Born in November 1952, in the west London suburb of Wembley, England, Maxine Nightingale was just 16 years old when she began singing in her schoolband. Enjoying the spotlight so much, she swiftley made the transition to singing in a more professional capacity, appearing in a handful of local clubs and ultimately coming to the attention of PYE RECORDS. Signing with the label she recorded 4 singles. including   "SPINNING WHEEL " -"DON´T PUSH ME BABY "  and 1971´s "LOVE ON BORROWED TIME ".

 

Stepping out of the clubs she spent the early 70´s in theater, exploring her vocal development through roles in the era´s hottest musical stage shows, including JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR......HAIR.......GODSPELL, as well as the well-received London play SAVAGES, before pairing with the songwriter/production team J.Vincent Edwards and Pierre Tubbs in 1975. They proved the perfect pair to showcase her outstanding vocals, and after she signed to United Artists and debuted with their ´´RIGHT BACK WHERE WE STARTED FROM ´´, she found herself with a TOP 10 U.K. HIT in November 1975. The song proved even more popular in the United States where it became a Number 2 POP HIT in 1976.

 

Backed by an outstanding assortment of session musicians and continually partnered with songwriters who were able to best direct her voice, Maxine´s 1976 DEBUT LP ´´ RIGHT BACK WHERE WE STARTED FROM ´´ also proved to be a HIT in the United States. With 4 singles, including the title track and fellow chartmate ´´GOTTA BE THE ONE ´´ the album reached Number 65 in the United States. The following year brought the Denny Diante-produced ´´ NIGHT LIFE ´´ album which placed ´´ LOVE HIT ME ´´( another U.K. HIT ) and a cover of the Delfonic´s  "DIDN´T  I  BLOW  YOUR MIND  THIS   TIME"   into heavy club rotation.

 

 

LEAD ME ON ´´ followed in 1979, bringing her another U.S chart appearance, this time at Number 5 with the title single released on Windsong. The ``BITTERSWEET ´´ LP followed the next year, leaving room for a fine compilation, ``IT´S A BEAUTIFUL THING `` to round up all the hits in 1982. That same year she recorded a duet with JIMMY RUFFIN, `TURN TO ME ´´

 The song never registered on the Pop charts, but in November gave Maxine her first R&B Top 20 Debut..

Maxine recorded another single with Brian Short in 1981 called "RENDEZVOUS"  on  A&M records.

Maxine has toured all over the world including..Europe, Australia, Asia, Japan, mainland China, Mexico, Denmark, Costa Rica, Canada, Venezuela, Spain, Greece, France, Germany and Africa. Some of the artists that Maxine recently shared the bill with include...Santana...the Commodores...Lionel Richie...Boz Scaggs...the Average White Band...Rose Royce...the Temptations...Marilyn McCoo/Billy Davis jr and Isaac Hayes and....Maxine performed at many Jazz Festivals in the United States and in the islands including The Barbados Music Festival, the Curacao Music Festival and recently in St. Kitts Jazz Festival. Maxine also performed with Steve Reid´s Bamboo Forest and she appears on their DREAMSCAPES CD released in 2001.

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Albums

• Right Back Where We Started From (1976)

• Night Life (1977)

• Love Lines (1978)

• Lead Me On (1979)

• Bittersweet (1980)

• It's a Beautiful Thing (1982)

• Cry For Love (1986) ​

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 Hit singles

• "Right Back Where We Started From" (UK #8, U.S. #2, Canada #5) (1975)

• "Gotta Be The One" (U.S. #53) (1976)

• "Love Hit Me" (UK #11) (1977)

• "Lead Me On" (U.S. #5, U.S. #1 Adult Contemporary/7 wks.) (1979)

• "(Bringing Out) The Girl in Me" (U.S. #73) (1979)

• "Rendezvous"  (1981)

• "Turn to Me" (U.S. R&B #19) (1982)