Born in Wembley, England on November 2, 1952, Maxine Nightingale is a soul vocalist best known for her international 1976 hit “Right Back Where We Started From”. She began singing at the age of 13, performing in local clubs and cabarets. In 1969, she spent over a year performing in the West End product of Hair. Nightingale’s recording career began in 1969, releasing three unsuccessful singles on Pye Records between ’69 and ’71. She relocated to Germany, performing in more musicals including Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell. She married and eventually moved back to London, where she continued performing. Nightingale also began providing backing vocals on various studio sessions, where she was discovered by producer Pierre Tubbs. This led to Tubbs asking songwriter J. Vincent Edwards to compose a song for Nightingale - “Right Back Where We Started From”. The disco-influenced single was released in the UK in 1975 and climbed to Number 8 on the UK singles chart. When released in the U.S. in 1976, the song climbed to Number 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. Her debut album, Right Back Where We Started From, was released in 1976 and included the hit title track plus “Gotta Be the One” and “(I Think I Wanna) Possess You”. Her 1977 album Night Life (AKA Love Hit Me) featured the UK hit “Love Hit Me” (Number 11). Her third album, Love Lines (AKA Lead Me On) featured the U.S. hit “Lead Me On”. She followed that with the album Bittersweet in 1980, which was not as successful as her previous releases. She released two more albums – It’s a Beautiful Thing (1982) and Cry for Love (1986) – before focusing her attention on live performances and exploring different musical avenues.
