Charlene

Born on June 1, 1950, in Los Angeles, Charlene Marilynn D'Angelo received her first name from her mother. Few could have predicted how winding her eventual association with Motown would prove. At age 23 she joined the roster in 1973 under the name Charlene Duncan. Her debut single, “All That Love Went to Waste,” arrived in January 1974 and sat on the release schedule between Edwin Starr’s “Ain’t It Hell Up in Harlem” and the Jackson Five’s “Dancing Machine.”

Three years afterward she resurfaced on the label’s Prodigal imprint with the single “It Ain’t Easy Comin’ Down,” now billed simply as Charlene, although an album pressed that same month carried the name Charlene Duncan on its spine and shared the title Charlene. In May 1977 Motown issued Songs of Love, essentially the prior album repackaged with a revised take of “I’ve Never Been to Me” that omitted its spoken bridge. Released as her third single, the track reached number 97. One further Motown outing, 1980’s “I Won’t Remember Ever Loving You,” appeared before the company let her contract lapse.

Radio rediscovered “I’ve Never Been to Me” in 1982, prompting Motown to recut the song with the missing spoken section—an interlude that addressed abortion and unborn children. The updated version climbed to number three on the pop chart that year. A follow-up duet with Stevie Wonder, “Used to Be,” peaked at number 46 later in 1982 and proved her final chart appearance. Despite the lack of further hits, Motown continued mining its archives: the album I’ve Never Been to Me surfaced in March 1982 and again the next month with alternate artwork; The Sky Is the Limit followed in January 1983; and Hit and Run Lover arrived roughly eighteen months after that. Her recording of “Fire” turned up on the soundtrack for the film The Last Dragon. After parting ways with Motown once more in 1985, she largely vanished from public view.