Starpoint

Starpoint emerged after signing with Chocolate City, its roots extending back to J.R. & the Royals from the late 1960s and the later outfit Licyndiana. Between 1980 and 1982 the lineup of Renée Diggs, Kayode Adeyemo, Marvin Ennis, and Phillips brothers Ernesto, George, Greg, and Orlando issued four albums on Cecil Holmes’ Casablanca subsidiary. The phase’s standout release was the opening single “I Just Wanna Dance with You,” a disco-funk track that arrived on Billboard’s R&B chart in July 1980 and climbed to number 19. After Chocolate City shuttered, the group landed at Elektra and tallied seven further Top Ten R&B singles, among them the crossover success “Object of My Desire,” which joined René & Angela’s “I’ll Be Good” and Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam’s “I Wonder If I Take You Home” as one of 1985’s biggest synthesizer-heavy pop-R&B hits. Adaptation to changing sounds proved difficult thereafter. Their final album, released in 1990 on the respected Uptown label and featuring productions by new jack swing figures Teddy Riley, Al B. Sure!, and Keith Sweat, failed to chart. Diggs later issued a solo album. Not long afterward Adeyemo received fresh notice when Milli Vanilli covered “Girl You Know It’s True,” a song he co-wrote that Numarx had originally recorded. Ennis spent a brief period in Experience Unlimited (E.U.). Ernesto Phillips died of a stroke in 2004; almost exactly a year later Diggs, his longtime partner, succumbed to a heart condition. Surviving members continued performing as Starpoint Band into the 2010s.