Throwback Thursday Angela Winbush R and B Legend: Treat U Right
Angela Winbush R&B Legend
Singer, songwriter, keyboardist, and producer Angela Winbush’s credentials include solo hits such as her R&B number one “Angel”; hits as half of the singing duo René & Angela and their hits “Save Your Love (For #1)” and “Your Smile”; and hits she wrote for Stephanie Mills and the Isley Brothers. Besides Rene Moore, Winbush’s early collaborators included Rufus’ bassist Bobby Watson, engineer/producer Bruce Swedien, and George Duke.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Winbush grew up singing gospel music in the church choir and learned to play piano as a child. She had no intentions of pursuing a professional music career when she attended Washington, D.C.’s Howard University, where she majored in architecture. To earn money to pay expenses, she began singing on recording sessions and formed a vocal trio that opened for Van McCoy and Al Jarreau. She became interested in the music business and changed her major to music education.
By 1987, Winbush was solo and got her first production job on the Isley Brothers’ Smooth Sailing LP after the group’s lead singer, Ronald Isley, mentioned to Warner Bros. records executive Benny Medina that he wanted to work with the group who did “Your Smile.” After working together, Isley became the singer’s manager, and he continued to benefit from Winbush’s songwriting and production talents. The two married in 1993, but later divorced.
After she released her third solo album, a self-titled Top 12 R&B hit, in 1994, Winbush largely worked in the background. In the early 2000s, she fought — and beat — ovarian cancer. The TV One network gave her career some much-deserved attention in 2010, when it made her the subject of one of their Unsung documentaries.
