Thelma Houston ( Jackson; born May 7, 1946) is an American singer and actress. Beginning her recording career in the late 1960s, Houston scored a number-one hit in 1977 with her recording of "Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Her mother was a cotton picker.

In 1969, Houston released her debut album, entitled Sunshower, produced, arranged and composed by Jimmy Webb except for one track. In April 1974, Houston joined the cast of The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine, playing various characters during the show's skits. The show was canceled in August and for the next several years her work was limited to demo recordings and performing at small venues.

Houston took acting classes and received her first role in the 1975 made-for-television film Death Scream. In that same year Sheffield Lab released I've Got the Music in Me, a direct-to-disc recording by Thelma Houston and Pressure Cooker that went on to become a benchmark vinyl recording for audiophiles. It was added to the National Recording Registry in 2025 The following year she recorded songs for the soundtrack of the film The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings starring Billy Dee Williams and James Earl Jones. In 1976 Houston sang backing vocals for Motown labelmate Jermaine Jackson on his album My Name Is Jermaine. despite the concurrent single release of the Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes original, which reached No. 7. Also in 1977 Houston teamed up with Jerry Butler to record the album Thelma & Jerry and that November 1977 she co-starred in the film Game Show Models. It was announced in February 1977 that Houston would star as Bessie Smith in a filmation of the play Me and Bessie, to be produced by Motown; after an announcement that December that Houston was set to portray Bessie Smith in a biopic to be produced in 1978 by Columbia Pictures nothing more was heard of the project.

The second single from Any Way You Like It was Houston's rendition of "If It's the Last Thing I Do", a standard written by Saul Chaplin and Sammy Cahn; the track had been recorded and prepped for single release in 1973 but canceled. The impact of "If It's the Last Thing I Do" was far less than that of "Don't Leave Me This Way", as the former fell short of both the R&B top ten and the Pop top 40.

Departure from Motown

With the lead single from her 1978 album The Devil in Me: "I'm Here Again", Houston returned to the style of "Don't Leave Me This Way" without recapturing the earlier single's success. Houston did enjoy considerable commercial success in 1978 via the inclusion of her track "Love Masterpiece" on the Thank God It's Friday soundtrack album which sold double platinum but her own album release that year Ready to Roll again failing to consolidate the stardom augured by "Don't Leave Me This Way". The album's second single: "Saturday Night, Sunday Morning", gradually accrued airplay entering the national charts in March 1979 and ascending as high as No. 34 (No. 19 R&B) that June. "Saturday Night, Sunday Morning" was issued on a new album by Houston: Ride to the Rainbow but the track's relative success was not enough to forestall Houston's planned departure from Motown. – and Houston would not cut another album for six years.

The constant ranking of her 1980s releases as moderate or minor R&B hits led Houston to concentrate on alternate exposure. After appearing in the independent film The Seventh Dwarf in 1979 Houston made guest-starring appearances into the mid-1980s in several popular television programs including Cagney & Lacey, Simon & Simon – a January 1986 appearance that featured her performing "You Used to Hold Me So Tight" – and Faerie Tale Theatre. Houston also appeared in the 1987 CBS after school special Little Miss Perfect (1987) – as "Prison Singer" – in the 1988 film And God Created Woman.

On the May 19, 1985, NBC broadcast Motown Returns to the Apollo Houston performed "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes" in the guise of Dinah Washington. Houston continued to contribute to movie soundtracks, recording "Keep It Light" for the 1985 film Into the Night and she remade Bill Withers' "Lean on Me" for the 1989 film entitled Lean on Me. Houston also co-wrote and sang back-up on the song "Be Yourself" for Patti LaBelle's 1989 album of the same title.

1990s

The Fall of 1990 saw the release of Houston's first album in six years, Throw You Down, a long-planned collaboration with producer Richard Perry which briefly extended Houston's career as a minor R&B chart presence. The title song reached No. 5 on the U.S. dance chart. A remix of "Don't Leave Me This Way" was released, and once again charted on the Hot Dance Club Play chart at No. 19 in 1995.

Houston provided lead vocals on several tracks of guitarist Scott Henderson's 1997 Atlantic album, Tore Down House, and features cover versions of songs by male artists such as Luther Vandross, Marvin Gaye, and Sting that Houston had been inspired by. The first single from the album was "Brand New Day". On August 20, 2007, Houston's 1984 album Qualifying Heat was reissued as an import title in the U.S. with a bonus track.

She sang "Don't Leave Me This Way" on American Idol on April 22, 2009, and on America's Got Talent on September 16, 2009.

On July 29, 2013, a collaboration between Thelma and Los Angeles-based producer Janitor, entitled "Enemy", premiered on SoundCloud. Several tracks followed, culminating in the release of an EP, "Forty-Two", in September. This is the first new material from Thelma Houston in six years.

She is featured on British singer Morrissey's single "Bobby, Don't You Think They Know?", released on streaming platforms on January 10, 2020, from his album I Am Not a Dog on a Chain.

In 2024, Houston competed in season eleven of The Masked Singer as "Clock". She made it all the way to the semifinals, and finished in third place overall. As an encore, she sang her song "Don't Leave Me This Way".

Discography

  • Sunshower (1969)
  • Thelma Houston (1972)
  • I've Got the Music in Me <small>(with Pressure Cooker)</small> (1975)
  • Any Way You Like It (1976)
  • The Devil in Me (1977)
  • Thelma & Jerry <small>(with Jerry Butler)</small> (1977)
  • Two to One <small>(with Jerry Butler)</small> (1978)
  • Ready to Roll (1978)
  • Ride to the Rainbow (1979)
  • Breakwater Cat (1980)
  • Never Gonna Be Another One (1981)
  • Reachin' All Around (1982)
  • Thelma Houston (1983)
  • Qualifying Heat (1984)
  • Throw You Down (1990)
  • Thelma Houston (1994)
  • A Woman's Touch (2007)

Filmography

Films

  • 1975: Death Scream — Lady Wing Ding
  • 1977: Game Show Models — Dana Sheridan
  • 1979: The Seventh Dwarf
  • 1988: And God Created Woman — prison singer
  • 1998: 54 — herself
  • 1998: Beloved — one of The Thirty Women

Television (guest)

  • 1969: The Ed Sullivan Show- guest singer, singing "Didn't We"(December 8)
  • 1969: The Price of Fame – Guest singer, singing "Jumpin' Jack Flash"
  • 1971: The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine — various characters
  • 1975: The Golden Globe Award — Guest Singer
  • 1980: The Two Ronnies- Guest singer, singing " The Candyman"
  • 1985: Cagney & Lacey (5,11: Play it again, Santa) — Ellie Hendricks
  • 1986: Simon & Simon — Venutia
  • 1986: Tall Tales & Legends — Edna
  • 1987: Little Miss Perfect — Ms. Bonner
  • 1989: Super Dave — Guest singer, "Lean on Me"
  • 2024: The Masked Singer - Herself/Clock, 3rd place”

Soundtracks

  • 1976: The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings — "Steal on Home", "Razzle Dazzle"
  • 1976: Norman... Is That You? — "One Out of Every Six"
  • 1978: Thank God It's Friday — "Love Masterpiece"
  • 1984: Getting Physical — "Hot Dance", "To Be Free"
  • 1985: Into the Night — "Keep It Light"
  • 1989: Lean on Me — "Lean on Me"

See also

  • List of number-one hits (United States)
  • List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
  • List of number-one dance hits (United States)
  • List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart

References

  • Official website
  • Thelma Houston talks about disco, and NBC's "America's Got Talent"