Linda Clifford

Biography

Linda Clifford (born June 14, 1948) is an American R&B, disco and house music singer who scored hits from the 1970s to the 1980s, most notably "If My Friends Could See Me Now×If My Friends Could See Me Now8 March 1978 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 7 tracksA1If My Friends Could See Me Now7:53A2You Are, You Are5:16A3Runaway Love7:04B1Broadway Gypsy Lady3:41B2I Feel Like Falling in Love Again5:04B3Please Darling, Don’t Say Goodbye4:36B4Gypsy Lady5:42", "Bridge over Troubled Water×Bridge Over Troubled WaterApril 1979 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksABridge Over Troubled Water (Extended Disco Version)10:22BHold Me Close2:43", "Runaway Love×Runaway Love1978 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1Runaway Love9:432Gypsy Lady9:59" and "Red Light".

Career

Clifford is a former Miss New York State, and fronted a jazz music trio before switching to R&B. After winning her title, Clifford worked as an actress, playing minor roles in films such as The Boston Strangler with Tony Curtis and Henry Fonda, Coogan's Bluff with Clint Eastwood and Sweet Charity with Shirley MacLaine. Unsatisfied with her roles, Clifford decided to concentrate on her singing career, performing for a year in Miami-area night clubs with the Jericho Jazz Singers, before forming her own group Linda & the Trade Winds.
In 1973, she was signed to Paramount Records and her first single, "(It's Gonna Be) A Long Long Winter", was a minor hit on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart in the winter of 1974. She moved to Curtis Mayfield's Curtom Records label in the mid 1970s. In 1977, she released her first album, Linda×Linda1977 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1From Now On5:10A2Be Tender With My Love3:52A3You Can Do It4:11A4You Gotta Tell Her3:37A5One Thing on My Mind3:50B1Tonight’s the Night4:07B2Only Fooling Myself3:57B3Still in Love With You3:29B4If It’s Magic4:53, and in 1978, her dance cover of "If My Friends Could See Me Now×If My Friends Could See Me Now8 March 1978 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 7 tracksA1If My Friends Could See Me Now7:53A2You Are, You Are5:16A3Runaway Love7:04B1Broadway Gypsy Lady3:41B2I Feel Like Falling in Love Again5:04B3Please Darling, Don’t Say Goodbye4:36B4Gypsy Lady5:42" was a hit in clubs and on the Billboard Hot 100. It was her first number one on Billboard Dance chart. Her album of the same name became her most successful and included also "Runaway Love×Runaway Love1978 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1Runaway Love9:432Gypsy Lady9:59", a mid-tempo R&B track that proved to be one of her most recognizable tunes. In 1979, she released her disco version of "Bridge over Troubled Water×Bridge Over Troubled WaterApril 1979 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksABridge Over Troubled Water (Extended Disco Version)10:22BHold Me Close2:43" from the album Let Me Be Your Woman×Let Me Be Your Woman19 March 1979 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracks · 2 discsDisc 1A1Hold Me Close4:48A2Let Me Be Your Woman3:12A3Don’t Give It Up9:26B1I Can’t Let This Good Thing Get Away4:13B2Don’t Let Me Have Another Bad Dream3:54B3Sweet Melodies7:55Disc 2COne of Those Songs11:46DBridge Over Troubled Water10:20. Latter that year, she released another album: Here's My Love.
In 1980, she released a duet album with Curtis Mayfield, The Right Combination, and recorded a song "Red Light" for the Fame soundtrack in 1980. It peaked at number one on the American dance chart. "Shoot Your Best Shot" (1980) and "Don't Come Crying to Me" (1982) were the third and fourth of her four number one dance hits in the US. She released six albums while under contract on the Curtom label, all supervised by Curtis Mayfield, generally produced by Gil Askey (jazz trumpet player and musical director for many Motown acts) with many mixes by Jim Burgess or Jimmy Simpson, brother of Valerie Simpson from Ashford and Simpson. The sixth, I'm Yours, was produced by Isaac Hayes with the exception of "Red Light" (written by Pitchford and Gore). Curtom Records was distributed by Warner Bros. (1977–1978), by RSO (1979–1980) and by the end of 1980 by Capitol.
Her contract switched entirely to Capitol for her seventh album, I'll Keep on Loving You (1982). It included collaboration by Luther Vandross and the original version of "All the Man That I Need", another song written by Pitchford and Gore; they wrote this particular song with Clifford and her husband in mind. A year later it was covered by Sister Sledge, in 1990 by Whitney Houston and in 1994 by Luther Vandross, under the name "All the Woman That I Need". On his album Songs, Vandross even credited Houston for being the "artist who did the original version of the song", forgetting that it was originally Clifford's song and that he was a background vocalist and the vocal arranger of her version.
Her 1984 offering, Sneakin' Out did relatively well on the American R&B chart. Clifford's last studio album to date remains 1985's My Heart's on Fire×My Heart's on Fire20 September 1985 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracksA1If You Want My Love to Last4:36A2Real Love4:08A3The Heat in Me6:09A4X-Ray Eyes4:40B1Sweet Distraction4:18B2Wrap Your Arms Around Me4:30B3Here Comes the Night3:45B4First Offense5:56, supported by the single "The Heat in Me". In 2001, she secured her fourth UK Singles Chart entry with "Ride the Storm×Ride the Storm1 September 2001 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 trackARide the Storm", billed as Akabu featuring Linda Clifford. Her most recent single, "Baby I'm Yours", was released in 2011.
In 1982, she sang the opening theme to the NBC crime drama "Chicago Story".
In 2012, her minor hit from 1979, "I Just Wanna Wanna", resurfaced as the love theme in the Lee Daniels film, The Paperboy.
In 2015, Clifford collaborated with disco and house vocalists Martha Wash and Evelyn "Champagne" King on the download-only single "Show Some Love", which reached number #6 on the Billboard Dance chart the same year, and released on Martha Wash's own label Purple Rose Records. Their collaboration was credited as a group as First Ladies of Disco. A video was released to promote the single along with an alternate video featuring a remix by John LePage and Brian Cua.

Compilation albums

Greatest Hits (1989, Curtom)
Runaway Love and Other Hits (1999, Rhino)
Runaway Love: The Curtom Anthology (2000, Sequel)