Sherrick

Sherrick (July 6, 1957 – January 22, 1999) was an American soul singer and musician.

Biography

He was born F Lamonte-Smith; or Lamotte Smith in 1957 in Sacramento, California.

Sherrick was given his professional break by producer Raynoma Gordy Singleton (née Mayberry), former wife of Motown founder Berry Gordy. Sherrick was the lead singer of the Motown group, Kagny, who recorded a song for the Motown movie, The Last Dragon.

He signed with Warner Bros. Records in 1987, with Ray Singleton producing an album, titled Sherrick, that contained "Just Call" which reached #8 in the Billboard R&B chart. A version of the Originals' major hit of the late '60s, "Baby I'm for Real" also charted, peaking at #53. He also had two entries in the UK Singles Chart in 1987. These were "Just Call" (#23) and "Let's Be Lovers Tonight" (#63). In addition, his album, Sherrick reached #27 in the UK Albums Chart the same year.

He died in Los Angeles, California, during January 1999, at the age of 41. He is survived by his widow Lynne Conner-Smith and his three children, Kiriandra, Paris and Chance Smith.

Sherrick (album)

Sherrick is the debut and only album from American soul singer and musician Sherrick. It was released in 1987.

Background

Sherrick's only album came to fruition after Raynoma Gordy Singleton had become involved in Sherrick and attempts to launch his music career through Motown Records when he was lead singer of the group Kagny & The Dirty Rats. Acting as mentor and occasional lover, she launched strong tenor gigs as backing vocalist on Motown sessions and began cutting tracks for a solo album after the company dropped Sherrick's band. However the solo project became a time bomb and the relationship stormy as his habit of disappearing, unnoticed at first, became an issue. Raynoma persevered until 1985 when Jay Lasker fired her and killed the prospect of Sherrick's career with Motown. Through Benny Medina (an ex member of Apollo), then working at Warner Bros., she got the company interested in the project.

Despite Sherrick's growing drug addiction, Raynoma kept the singer's drama away from the people she dealt with at Warner Bros who were in the process of drawing up a contract for the singer and their jointly owned production company. After attended rehab sessions while finishing up the single "Just Call", Sherrick set out on a promo tour across America to gather interest. However the singer returned to drugs which at times caused him to miss subsequent engagements during the tour. After the release of his debut album, work on a second album began when he took off with thousands in advance money. The album was never completed and Raynoma broke away from the singer. After disappearing in 1988, Sherrick, reportedly drug-free, was working on new material however he died in Los Angeles in early 1999 of unknown causes, leaving his self-titled debut album to remain his only album release - although failed attempts were made in 2009 to release a new album of unreleased material.