Angela Winbush
| Angela Winbush | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Angela Lisa Winbush |
| Also known as | Angela L. Winbush (songwriting and production credits) |
| Born |
January 18, 1955 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Genres | R&B, Soul |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, Songwriter, Keyboardist, Producer, Composer |
| Years active | 1980 – present |
| Labels | Hip-O, Mercury, Elektra, Island |
| Associated acts | René & Angela, René Moore, The Isley Brothers, Stephanie Mills, Lalah Hathaway, Sheena Easton, Stevie Wonder |
Angela Lisa Winbush (born January 18, 1955) is an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter who rose to fame first in the 1980s R&B duo René & Angela, also scoring hits as a solo artist. To date, Winbush has sold over ten million albums and singles worldwide.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Angela began singing in church. She grew up in a middle-class area of St. Louis. She did not initially aspire to a career in music, instead studying architecture at Howard University, singing only to earn extra money. She continued to sing in church while at Howard as well as with gospel legend Richard Smallwood. She also performed as a singer with a group called "Hot Tea" while she attended Howard University. They opened for various well-known performers during shows and also did background singing for recording artists. One of the other members of "Hot Tea" was Tawatha Agee, who later did a lot of background singing on the albums of several well-noted recording artists, eventually joining the funk/soul band Mtume. By 1977, Angela had changed her major to music education and recorded a demo. She shopped it to various record labels with no success but, through a personal introduction furnished by respected industry veteran, Wayne K. Garfield, the demo was heard by New York disc jockey Gary Byrd, who made the call that landed Angela a spot in Stevie Wonder's backing vocal group, Wonderlove. Becoming Wonder's protégé, she learned a great deal about writing and arranging songs. While in Los Angeles with Wonder, Angela met singer Rene Moore. The two formed the duo René & Angela later that year. They soon came to the realization that they could be successful as duo music writers and producers for others as well, and began pursuing that goal. René & Angela released their self-titled debut album in 1980, followed by Wall to Wall in 1982 and Rise in 1983. During this period they had two moderate R&B hit singles, "I Love You More" and "My First Love".
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