Vivian Reed -

Vivian Reed (born June 6, 1947) is an American soul and stage singer from Pittsburgh who released five studio albums between her 1968 Epic debut and 1981 Carrere LP. She reached the R&B chart with “Yours Until Tomorrow” and “It’s Alright (This Feeling I’m Feeling),” then entered the disco era with “Start Dancin’” and “Ready and Waiting.” Bubbling Brown Sugar linked her to Broadway through cast-album performances of “Sweet Georgia Brown” and “God Bless the Child.”

Background

Vivian Reed was born on June 6, 1947, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her parents, Clyde and Lucille Reed, raised her in the city’s Hill District, where Clyde Reed sang gospel as a local amateur vocalist. At age eight, Reed began voice lessons with Romaine Russell at the Pittsburgh Musical Institute. She attended Schenley High School before she entered Juilliard School on a three-year scholarship for classical vocal study.

Two Juilliard mail-room employees took Reed to Pauline’s Interlude in Harlem, where hostess Josephine Cooper invited her to sing “Summertime” and “And This Is My Beloved.” The club hired Reed as Cooper’s temporary replacement after that first appearance. A woman who heard Reed at a concert brought her to Apollo Theater owner Bobby Schiffman and dancer Honi Coles. Schiffman and Coles became Reed’s managers. They placed her before Apollo audiences and secured an Epic Records contract.

Vivian Reed

Vivian Reed released her self-titled debut album in 1968 on Epic.

The album presents orchestral soul and theatrical pop, sung by Reed over arrangements by Jimmy Wisner, Thom Bell, and Bobby Martin. The album contains songs popularized by The Monkees (“I Wanna Be Free”), Lou Rawls (“Down Here on the Ground”), Jeannie C. Riley (“Harper Valley P.T.A.”), and Sammy Davis Jr. (“I’ve Gotta Be Me”).

“Yours Until Tomorrow” swells around Reed’s full-register lead, with the arrangement placing her vocal at the front of a dramatic ballad arc. “I Wanna Be Free” surges from theatrical control into choir-weighted phrasing, and Reed belts the title line with broad upper-register force. “Look the Other Way” glides through string-laden heartbreak, with the refrain held inside a polished contour.

“Down Here on the Ground” works a light syncopated undercurrent under Reed’s clipped phrase endings. “The Shape of Things to Come” turns hard-edged source material into orchestrated pressure, while “I’ve Gotta Be Me” softens into low-lit ballad cadence. “Somewhere” and the medley of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’/(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration” place the album near stage-song scale, where Reed uses long-held vowels and emphatic dynamic steps.

A1. “Yours Until Tomorrow” (3:07) – Goffin, King
A2. “I Wanna Be Free” (2:31) – Boyce, Hart
A3. “Look the Other Way” (2:23) – Bell, Farrow
A4. “Down Here on the Ground” (2:10) – Schifrin, Garnett
A5. “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling / (You’re My) Soul and Inspiration” (3:25) – Mann, Weil, Spector
A6. “Harper Valley P.T.A.” (3:00) – Hall

B1. “Walk on My Side” (2:27) – Record, Acklin
B2. “Let’s Fall in Love All Over” (2:52) – Martin
B3. “The Shape of Things to Come” (2:30) – Mann, Weil
B4. “I’ve Gotta Be Me” (2:53) – Marks
B5. “Somewhere” (2:56) – Bernstein, Sondheim

Ted Cooper produced Vivian Reed. Wisner arranged and conducted the April 1968 single sides “I Wanna Be Free” and “Yours Until Tomorrow.” Bell and Martin arranged “Walk on My Side” and “Look the Other Way.”

The Epic sleeve shows a close portrait of Reed beneath large outlined title lettering on a dark cover field.

Epic issued “I Wanna Be Free” as an April 1968 single (b/w “Yours Until Tomorrow”). “Yours Until Tomorrow” reached No. 44 on the Billboard R&B chart and No. 113 on Billboard’s Bubbling Under chart.

“You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling / (You’re My) Soul and Inspiration” became an August 1968 single (b/w “Mama Open the Door”), followed by “The Shape of Things to Come” in November (b/w “Somewhere”) and “Walk on My Side” in April 1969 (b/w “Look the Other Way”).

1969–1973 Singles

Reed released four non-album singles between the last Epic sides from Vivian Reed and the H&L material tied to Bubbling Brown Sugar. Epic issued “Unbelievable” in September 1969 (b/w “Then I’ll Be Over You”), then placed “Lean On Me” in November 1970 (b/w “Missing You”).

