Cheryl Lynn

Soul singer Cheryl Lynn cemented her place in history with her debut single, the 1978 disco classic “Got to Be Real”. She went on to record with producers like Luther Vandross and Jam and Lewis and score many more R&B hits in the decade that followed. • The Los Angeles native grew up singing in the church. In her teens, she was cast to play Evilene in a touring production of The Wiz. • In 1976, Lynn covered Joe Cocker’s “You Are So Beautiful” on The Gong Show. She earned a perfect score, which led to a deal with Columbia Records. • Her debut single, 1978’s “Got to Be Real”, topped the R&B charts and reached No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop tally. The song was co-written by David Paich of the rock band Toto. • After working with Paich and his father Marty on her eponymous debut, Lynn appeared on “Georgy Porgy” from Toto’s self-titled 1978 debut LP. • Luther Vandross produced the entirety of Cheryl’s 1982 album Instant Love. Vandross joins Lynn for a cover of the Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell duet “If This World Were Mine”. • Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis wrote and produced Cheryl Lynn’s 1983 single “Encore”, an appropriate title for her second No. 1 on the R&B charts. The song opens Lynn’s fifth album, Preppie. • Lynn continued notching R&B hits through the remainder of the ’80s. Her final Top 10 on that chart came with “Everytime I Say Goodbye” in 1989.