL STYLE DELIVERY! LOL….THESE DAYS ONLY RUPAUL (OR “PINK” TRYING TO COPY RUPAUL) DO THIS KIND OF THING!    

Three years after her death, a second posthumous album of previously unreleased material was released. Songs were culled from various recording sessions from the mid 1980s into the early 1990s. Forever With You (1998) contains love songs, torch songs, bittersweet ballads, smooth jazz offerings and uptempo tracks, most of which showcase Hyman’s’ usual interpretation of heartbreak and strife. Hyman was quoted as saying that these songs were about “relationships gone bad!”^{[cite this quote]} Much of the material on this album was initially intended for her Living All Alone release. The song “Funny How Love Goes” contains a posthumous “duet” featuring vocalist Damon Williams. Half of Hyman’s vocals were re-recorded with both singers alternating vocals and providing Williams with exposure.    

    

In December 2003, Expansion Records, in association with The Other Artists’ Entertainment (Canada), released the compilation album entitled In Between The Heartaches: The Soul of a Diva. This album contains further previously unreleased demo recordings from the 1980s. Included are the McCoy Tyner tracks which remain Hyman’s most critically acclaimed recordings. Many anecdotes outlining his personal relationship with Hyman, along with rare and insightful information about the songs is included by Michael Grimaldi, a personal and professional friend of Hyman.    

In September 2007, an authorized biography was released. The book entitled Strength of a Woman: the Phyllis Hyman Story, is written by Jason A. Michael in cooperation with the Estate of Phyllis Hyman. The book mentions Hyman’s relationships with both men and women.^[3]    

In 2008, an original version of the James Bond theme “Never Say Never Again,” that wasn’t used in the film due to contractual issues, was released by the track’s co-writer Stephen Forsythe. Stephen Forsythe has been quoted as stating:    

During the filming of the James Bond movie Never Say Never Again, I co-wrote the title song for the movie with Jim Ryan. Warner Brothers informed our attorney that the song was to be used as the title song in the picture. However, shortly before its release, Warner Bros informed us that the song could not be used because Michel Legrand, who wrote the score, threatened to sue them, claiming that contractually he had the right to the title song. So my song was never released. The legendary Phyllis Hyman was my first choice to sing the song and working with her is one of the highlights of my musical career. I personally auditioned and sang the song to her while she was having breakfast in her manager’s office. After agreeing to sing the song, she arrived at the studio and, without any rehearsal and only having heard the song sung once at the breakfast audition, sang the song in one perfect take. Phyllis sadly took her own life in the early nineties. The year before she died, she called me late one night and told me she felt that “Never Say Never Again” was her best and favorite recording.^[4]    

^{ONE OF HER SADDEST AND YET ONE SONG SHE SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO MORE ON HER OWN PRIVATE TIME IS THIS LAST RARELY HEARD GEM. A FITTING TRIBUTE TO THIS FIERCELY STYLISH, OUTSPOKEN BUT MISUNDERSTOOD LADY OF SONG. IRONICALLY SHE ALWAYS REMINDED ME OF BILLIE HOLIDAY IN LOOKS, STYLE AND CERTAINLY THE DOWN FALL OF HER MUSICAL CAREER. THAT’S JUST ME, JUST SAYIN’!}    

    

~ by J Larry Nash on May 25, 2010.