Thelma Houston

Thelma Houston is an American singer and actress who began recording in the late 1960s and topped the charts in 1977 with Don't Leave Me This Way, which won her the Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Born in Leland, Mississippi, she grew up mainly in Long Beach, California and sang gospel with the Art Reynolds Singers before Dunhill Records signed her; her debut album, Sunshower, arrived in 1969. She moved to Motown Records in 1971, and the mid-1970s single You've Been Doing Wrong for So Long brought a Grammy nomination. After her 1976 album Any Way You Like It produced her biggest hit, she recorded for RCA and continued releasing albums such as Qualifying Heat and Throw You Down. She also took acting roles, including the films And God Created Woman (1988) and 54 (1998), and television programs such as Cagney & Lacey; in 2000 she toured Australia in the musical Fame.