About Rose Royce
Rose Royce is an American soul and R&B group. They are best known for several hit singles during the 1970s including "Car Wash", "I Wanna Get Next to You", "I'm Going Down", "Wishing on a Star", and "Love Don't Live Here Anymore".
The Los Angeles-based group comprised Gwen Dickey , Henry Garner , Terral "Terry" Santiel , Lequeint "Duke" Jobe , Michael Moore , Kenny Copeland , Kenji Brown , Freddie Dunn , and Victor Nix . The group began in the early 1970s when members of several backup bands from the Watts and Inglewood areas of Los Angeles united under the name Total Concept Unlimited. In 1973, this collective toured England and Japan behind Motown soul star Edwin Starr. Starr introduced them to Norman Whitfield.
Whitfield, after a decade at Motown, wanted to start a company of his own. He took the T.C.U. octet under his wing and signed them to his label. The group, now called Magic Wand, began working with Yvonne Fair and became the studio and concert band for the Undisputed Truth. During a tour stop in Miami, Undisputed Truth leader Joe Harris noticed a singer named Gwen Dickey, then a member of a local group called the Jewels. Harris informed Whitfield of his discovery and Dickey was flown to Los Angeles to audition. Whitfield asked Gwen to join the band, and gave her the stage name of Rose Norwalt. This was the lineup for the band's debut album.
During this time, Whitfield was contacted by film director Michael Schultz, fresh from the success of his first feature, Cooley High. Schultz offered Whitfield the opportunity to score his next picture, Car Wash. Whitfield would use the film to launch his new group and began composing music based on script outlines. He and the band visited the film set, soaking up the atmosphere. The band composed the music concurrently with the picture instead of after the fact, which was not very common at the time. In the spirit of the soundtrack, the band's name was changed one final time to 'Rose Royce'. The name not only referenced the movie's automotive theme , but just as Rolls-Royce cars are premier vehicles, the group was metaphorically stating they were a premier group. The name also helped place Gwen "Rose" Dickey somewhat front and center.
The movie Car Wash and the soundtrack were great successes, bringing the group national fame. Whitfield won the Best Music award at the Cannes Film Festival, and the album received the Grammy for Best Motion Picture Score Album of the Year. Released in late 1976, the soundtrack featured three Billboard R&B top ten singles: "Car Wash", "I Wanna Get Next to You", and "I'm Going Down". The first of these was also a number one single on the Billboard popular music chart, and "I Wanna Get Next to You" reached number 10. Rose Royce also played instruments behind the Pointer Sisters singing "You Gotta Believe" in the film. June Pointer remembers Whitfield pushing Dickey to sing better at the rehearsals, saying "Why can't you sing like the Pointer Sisters?"
The group's follow-up album, Rose Royce II: In Full Bloom, produced two top ten singles, "Do Your Dance" and "Ooh Boy". It also included "Wishing on a Star", which for Rose Royce was a top-10 hit only in the UK; it became notable elsewhere through its cover versions, including the Cover Girls' top ten single in 1992.
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