Jeffrey Osborne

Jeffrey Linton Osborne (born March 9, 1948) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, lyricist and lead singer of the band, LTD.

Osborne was born in Providence, Rhode Island. He is the youngest of 12 children and is part of a musical family. He has five brothers and six sisters, some of whom went on to have music careers (his brother Billy was an L.T.D. bandmate). Osborne's father, Clarence "Legs" Osborne, was a popular trumpeter who played with Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington and died when Osborne was thirteen. Osborne started his music career in 1970 with a band called Love Men Ltd., who would later become known as L.T.D. The band recorded hit singles such as "(Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love Again", "Concentrate on You," "Love Ballad" and "Holding On (When Love Is Gone)". At first, Osborne was a drummer, sharing lead vocal duties with his brother Billy, but by 1976 he became the group's primary lead vocalist. He and Billy both left L.T.D. in late 1980 to start solo careers. His solo success includes five gold and platinum albums.

In 1982, Osborne sang the opening song "I Just Want To Be Your Friend" for the comedy film The Toy, he then released his self-titled debut album, which featured two hit singles, "On the Wings of Love" and "I Really Don't Need No Light", peaking at #29 & #39 on the pop chart respectively. This was followed up the next year by Stay with Me Tonight, his first gold album (later reaching platinum album status), which spawned two more hits, "Don't You Get So Mad" (#25) and the title track (#30). "Stay with Me Tonight" (April 1984, #18) and "On the Wings of Love" (June 1984, #11) reached the UK Singles Chart.

In 1985, he wrote the lyrics to the Whitney Houston hit "All at Once" (music by Michael Masser). He appeared on USA for Africa's fundraising single, "We Are the World" in 1985. He would later appear on Celebrity Duets in 2006, performing "On The Wings of Love" with Alfonso Ribeiro. Osborne lent his vocals to the theme song of the soap opera, Loving, from 1992 to 1995 as well as the first season theme song for the Kirstie Alley comedy Veronica's Closet

Osborne had two more gold albums, Don't Stop and Emotional, the latter of which had his highest charting solo pop hit, "You Should Be Mine", which peaked at #13 in 1986.

The following year, Osborne had the highest-charting hit of his career duetting with Dionne Warwick on "Love Power", which reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and also topped the Adult Contemporary singles chart. This was a turning point in his pop success, as his albums and singles began charting lower and lower on the pop charts. Osborne's 1988 single "She's on the Left" would be his final Hot 100 entry, as well as his only #1 R&B hit.

After scoring two more substantial R&B hits in the early 1990s, "Only Human" and "If My Brother's in Trouble", Osborne would be absent from the charts for the remainder of the decade.

In the new millennium, he returned with a series of albums that, while far from the success he enjoyed in the 1980s, returned him to Adult R&B radio, scoring modest chart singles such as "Rest of Our Lives" (#75, 2003) and his cover of Barbara Mason's classic "Yes, I'm Ready" (#64, 2005).

In 2008, Osborne sang the national anthem before Game 4 of the NBA Finals at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, a feat which he repeated in 2009, before Game 1 of the 2009 NBA Finals, and also again in 2010 before Game 1 of the NBA Finals, all at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. He also performed the national anthem prior to Game 3 of the 1988 World Series, a feat he repeated two years later at Game 3 of the 1990 World Series, both at the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California. He also regularly sang the national anthem before Hartford Whalers games.

On March 1, 2010, Osborne appeared on The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love season finale, "After the Final Rose", singing his hit "On the Wings of Love" while Bachelor Jake Pavelka took to the dance floor with his newly announced fiance, Vienna Girardi.

Albums

• 1982: Jeffrey Osborne (A&M) – US Pop #49, US R&B #3
• 1983: Stay With Me Tonight (A&M) – US Pop #25, US R&B #3, UK #56
• 1984: Don't Stop (A&M) – US Pop #39, US R&B #7, UK #59
• 1986: Emotional (A&M) – US Pop #27, US R&B #5
• 1988: One Love: One Dream (A&M) – US Pop #86, US R&B #12
• 1990: Only Human (Arista) – US Pop #95, US R&B #9
• 1997: Something Warm for Christmas (A&M) – US R&B #86
• 1999: Ultimate Collection (Hip-O)
• 2000: That's for Sure (Private Music) – US Pop #191, US R&B #50
• 2003: Music Is Life (Koch) – US R&B #50
• 2005: From the Soul (Koch) – US R&B #72
• 2013: A Time for Love (Jay Oz)

Singles

• The Young Messiah – Messiah XXI (2006) (DVD)

• He sang with Vonda Shepard at the bar in the end of episode four ("Without A Net") of season four of the television show Ally McBeal.
• Pam sang the first bars of "On The Wings of Love" from the album Jeffrey Osborne with Dwight's recorder accompaniment during a bird's funeral on The Office third season episode "Grief Counseling."
• A snippet of "On The Wings of Love" is often played on the E! show The Soup as a reoccurring joke every time Joel McHale mentions the current Bachelor season. On March 5 he was nominated for one of The Soup Awards and lost to Heidi Montag. Despite the loss, he sang a parody of this song.
• Guest starred on the Robert Townsend sitcom, The Parent 'Hood
• Played in the 1988 TV movie, Ladykillers and was the showpiece song
• Guest starred on season 1 episode 17 of the TV series: Cosby. He sang "The Woo Woo song"
• Sang the theme song for the ABC Daytime Drama Loving, from February 1992 until November 1995.
• Sang Never Met A Woman (Like You) in Steven Eugene Grove (saxophonist) 's aka: "Euge Groove" (2012) musical cd album House of Groove.

Osborne received the 2014 New England Pell Award for Artistic Excellence from Providence (Rhode Island)'s Trinity Repertory Company in honor of his artistic achievements and philanthropic work in Rhode Island.

• Grammy Awards
  • 1984, Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, Stay With Me Tonight (Nominated)
  • 1985, Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, Don't Stop (Nominated)
  • 1985, Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group, "The Last Time I Made Love" (w/Joyce Kennedy) (Nominated)
  • 2001, Best Traditional R&B Performance, That's For Sure (nominated)

• BWW News Desk (April 25, 2014). "Trinity Rep to Honor Jeffrey Osborne With 2014 New England Pell Award for Artistic Excellence, 6/9". Broadway World. Retrieved June 9, 2014. Trinity Rep announced today that Jeffrey Osborne will be honored with the 2014 New England Pell Award for Artistic Excellence, acknowledging his artistic achievements and philanthropic work throughout Rhode Island. 
• Gray, Channing (June 9, 2014). "Pell Awards salute the best of R.I. arts / Gallery". The Providence Journal. Retrieved June 10, 2014.