Maxine Nightingale

Maxine Nightingale was born on November 2, 1952, in Wembley, London. The daughter of Guyanese-born comedian Benny Nightingale and his wife Iris, she showed an early interest in music. She began her musical journey singing with her school band, attending Barham Primary, Ealing Grammar School, and Guildhall School of Music and Drama. At the age of thirteen, she joined a band called Unisound after a chance encounter during their rehearsal. With Unisound, she gained extensive experience performing on the British cabaret circuit. Her early career saw her record three singles for Pye Records in 1969 and 1971, although these early releases did not achieve significant commercial success.

Nightingale’s career progressed into musical theater, where she spent approximately 18 months in the West End production of “Hair” in London, performing a supporting role and understudying the female lead, Sheila. This led her to Germany, where she continued her stage career in German productions of “Hair” (as Sheila), “Jesus Christ Superstar,” and “Godspell.” While in Germany, she met and married Minoru Terada Domberger, the director of the German “Hair” production, and they welcomed a daughter, Langka Veva Domberger, in 1973. Upon returning to London, she appeared in the West End production of “Savages” before stepping back from professional performing to focus on session singing.

A turning point in her career came while working as a session singer. Her vocals on Al Matthews’ song “Fool” caught the attention of producer Pierre Tubbs. Tubbs, along with composer J. Vincent Edwards, co-wrote “Right Back Where We Started From” specifically for her. After recording the demo, which was well-received by United Artists Records, the song was officially released. It became a significant hit, reaching No. 8 in the UK in late 1975 and peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US in May 1976. This success led to her recording the album of the same name and establishing her US base. She followed this with other notable hits such as “Love Hit Me” (1977) and “Lead Me On” (1979), the latter reaching No. 1 on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart. Throughout the 2000s, she actively participated in the retro music circuit, featuring in PBS music specials like “Superstars of Seventies Soul: Live” in 2004 and “My Music: 70s Soul Superstars” in 2012.