Sister Sledge

The granddaughters of opera singer Viola Williams, the four Sledge sisters first started singing in local churches in Philadelphia. Devising a lively R&B vocal harmony style strongly influenced by the disco music of the era, they had their first hit with Mama Never Told Me in 1975. After two relatively unsuccessful albums, their career boomed after they'd been taken under the wing of top dance producers Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic, resulting in the massive international dance anthems We Are Family and He's The Greatest Dancer. The group continued getting hits after switching to producer Narada Michael Walden and in 1985 achieved another international smash with Frankie. Several of their hits were remixed and reissued for a new dance era through the 1980s and 1990s and We Are Family became an anthem for the feminist movement. Kathy Sledge left the group in 1992 to launch a solo career, but the band continued without her, releasing the Style album in 2003.