Fern Kinney

Fern Kinney is an American soul singer who released three albums and scored a 1979 UK No. 1 hit with “Together We Are Beautiful.”

Background

Fern Kinney was born July 11, 1949, in Jackson, Mississippi, where she sang in a post-record lineup of The Poppies, a teenage girl group with Dorothy Moore and Rosemary Taylor. 

Kinney sang background sessions at Grits & Gravy in Clinton, where Bob McRee operated the studio with Cliff and Ed Thomas. She debuted in March 1968 with “Your Love’s Not Reliable” (b/w “Sweet Devil”), produced by Huey Meaux for Atlantic Records.

Kinney joined Malaco Studios, a Jackson production operation, as a background singer through guitarist Jerry Puckett and drummer James Stroud. Both musicians belonged to the Malaco house rhythm section that recorded backing tracks for the May 1970 King Floyd single “Groove Me.” She also backed Dorothy Moore on the colleague’s 1973 version of “Misty Blue.”

In 1978,  Kinney reemerged on Chimneyville Records with the Paul Davis cover “Sweet Life,” a duet with Frederick Knight. She also covered “Groove Me” in a disco arrangement with producers Carson Whitsett, Wolf Stephenson, and Tommy Couch Sr. 

Discography:

• Groove Me (1979)
• Fern (1981)
• Sweet Music (1982)