Phyllis Hyman Was an American Soul Singer
Phyllis Hyman (July 6, 1949 - June 30, 1995) was an American soul singer and Tony-nominated actress.Phyllis Hyman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to African American parents, and grew up in the St. Clair Village section in 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.On the afternoon of June 30, 1995, Hyman committed suicide by overdosing on pentobarbital and secobarbital in her New York City apartment.She was found hours before she was scheduled to perform at the Apollo Theatre.
Hyman sang with Pharoah Sanders and the Fatback Band while working on her first solo album, Phyllis Hyman, released in 1977 on the Buddha label. When Arista Records bought Buddah, she was transferred to that label. Her first album for Arista, Somewhere in My Lifetime was released in 1979; 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.
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. 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. The song was finally recorded by singer Lani Hall, formerly of Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66.
Free from Arista in 1985, she released the album Living All Alone, and capitalized on the torch songs "Old Friend" and the melancholy title track, as well as "You Just Don't Know" and "Screaming at the Moon" in 1986. Shortly after she appeared in the films School Daze and The Kill Reflex. She would also continue to lend her voice on albums for other artist and musicians like Grover Washington, Jr. and Lonnie Liston Smith, while at the same time doing international tours. Her next album, Prime of My Life, released in 1991, was the biggest of her career and included her first number one R&B hit along with being her first Billboard Top 100 Hit "Don't Wanna Change the World", the album gained three more top ten singles "Living in Confusion", "When You Get Right Down to It", and the hit "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.
