Gerald Alston

Born in North Carolina, Gerald Alston absorbed the fundamentals of singing through church services, drawing guidance from his father, Rev. J.B. Alston, and his uncle, gospel great Johnny Fields. While still a teenager he assembled the New Imperials, a versatile ensemble that performed both secular material and sacred songs, appearing under the name Gospel Jubilee whenever the setting was religious. The Manhattans, needing to retrieve borrowed sound equipment after a local show, overheard Alston rehearsing and promptly invited the seventeen-year-old to become their frontman in 1971. He held that role until 1988, steering the group through its most prosperous stretch of the 1970s and 1980s. Their 1976 single “Kiss and Say Goodbye” topped both the R&B and pop charts—the only time the act ever achieved that dual feat—and earned a Grammy for the 1980 track “Shining Star.” In 1986 Alston teamed with fledgling vocalist Regina Belle on the Bobby Womack-produced duet “Where Did We Go Wrong,” which marked Belle’s first recording. After departing the Manhattans he joined Motown in 1988, yet his solo career yielded limited commercial returns despite the polished craft evident on the albums Gerald Alston and Open Invitation; Always in the Mood surfaced in 1992.