Starpoint

Maryland-based R&B and funk combo Starpoint was formed in 1980 by brothers George Jr., Ernesto, Lloyd, Orlando, and Gregory Phillips. They began performing in the late 1970s under the name Licyndiana and later renamed themselves Starpoint after the addition of vocalist Renée Diggs and multi-instrumentalist Kayode Adeyemo. Shortly after landing a national recording deal with Chocolate City, the band issued its 1980 eponymous debut, which featured the Top 20 hit "I Just Wanna Dance with You." Starpoint would put out three more albums for the label—Keep on It (1981), Wanting You (1981), All Night Long (1982)—before releasing their first and only LP for Boardwalk Records, It's So Delicious, in 1983. Following the release of their 1984 major-label debut It's All Yours, the group finally achieved crossover success with the boogie-tinged track "Object of My Desire," their first single to ever crack the Top 10 of the R&B charts in the US. Included in their seventh full-length Restless (1985), it was the first in a series of Top 10 singles that catapulted the band into stardom, including "What You Been Missin'" (1985). "He Wants My Body" (1987), and "I Want You - You Want Me" (1990). Even though Starpoint ceased to operate as a full-time band in the early 1990s, most of its members continued to work in the music industry and often collaborated with each other. The loss of Renée Diggs and Ernesto Phillips in 2004 and 2005, respectively, prompted the four remaining members of the group to reconvene for a one-time show in Leon, France, in 2011. Keyboardist and lead singer George Phillips, Jr., passed away almost a decade later on February 3, 2021.