Val Young

For the New Zealand athlete, see Valerie Young.
Val Young
Birth name Valaria Marie Young
Also known as Lady "V"
Born (1962-06-13) June 13, 1962
Origin Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Genres R&B, Soul, Funk, Disco, Hip Hop Soul
Years active 1977–present
Labels Motown, Amherst Records
Associated acts Rick James, 2Pac, Snoop Dogg, Outlawz, Nate Dogg, Teena Marie, The Gap Band
Website Val Young on Myspace

Val Young (born Valaria Marie Young; June 13, 1962) also known as "Lady V", is an American recording artist from Detroit, Michigan, who achieved success during the 1980s. She is now based in Los Angeles.

Career

She was discovered by George Clinton, who hired her as a background vocalist in 1977 for The Brides of Funkenstein,[1] one of the many acts in his Funkadelic stable. In 1980, she recorded and toured with Roy Ayers. Young became a background vocalist for The Gap Band the same year and was featured with the group on the funk classic hit "I Don't Believe You Want To Get Up And Dance (Oops Up Side Your Head)". She recorded five albums with the group and also toured with them.

It wasn’t until she met Rick James that she became popular. James promoted her as the "Black Marilyn Monroe" and brought Young to Berry Gordy, who signed her to Motown Records on James' recommendation. Rick James produced her debut album Seduction[1] which was released in 1985, it included the singles "Mind Games" and the title track "Seduction", as well as "Piece of My Heart" and "If You Should Ever Be Lonely", which were successful follow-ups in 1986.

Rick James ran into serious conflict with Motown over the status of his spin-off acts and Young subsequently left the label signing to Amherst Records, a Buffalo, New York-based label, releasing her second album Private Conversations in 1987. Three tracks from this album were produced by Rick James with the title being released as a single.

Val went on tour with Bobby Brown in 1988 after he released his Don't Be Cruel album and she was in high demand for performing live & recording background vocals for several artists: Bobby Womack, Kurtis Blow, Dr. Dre, Wayman Tisdale, Snoop Dogg, Evelyn "Champagne" King, Yo-Yo, El DeBarge, Miki Howard, Gerald LeVert, Teena Marie, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Eddie Murphy, Teddy Riley, Michael Bivins of New Edition and many other artists.

Recent engagement

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Guest appearances

Unreleased

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Wynn, Ron. "Biography: Val Young". AllMusic. Retrieved 10 January 2016.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/29/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.