Singer/songwriter, record producer, actor and fashion icon Jody Vanessa Watley is a pop visionary whoās been blurring the lines of R&B, hip-hop and electronic dance music since the late ā70s. Born in 1959 in Chicago, Watley began performing with her godfatherārock 'n' roll trailblazer Jackie Wilsonāat eight, later joining the cast of Soul Train as a teenager. In 1977, she was recruited by the show's host Don Cornelius and SOLAR Records chief Dick Griffey to form R&B-pop group Shalamar, which raced up the charts with singles āA Night to Rememberā and āThere It Isā. Watley eventually went solo and cultivated an edgy dance-pop sound on her 1987 self-titled debut and 1989's Larger Than Life, scoring No. 2 hits with āLooking for a New Loveā and āReal Loveā, as well as a Grammy for Best New Artist. Eager to expand her horizons, she launched Avitone Records in 1995 and released the soulful Flower three years later, followed by her electronic opus, Midnight Lounge. In 2014, Watley became the registered owner of Shalamar, rebranding the group as Shalamar Reloaded and touring consistently with the bandsā combined catalogues.