Evelyn "Champagne" King

Evelyn King was born on June 29th 1960 in the Bronx, New York, and raised in Philadelphia. She is one of eight children. King’s childhood nickname was “Bubbles.” Her uncle Avon Long had played the part of Sportin’ Life in the first Broadway revival of Porgy and Bess and worked with Lena Horne at the Cotton Club. Her father sang back-up for groups at Harlem’s Apollo Theater. Her mother managed a group called Quality Red.
King was discovered as a young woman while working with her mother at PIR as an office cleaner. Producer Theodore T. Life overheard her singing in a washroom and began coaching her. She was eventually signed to a production deal with Life’s Galaxy Productions and a recording contract with RCA Records.

At the beginning of her career the name Evelyn King sounded “too grown-up” so the name “Champagne” was added. King released her debut studio album, Smooth Talk, in 1977. It included the song “Shame”, which peaked at No. 9; the song also reached No. 7 Soul and No. 8 on the dance chart. The record was eventually certified gold. Another single from that album, “I Don’t Know If It’s Right”, peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 7 Soul; it would become her second certified gold single. In 1981, the single “I’m in Love” was released from the same-titled album; it reached No. 1 on the R&B singles chart.

In 1982, King released the album, Get Loose. It yielded a top-twenty pop and No.1 Soul hit with the single, “Love Come Down”. The follow-up, “Betcha She Don’t Love You”, peaked at No. 2 on the Soul chart. From the mid- to late-1980s, King would continue to chart on the Soul chart, placing eight singles in the Soul top-twenty, with three making it to the top-ten. She released a total of 12 albums in her career.