George McCrae

Biography

George Warren McCrae Jr. (McCray, born October 19, 1944) is an American soul and disco singer who is most famous for his 1974 hit "Rock Your Baby×Rock Your Baby1974 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1Rock Your Baby6:21A2I Can't Leave You Alone (I Keep Holdin' On)3:08A3You Got My Heart2:59A4You Can Have It All2:53B1Look at You4:57B2Make It Right2:51B3I Need Somebody Like You3:32B4I Get Lifted2:45B5Rock Your Baby (reprise)2:03".

Biography and career

McCrae was the second of nine children, born in West Palm Beach, Florida. He formed his own singing group, the Jivin' Jets, before joining the United States Navy in 1963. He married Gwen McCrae (née Mosley) in 1963. Four years later, he re-formed the group, with his wife Gwen joining the lineup, but soon afterwards they decided to work as a duo, recording for Henry Stone's Alston record label. Gwen then won a solo contract, with George acting as her manager as well as doing some singing on sessions and in clubs in Palm Beach.
He was about to return to college to study law enforcement, when Richard Finch and Harry Wayne Casey of KC and the Sunshine Band invited him to sing the lyrics for a song that they had recorded for the band, but could not reach the high notes that were required for the song. The original intention was that Gwen, his wife, should record it, but she was late for the session and George recorded alone. It suited his high-pitched voice to the extent that the song, "Rock Your Baby×Rock Your Baby1974 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1Rock Your Baby6:21A2I Can't Leave You Alone (I Keep Holdin' On)3:08A3You Got My Heart2:59A4You Can Have It All2:53B1Look at You4:57B2Make It Right2:51B3I Need Somebody Like You3:32B4I Get Lifted2:45B5Rock Your Baby (reprise)2:03", became one of the first hits of the disco era in 1974, selling an estimated eleven million copies worldwide, topping the charts in the U.S. and the UK. The song was so successful that Rolling Stone magazine voted it the No. 1 song of the year in 1974. McCrae received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male R&B Vocalist the following year.
Two further single releases, "I Can't Leave You Alone×I Can't Leave You Alone1974 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAI Can't Leave You AloneBYou Got My Heart", backed by "I Get Lifted", and "It's Been So Long", also reached the UK Singles Chart Top 10. He recorded several further albums for TK, including George McCrae (1975) and Diamond Touch×Diamond Touch1976 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracksA1Nothing but Love4:21A2Love in Motion5:00A3I’m Gonna Stay With My Baby Tonight2:55A4Givin’ Back the Feeling5:31B1Cut the Rug4:52B2Dance in a Circle4:06B3Dancin’ Through the Storm3:30B4Loved and Lost3:42 (1976), and also continued to record with, and manage, his wife until their divorce in 1976. They had two daughters together, Sophia and Leah.
While he continued to record albums including We Did It!×We Did It!1 March 1979 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1(You've Got) My Love, My Life, My SoulA2Don't You Feel My LoveA3Are You Looking for LoveA4You Don't KnowB1I Want You Around MeB2You Got Me Going CrazyB3I Love YouB4We Did ItB5Love, Life & Soul and his second self-titled album George McCrae (both 1978), his commercial popularity slipped as the decade progressed. He married a second time, moved to Canada, and entered a period of semi-retirement, leaving TK at the end of the 1970s. With his second wife, he had another daughter, Jennifer McCray.
He returned with the album One Step Closer to Love×One Step Closer to Love1984 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1Just Another FoolA2If It Wasn't for YouA3Never Too LateA4Now That I Have YouA5One Step Closer (To Love)B1Every Time You Say GoodbyeB2Fire in the NightB3It Was Always YouB4I'm Still Believin'B5Listen to Your Heart in 1984, the title track from which entered the charts in the United Kingdom and Belgium. In 1988, he had a daughter, Marcella, with his then-girlfriend, Rosanna Molignini. He moved to the village Munstergeleen in the Netherlands and remarried again, to Dutch model Yvonne Bergsma, in 1989. They have a son, Shaka.
His later albums found some success in Europe, and he continued to perform regularly there. By the 2000s, he shared his time between homes in Florida, Aruba, and the Netherlands. In 2016 McCrae released a new concept album, Love, that was produced by the Dutch producer / composer Roger Heijster and released on the label PopMi Music. The album was recorded without sequencing using only vintage instruments. Leah and Sophia McCrae, George's two daughters from his first marriage to Gwen McCrae, provide the backing vocals for this album. The album was album of the week in Germany and the single "Sexy Woman" was number one in Mallorca. In December 2017, McCrae performed on the BBC's Hootenanny show hosted by Jools Holland.