Sister Sledge

The four sisters who formed the vocal ensemble Sister Sledge first gained widespread recognition through their 1979 platinum-certified, Grammy-nominated smash “We Are Family,” an uplifting declaration of unity that became a mainstream pop landmark during the height of the disco period. Although that track and its parent album marked their greatest commercial success, the group had already been releasing records since the early 1970s and continued to tour and record in subsequent decades. Before achieving broad fame, the versatile quartet demonstrated facility with Jackson 5-style pop-R&B, Philly soul, funk, and disco grooves. Their breakthrough arrived when they collaborated with Chic masterminds Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, resulting in the chart-topping title song from the Top Five pop album We Are Family, which also contained the dancefloor staples “He’s the Greatest Dancer” and “Lost in Music.” By the close of the 1980s the Sledges had begun producing themselves and had joined forces with Narada Michael Walden and George Duke; they also secured a British number-one single with the Rodgers-helmed “Frankie” in 1985. Recording sessions grew infrequent after that point, yet the act maintained an active performance schedule into the 2020s with evolving lineups.

North Philadelphia natives Debbie, Joni, Kim, and Kathy Sledge, whose ages spanned twelve to sixteen when they first entered the studio, had already sung at churches, schools, fashion events, and political gatherings. In 1971 they issued their debut single “Time Will Tell” on the local Money Back imprint under the billing Sisters’ Sledge; the song was written and produced by Marty Brown, who had recently enjoyed success with the Stylistics’ “You’re a Big Girl Now.” After signing with Atco, the quartet released several singles over the ensuing three years while also appearing in Tokyo and at the historic Zaire 74 festival. Their initial British hit, “Mama Never Told Me,” reached number twenty, and it was followed by “Love Don’t You Go Through No Changes on Me,” which charted at number ninety-one pop, number thirty-one R&B, and number five on the dance tally in the United States. The 1975 debut album Circle of Love, helmed by Bert DeCoteaux and Tony Silvester with most songs supplied by Gwen Guthrie and Patrick Grant, peaked at number sixty-five on the R&B album chart.

After transferring to the Cotillion subsidiary, the Sledges registered modest hits before delivering the 1977 album Together, produced by Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay; the strongest performer from that era was “Blockbuster Boy,” which climbed to number sixty-one R&B. Momentum built further in 1979 when the group contributed to Vince Montana’s A Dance Fantasy Inspired by Close Encounters of the Third Kind and then teamed with Rodgers and Edwards for the landmark We Are Family LP. That release yielded the number-one R&B and Top Ten pop singles “He’s the Greatest Dancer” and “We Are Family,” while all three cuts—“Lost in Music” included—topped the dance chart; the album itself reached the pop Top Five. “We Are Family” was embraced as an anthem by the World Series-winning Pittsburgh Pirates and earned a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus. Rodgers and Edwards returned for the follow-up Love Somebody Today, a second consecutive Top Ten R&B album anchored by the number-six R&B single “Got to Love Somebody.”

The sisters next enlisted ex-Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Narada Michael Walden, who had recently produced Stacy Lattisaw, for the 1981 album All American Girls and its number-three R&B title track. They self-produced 1982’s The Sisters, which generated a number-fourteen R&B and Top Forty pop cover of Mary Wells’ “My Guy.” Jazz multi-instrumentalist George Duke, then working with Jeffrey Osborne and Deniece Williams, guided 1983’s Bet Cha Say That to All the Girls, featuring the number-twenty-two R&B single “B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Baby).” In 1984 the group saw renewed interest abroad when “Thinking of You” from the earlier album approached the U.K. Top Ten and new remixes of “Lost in Music” and “We Are Family” by Rodgers and Edwards, respectively, performed strongly, with the former reaching number four in Britain. The overseas revival continued into 1985 with the Atlantic reunion album When the Boys Meet the Girls, whose lead single “Frankie” topped the U.K. pop chart and became the act’s ninth Hot 100 entry stateside.

Thereafter Sister Sledge’s studio output grew sporadic, encompassing the 1992 Incognito collaboration “World Rise and Shine” with Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick, the Joni Sledge-produced African Eyes in 1998, a post-9/11 all-star benefit rendition of “We Are Family” in 2001, and the jazz-leaning Style in 2003, alongside assorted remixes and concert documents. Joni passed away from natural causes in 2017; Debbie, additional family members, and Tanya Tiet have since upheld the group’s legacy through live appearances.