Randy Crawford first polished her craft at club gigs from
Cincinatti to St Tropez, but made her name in mid-70s New York, where she sang with Jazzmen George Benson and Cannonball Adderley. She led
R&B veterans The Crusaders on transatlantic biggie 'Street Life' (1979), and follow-ups 'One Day I'll Fly Away' (1980), 'You Might Need Somebody' (1981) and 'Rainy Night In Georgia' (1981) became Soul standards.
Secret Combination (1981) stayed on the albm chart for 60 weeks, after which her profile dipped, despite a return to the Top 10 with 'Alma' (1986).
Naked And True (1995) brough Crawford back to her roots: it included Benson's 'Give Me The Night', and confirmed her Soul heritage by featuring Funkadelicists Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell and The Fred Wesley Horns. But she enjoyed her highest profile of the decade when rising starlet Shola Ama covered 'You Might Need Somebody' in 1997.