This page contains Gwen Guthrie songs, albums and video links. Music profile for Gwen Guthrie with events, tracks, videos, pictures, lyrics and band information.
Gwen Guthrie (July 14 [some sources say July 9], 1950 – February 3 1999) was an United States|American singer and songwriter, who also sang backing vocals for Aretha Franklin, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, and Madonna (entertainer)|Madonna, among others, and who wrote songs made famous by Ben E. King, Gary Glitter, and Roberta Flack.
Life and career
Guthrie was born in Okemah, Oklahoma|Okemah, Oklahoma and raised in Newark, New Jersey|Newark, New Jersey.<ref>[http://elvispelvis.com/gwenguthrie.htm Gwen Guthrie Page in Fuller Up The Dead Musician Directory<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In school, she studied European classical music|classical music, and her father began teaching her piano when she was eight years old. By the early 1970s, she had joined vocal groups such as the Ebonettes and the Matchmakers, meanwhile working as an elementary school teacher. When a backup singer scheduled to sing on Aretha Franklin's 1974 single "I'm in Love" fell ill, Guthrie took the vocalist's place beside Cissy Houston; thus Guthrie would happily state that her career on record began "at the top".
Guthrie soon began moonlighting as a singer of commercial jingles, sometimes with her friend Valerie Simpson (of Ashford & Simpson fame). A songwriting partnership with Patrick Grant resulted in Ben E. King's comeback single, "Supernatural Thing&... read all
