CoronaVinyl Day 367 (G): Gwen Guthrie by Gwen Guthrie

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "G," and another of my acquisitions from my neighbor were two Gwen Guthrie albums.  Today, I listened to her 1982 self-titled debut album.

Guthrie got her start in the music business as a backup singer and a commercial jingle singer.  In the mid '70s, she and her then-boyfriend Patrick Giant wrote songs for various soul and R&B artists, including Ben E. King's 1975 comeback hit "Supernatural Thing," which topped the Billboard R&B singles chart and went to #5 on the Billboard Hot 100.  They also wrote songs for Sister Sledge and others.

In the early '80s, she decided to give a solo career a shot.  Her debut album is a nice mix of soul, funk, and R&B.  It didn't chart on the Billboard 200 album chart, but did reach #28 on the Billboard R&B album chart.  The song "It Should Have Been You" -- which I assume is about the wrong person getting hit by a bus -- went to #27 on the Billboard R&B singles chart and #11 on the Billboard Dance Tracks chart (and #36 on the New Zealand pop chart).

Guthrie would continue to make music until the early '90s, with her biggest hit coming in 1986 with "Ain't Nothin' Goin' On But the Rent," which went to #42 on the Billboard Hot 100, topped the Billboard R&B singles chart, the Billboard Dance Tracks chart, and the New Zealand pop chart, #5 on the UK pop chart, and #6 on the Irish pop chart.  Sadly, she died in 1999 at the age of 48 from uterine cancer.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "Peek-A-Boo"
The album kicks off with a nice, funky groove.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "It Should Have Been You"
While Side 2 also has a good cover of Bob Marley's "Is This Love?," I went with and original, "It Should Have Been You" (even if it wasn't written by Guthrie).  It's a danceable R&B song.