Gerald Alston

Gerald Alston was born on November 8, 1951. He came from a musically rich family as he was the son of Reverend J.B. Alston, a North Carolina-born singer, and from his aunt Shirley Alston-Reeves.

Alston formed the group New Imperials as a teen, and performed both secular and religious tunes. When the group would perform in church, they would call themselves Gospel Jubilee.

For a local appearance, the Manhattans borrowed equipment from Alston's band. When picking up the equipment, they heard Alston rehearsing with his group and the Manhattans invited him to join their group.

Alston accepted the invitation and at the age of 17 in 1971, he became the lead singer for the Manhattans.

The group did well with Alston on lead, scoring a #1 hit 'Kiss and Say Goodbye' which was the second single ever to go platinum. The group had further success with the Grammy award-winning song 'Shining Star.'

In 1988, Alston left the group to become a soloist. His debut album was the self-titled Gerald Alston and scored a hit on the R&B charts with 'Take Me Where You Want To' which reached #6. The album's other two singles 'You Laid Your Love On Me' and 'I Can't Tell You Why' both performed moderately well, reaching #41 and #52 on the R&B charts.

Alston's second album Open Invitation, released in 1990, scored further success on the R&B charts with its singles 'Getting Back Into Love' and 'Slow Motion' reaching #6 and #3 on the R&B charts respectively.

1992 and 1994 saw two more releases from Gerald Alston as he released Always in the Mood and First Class Only. The albums failed to reach the same levels of success as Alston's earlier works and had far less impact on the charts.