“I Feel the Earth Move” followed in June 1971 (b/w “Don’t Close the Door on Me”) and recast the Carole King song with Reed in a brighter, higher-register setting. Reed moved to Atco in October 1973 for “I Didn’t Mean to Love You” (b/w “Save Your Love for Me”), a Young Professionals production with Phil Hurtt, Anthony Bell, and Bunny Sigler. Jack Faith arranged and conducted “I Didn’t Mean to Love You,” and Anthony Bell arranged “Save Your Love For Me.”

Brown Sugar

Vivian Reed released her second album, Brown Sugar, in 1976 on H&L.

The album accompanied Bubbling Brown Sugar, a musical by Loften Mitchell, based on a concept by Rosetta LeNoire with additional music by Danny Holgate, Emme Kemp, and Lillian Lopez. The show frames Black popular song through Harlem nightlife and stage culture from the 1920s through the 1940s.

Reed played the dual roles of Marsha and Young Irene in the Broadway production, which opened at ANTA Playhouse on March 2, 1976. Reed received a 1976 Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Musical and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical. Its original Broadway cast album includes Reed-led performances of “Bubbling Brown Sugar,” “Sweet Georgia Brown,” “God Bless the Child,” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing.”

“Brown Sugar” roughens Reed’s lead around a grittier title refrain. The brisk side gives Reed firm rhythmic backing, direct vocal entry, and compact accent work. The ballads place her lead in deeper register and longer cadence, with the upper notes used as emphatic releases.

A1. “Oo Baby, What You Do to Me” (4:12) – Frank Gripper, Rudy Stevenson, Vivian Reed
A2. “There Was You” (4:20) – Reed
A3. “Baby, You’re A Good Thing” (2:47) – Reed
A4. “Solid Rock” (6:51) – Gripper, Stevenson, Reed

B1. “Brown Sugar” (3:30) – Horace Ott, Reed
B2. “River Of Love” (3:40) – Stevenson
B3. “Yours Until Tomorrow” (4:02) – Gerry Goffin, Carole King
B4. “Hello, It’s So Nice to Make It Again” (3:45) – Gripper, Stevenson, Reed
B5. “Mighty Lover” (2:55) – Reed

Hugo & Luigi produced Brown Sugar. Ott arranged and conducted the album. Ott and Reed arranged the vocal and rhythm parts.

Another Side

Vivian Reed released her third album, Another Side, in 1978 on United Artists.

The album presents disco-soul and orchestral R&B, sung by Reed with about forty session players. The rhythm staff includes bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer-arranger Andrew Smith. Guitarists Cornell Dupree and Jeff Mironov join keyboardists Barry Miles and Pat Rebillot.

Side one devotes its full run to three extended dance-band titles. Side two shortens the frames and closes with “Everybody Has a Dream,” a Billy Joel song. “It’s Alright (This Feeling I’m Feeling)” charges on upfront beat and percussion, with Reed’s lead placed high against the repeated dance-floor release. “Start Dancin’” clips a crisp production track around a large vocal, with the title phrase treated as the direct command. “Don’t Start Something You Can’t Finish” and “When You Touch Me” sit with the same polished, floor-suited material. The album sets Reed’s full-voiced lead against tight backing and clean refrain work.

A1. “Don’t Start Something You Can’t Finish (Less Than Your Best Ain’t Good Enough)” (6:21) – Mervin Steals, Melvin Steals, Eric Butler
A2. “It’s Alright (This Feeling I’m Feeling)” (5:13) – Chuck Jackson, Marvin Yancy
A3. “Start Dancin'” (6:48) – Ricky Williams

B1. “When You Touch Me” (3:52) – Mervin Steals, Melvin Steals
B2. “You Came” (3:19) – Allen Toussaint
B3. “Can I Be the One” (4:23) – Toussaint
B4. “Sweet Harmony” (3:38) – Mervin Steals, Melvin Steals
B5. “Everybody Has a Dream” (5:07) – originated as the gospel-tinged closing track on the 1977 breakthrough Joel album, The Stranger.

Jeff Lane produced Another Side for Bigboro Records. Sessions occurred at Music Farm Studios in New York with engineer Edison Youngblood and assistants Akili Walker and Peter Robbins. Dominick Romeo mastered the album at Frankford/Wayne Mastering Labs.

Another Side appeared in a United Artists cover with art direction by Bill Burks, design by Jeff Lancaster, and photography by Don Hunstein.

