Evelyn Champagne King

Evelyn King was born on July 1, 1960, in The Bronx, New York City, to Johnniea and Erik King. She was raised in Philadelphia within a musical family; her uncle Avon Long performed in the first Broadway revival of ‘Porgy and Bess’ and worked with Lena Horne. Her father was a backup singer for groups at Harlem’s Apollo Theater, and her mother managed a group named Quality Red. Evelyn’s childhood nickname was “Bubbles”. She was discovered while working as an office cleaner at Philadelphia International Records. Producer Theodore T. Life overheard her singing and began coaching her, leading to a production deal with Life’s Galaxy Productions and a recording contract with RCA Records. The name “Champagne” was added to her professional identity as Evelyn King was considered too mature at the start of her career.

King released her debut album, “Smooth Talk”, in 1977. This album featured the song “Shame”, her only top-ten single on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 9. This track also reached No. 7 on the Soul chart and No. 8 on the dance chart, eventually earning a gold certification. Another single from the album, “I Don’t Know If It’s Right”, peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 7 on the Soul chart, also achieving gold status. In 1981, she released “I’m in Love”, which reached No. 1 on both the R&B singles chart and the dance chart, and No. 40 on the pop chart. In 1982, King released the album “Get Loose”, which included the single “Love Come Down”. This song was a top-twenty pop hit, a No. 1 soul hit, and also topped the dance chart, reaching No. 7 on the UK Singles Chart for three weeks.

Following these successes, the track “Betcha She Don’t Love You” from the same album peaked at No. 2 on the Soul chart and No. 49 on the pop chart. Throughout the mid-to-late 1980s, King consistently charted on the Soul chart, with eight singles reaching the top-twenty, and three of those singles entering the top-ten. In 2004, “Shame” was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame. After a 12-year hiatus from studio albums, King released “Open Book” in 2007, which included the single “The Dance”, peaking at No. 12 on the Hot Dance Club Play Chart. In 2011, she collaborated with Miguel Migs on “Everybody”, a track featured on his album “Outside the Skyline”. She briefly formed the supergroup First Ladies of Disco with Martha Wash and Linda Clifford in 2015, releasing the single “Show Some Love” that reached No. 6 on the Dance chart, before leaving the group in December 2017. In 2023, she received the Living Legend Award from The National R&B Music Society.