Alicia Myers

Alicia Myers (born November 20, 1957) is an American R&B musician. She started her music career with the band Al Hudson & the Soul Partners. Her first solo release, Alicia, was released in 1981 with MCA Records, and it was her breakthrough release upon the Billboardmagazine charts, placing on the R&B Albums. The subsequent album, Alicia Again, released the same year, yet this failed to place on any Billboard charts. She release, I Fooled You This Time, the subsequent year, and it charted on the Billboard R&B Albums chart. The 1984 release, I Appreciate, placed on the aforementioned chart alongside a charting on The Billboard 200. Her last album, Don't Stop What You're Doin', was released in 1986 by Universal Special Products, however it did not chart.

Early life

Myers was born Alicia Myers on November 20, 1957 in Detroit, Michigan, to Lawrence and Margaret Myers, as one of their nine children, and she has an older brother, Jackie Myers who was a part of the beach band Chairman of the Board. She attended Lee University for her collegiate studies. They competed in a local talent competition in April 1968 at Detroit's Martin Luther King Jr. High School, where they sang, "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing", a song by Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell, and they were awarded first place. She is a survivor of childhood tuberculosis, and later survived breast cancer. In 1978, she departed her hometown to start her music career in Los Angeles, California, with Al Hudson & the Soul Partners who, soon after her arrival, would change their name into One Way featuring Al Hudson and, eventually, into One Way.

Music career

After her stint in the band Al Hudson & the Soul Partners, she started her solo music recording career in 1981, with the release of Aliciaby MCA Records, and this placed on the Billboard magazine R&B Albums at No. 41. The album contains the R&B hit "I Want To Thank You". While her next release, Alicia Again, failed to chart that was released the same year. Her subsequent album, I Fooled You This Time, was released in 1982 by the same label, and it charted even better on the aforementioned chart at No. 27. It's high charting was due to the inclusion of "I Want To Thank You" which had gained popularity due to DJs such as Tee Scott playing it in heavy rotation, where it was discovered by those who missed it the previous year upon its initial release. The fourth album, I Appreciate, was released by MCA Records in 1984, which it charted on the aforementioned chart at No. 12, while placing upon The Billboard 200 at No. 186. Her last release by Universal Special Products, Don't Stop What You're Doin', was released in 1986, yet this did not chart.

Legacy

Myers' song "I Want to Thank You" was sampled by Mariah Carey on the song Make It Happen from her 1991 album Emotions, Father MC also sampled the song "Close to You" with background vocals by Kenny Greene of Intro from his 1992 album of the same name, and by E-40 in his song "I Wanna Thank You" featuring Suga-T, taken from his 1996 album Tha Hall of Game. Also, Busta Rhymes and Q-Tip sampled the song for Busta's "Thank You" in 2013. The song “If You Play Your Card’s Right” from her debut album is covered often by several artist since its release; most recently by Syleena Johnson on her second album Chapter 2: The Voice.