United Artists lifted “It’s Alright (This Feeling I’m Feeling)” as a September 1978 single (b/w “When You Touch Me”), which reached No. 74 on Billboard’s R&B chart. “Start Dancin’” followed in November 1978 (b/w “Sweet Harmony”).

Ready And Waiting

Vivian Reed released her fourth album, Ready and Waiting, in 1979 on United Artists.

The album presents disco-led soul, produced by Reed with Carl MaultsBy. The album includes songs popularized by Andy Gibb (“Shadow Dancing”) and Tavares (“Honey Can I”).

Ready and Waiting places Reed in a polished, floor-centered United Artists setting. “Trippin’ the Lights Fantastic,” “Ready and Waiting,” and “Shadow Dancing” define the album’s dance-record taxonomy through extended title/refrain language. “Don’t Promise Me Sunshine (and Bring Me Rain)” and “How Does It Feel” shift the text pattern toward pleading address.

A1. “Trippin’ the Lights Fantastic” (5:39) – James Mtume, Reggie Lucas
A2. “Ready and Waiting” (6:30) – Nat Adderley Jr., Pam Baskerville
A3. “Don’t Promise Me Sunshine (And Bring Me Rain)” (5:54) – K. Williams, S. Goines

B1. “Shadow Dancing” (4:17) – Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Andy Gibb
B2. “What’s Mine Is Yours” (4:45) – D. Daniels, T. McFaddin
B3. “Honey Can I” (3:41) – Len Ron Hanks, Zane Grey
B4. “How Does It Feel” (4:20) – Carl MaultsBy, Vivian Reed
B5. “It Keeps Getting Better” (3:37) – MaultsBy, Reed

Reed co-produced Ready and Waiting with MaultsBy, who co-arranged the album with Leon Pendarvis, Raymond Jones, and Thomas Washington.

United Artists issued “Ready And Waiting” as a 1979 single (b/w “It Keeps Getting Better”).

Vivian Reed (1981)

Vivian Reed released her self-titled fifth album in 1981 on Carrere, also issued as Faith and Fire.

The album presents French-produced disco and boogie-soul, directed by Reed and Jean-Michel Gascuel. “Faith and Fire,” “As Long as I’m Around,” and “A Feeling Coming On” place Reed in a polished European-market dance setting. “I’m Not Ashamed to Be in Love” and “I Should Have Said No” turn on direct title statements. “Crazy Heartache,” “The Biggest Mistake,” and “There’s No Love in My Life Today” tighten the text pattern around regret and separation.

A1. “Faith and Fire” (5:40) – Helen Bank, Jean-Michel Gascuel
A2. “I’m Not Ashamed to Be In Love” (4:14) – J. Davis, R. Bonnaire, Y. Dessca
A3. “As Long as I’m Around” (5:15) – Charlie Smalls, S. Harkness
A4. “A Feeling Coming On” (5:00) – Gascuel, S. Clark

B1. “I Should Have Said No” (4:18) – Art Posey
B2. “The Biggest Mistake” (4:25) – J. Malone, Dessca
B3. “Crazy Heartache” (3:35) – Bank, Gascuel
B4. “One More Time” (4:07) – J. Dotson, T. Wortham
B5. “There’s No Love In My Life Today” (3:44) – F. Mercier, Bank, Reed

Gascuel and Reed directed Vivian Reed for Carrere.

Carrere issued “Faith And Fire” as a French 1981 single (b/w “Crazy Heartache”). The same pairing appeared on a Carrere 12-inch with arrangement by Thierry Durbet and photography by George Bennett. Reed followed with Live at the Espace Cardin, a 1982 live album.

1984–1986 Singles

In 1984, Reed surfaced with the Carrere single “The Next Time” (b/w “It’s Good To See You Again”), co-produced by Jacob Wheeler for Sznabel International with arrangements by Léo Clarens.

In 1985, Inmark issued “Time After Time” (b/w “Telex”) as a French promo single, while Jonathan and Polydor placed “Telex” as the lead side on separate French and German issues. “Telex” pairs a Helen Bank–Reed credit with a five-minute synth-disco frame; “Time After Time” recasts the Jule Styne–Sammy Cahn standard at similar length.

Labalme issued “That First Kiss” in 1986 (b/w “Believe In the Future”) and also paired Reed with Paul Stuart on the 12-inch That First Kiss / Evening. Jacques Labalme produced the 12-inch, with D. Berne arranging the Reed side.

Discography: