Thelma Houston

Thelma Houston, born Thelma Jackson on May 7, 1946, in Leland, Mississippi, first gained widespread attention in 1977 through her signature hit “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” yet she had already built a substantial body of work as a singer and recording artist long before and long after that breakthrough. Her mother picked cotton to support Thelma and her three sisters until the family settled in Long Beach, California, where most of her childhood unfolded. Music drew her in during her early teens, prompting regular appearances at church and school assemblies.

She married, bore two children, and divorced before turning twenty, but secured a spot with the gospel outfit Art Reynolds Singers in 1966. Their single “I Won’t Be Back” b/w “Glory, Glory Hallelujah” introduced her to recording, with Houston taking the lead on the A-side.

Secular music beckoned in 1969 when she signed with Dunhill Records and issued Sunshower. Jimmy Webb produced the album and wrote every track except her cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” Critics responded favorably, yet sales lagged and Dunhill let her go. A short-lived comedy/variety series hosted by British comic Marty Feldman featured her regularly in 1971, and Motown Records offered a fresh contract the next year. The self-titled Thelma Houston appeared in 1972; like its predecessor, it earned praise without major commercial traction, so four years passed before another album materialized. In between she joined Pressure Cooker for I’ve Got the Music in Me on the Sheffield Lab label.

Nineteen seventy-six proved decisive. Any Way You Like It contained her reading of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” which reached number one on the singles charts the following year, earned a gold record, and brought a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. That same year the Motown-backed film The Bingo Long Travelling All-Stars & Motor Kings showcased several of her performances on its soundtrack, and she sang backup on Jermaine Jackson’s solo release My Name Is Jermaine.

Nineteen seventy-seven brought The Devil in Me and the duet set Thelma & Jerry with veteran R&B singer Jerry Butler. Her screen debut followed in the exploitation picture Game Show Models, which also starred Latin jazz legend Willie Bobo. The 1978 soundtrack for the disco film Thank God It’s Friday preceded her own album Ready to Roll and a second Butler collaboration, Two to One. Ready to Roll yielded the hit single “Saturday Night, Sunday Morning,” later remixed for 1979’s Ride to the Rainbow. After leaving Motown she joined RCA, where 1980’s Breakwater Cat reunited her with Jimmy Webb as executive producer and co-writer of five songs. Never Gonna Be Another One, released in 1981, included two dance-chart entries—“If You Feel It” and a cover of “96 Tears”—before she returned to Motown for 1982’s Reachin’ All Around. Two MCA albums followed, Thelma Houston in 1983 and Qualifying Heat in 1984, though live work and acting occupied most of the decade; television credits included Faerie Tale Theatre, Cagney & Lacey, and Simon & Simon, plus a role in the 1988 remake of …And God Created Woman.

She resumed studio activity in 1990 with Throw You Down, produced by Richard Perry and anchored by the dance hit title track. A 1994 gospel benefit performance alongside Chaka Khan, Ce Ce Peniston, and Phoebe Snow led to the formation of Sisters of Glory; the group performed at Woodstock that year after Mavis Staples and Lois Walden replaced Khan, then toured and recorded the 1995 album Good News in Hard Times with Houston joined by Peniston, Snow, Walden, and Albertina Walker. Film appearances in Beloved and 54 arrived in 1998 while steady live bookings continued. A Woman’s Touch, issued in 2007, found her interpreting ten songs first popularized by male artists. The digital EP Fortytwo, cut with producer Janitor, surfaced in 2013, followed in 2017 by Summer Nights, a five-track collection of previously unreleased 1980 material.