Boy, talk about a forgotten music group!! Man o man!! The Sylvers were a bunch of family members who decided to start a musical group in the early seventies, and kicked the dance scene’s ass with their incredible talent! The Sylvers grew up and raised in Chicago (Chicago must be like Nashville or something, a lot of big music acts seem to come from Chicago). There musical sound was very Jackson(esk), but mostly heavy on the funk. Watching them perform was almost like watching an African American version of The Jets.
It’s funny, it was amazing hearing some of the craziest things Black folk used to say back in the day. When I was a kid, I remembered a couple of family members who tried to tell us that The Sylvers were our cousins. I’ve NEVER saw any photos of them with at least one member of my immediate family. One person actually told me that they were our cousins because “we all had good hair.” ? ? Any young kids reading my blog, if there’s one thing you’ve got to learn from my blog, is that Black folk were OBSESSED WITH HAIR in the seventies. Oh my goodness!!
The Sylvers were active between the early 1970s thru 1985, and produced several albums. The first major hit of their career was a song called “Boogie Fever (1976),” which hit number 1, and stayed number 1 for one week. This song became a Black dance anthem back in the day! Their second biggest hit was a song called “Hot Line (1977),” which became another dance anthem as well. I remember them performing these songs on Soul Train. Another cute song is “High School Dance (1977),” and the beat was reminiscent of Sly Stone’s musical style. They’ve recorded some great songs that haven’t hit the charts. I recommend checking out “We Can Make It If We Try (1973).” It’s actually my most favorite of all their recordings.