High Fashion

Hand-picked by French-Italian music mogul and record producer Jacques Fred Petrus, New York funk and post-disco vocal trio High Fashion assembled in 1980. Formed of in-demand session singer Alyson Williams, former Mike Theodore Orchestra member and motown singer Eric McClinton, and Kleeer and Shades of Love collaborator Me’lisa Morgan, the band were able to secure a deal with Universal imprint Capitol Records prior to their first release. Their pop-leaning debut album, Feelin’ Lucky, arrived in 1982, variously written and produced by a cohort of Italian and American composers brought in by Petrus including Chic collaborator Fonzi Thornton and emerging singer Kashif. The LP contained one charting single, “Feelin’ Lucky Lately”, which entered the Billboard R&B chart at number 32. The project failed to meet sales expectations, and Morgan left the group, although this didn’t stop the band from drafting in jazz singer Marcella Allen and recording a follow-up, Make Up Your Mind, released via Capitol in 1983. Following another lacklustre commercial performance, the remaining members called it quits in 1985. Still signed to Capitol, Morgan had in the meantime enjoyed a string of solo top-ten hits on the Billboard R&B chart. Williams eventually signed to Def Jam and McClinton faded into obscurity, lending backing vocals to Petrus’s other projects. Not long afterward, Petrus was murdered on June 8th, 1987 at his villa in Saint-Félix, Guadeloupe, with the events of the night subject to much speculation.