Arista specialized in sophisticated black vocal music with a hint of jazz -the lifeblood of the emerging “quiet storm ” format that had gotten its start at the radio station of the premier black educational institution Howard At a Glance …īorn in Philadelphia, PA on J(some sources give year as 1950), oldest of seven brothers and sisters raised in Pittsburgh. On the strength of “Betcha By Golly Wow ” and other songs on the album, Hyman was signed to the Arista label in 1977 and released the album Phyllis Hyman. The album included Hyman ’s hit remake of the Stylistics ’ ballad “Betcha By Golly Wow, ” which dented R & B charts and helped Hyman make the acquaintance of the song ’s co-composer, Linda Creed. Influential figures in the black music industry circulated through these clubs, and Hyman in 1976 attracted the attention of percussionist and producer Norman Connors, who gave her a shot at wider exposure -a featured-performer slot on his album You Are My Star-ship. By the next year she had become a fixture of New York ’s stylish Upper West Side, making regular appearances at two clubs a few blocks apart, Rust Brown ’s and Mikell ’s. Almost immediately she began to find work at least intermittently as a vocalist, and by 1974 she had formed her own band, Phyllis Hyman and the PH Factor. Formed Own BandĪ six-foot, one-inch beauty, Hyman made her way to New York in her early twenties, dreaming of a career in the entertainment industry. An elementary school teacher noticed and nurtured her vocal talents, but she grew up poor and aimed at first toward a solid career as a legal secretary, attending the Robert Morris Business College. (Some sources give the year as 1950, but numerous press reports of her death mentioned that she had been ready to celebrate her forty-sixth birthday.) She was the oldest of seven brothers and sisters. Phyllis Hyman was born in Philadelphia, most likely on July 6, 1949, and raised in Pittsburgh. Never quite achieving the popularity that her prodigious talent seemed to justify, she nevertheless left behind a legacy of deeply felt recordings and unforgettable live performances. A commanding physical presence and riveting stage performer, Hyman was a tragic figure beset by personal troubles. When Phyllis Hyman committed suicide in June of 1995, she closed the book on a career that had long been deeply appreciated by connoisseurs of romantic jazz and rhythm-and-blues singing.
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