Joyce Sims

Joyce Sims achieved prominence during a shifting era in R&B by crafting a late-'80s approach rooted in electro and freestyle, bypassing the rising currents of house and new jack swing. Her singing, intense with occasional trills yet free of excess embellishment, lent itself to cathartic moments on the dancefloor while also suiting pieces grounded in classic soul traditions. Beyond performing, Sims wrote songs, played keyboards, and produced, amassing nine charting singles across an extended run that featured "All and All" and the smooth "Come Into My Life," the latter reaching the U.S. R&B Top Ten and the U.K. pop Top Ten. She issued recordings sporadically and maintained a steady schedule of live appearances right up to her passing in 2022.

Born in Rochester, New York, Sims mastered several instruments and pursued formal music studies at the college level. After joining Sleeping Bag Records, she collaborated with Kurtis Mantronik, who helmed her first single, the 1986 release "(You Are My) All and All," which peaked at number 69 on the U.S. R&B chart and number six on the club chart while climbing to number 16 on the U.K. pop chart. Mantronik oversaw every track on Sims' Come Into My Life album. Powered by "All and All" and the stronger title track—number ten on the U.S. R&B chart and number seven in the U.K. pop listings—the project ranked among the strongest debut efforts by any R&B artist that year. Sims herself produced the more refined follow-up All About Love in 1989, which yielded three charting singles.

During the '90s her releases were confined to the 1994 single "Who's Crying Now." Activity picked up again in the 2000s when she issued the gospel-house track "Praise His Name" on Junior Vazquez's label in 2004, followed two years later by the spiritually focused parent album A New Beginning, which she released independently. Her final studio effort, the upbeat Love Song, appeared in 2015, yet she kept performing on stage into the early 2020s. Sims died on October 23, 2022, at age 63.