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Brenda Lee Eager (born August 8, 1947) is an American soul singer, songwriter and musical theatre performer who has written and performed several hits, including "Ain't Understanding Mellow",〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Ain't Understanding Mellow / What's The Use of Breaking Up by Jerry Butler & Brenda Lee Eager )〕 "Close to You",〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=VIDEO:Jerry Butler and Brenda Lee Eager (They Long To Be ) Close To You )〕 and "Somebody's Somebody".〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Prince – The Holy River – Dutch CD Single )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Somebody's Somebody Lyrics )〕 ==Life and career== She was born in Mobile, Alabama,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Brenda Lee Eager )〕 and brought up in the small town of Lower Peach Tree, where she began singing in church as a child. She also started writing songs, and by the tenth grade led her own vocal group.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Biographical information )〕 She first sang professionally at the age of 17 at the Kings Club in Prichard, Alabama.〔 She later relocated to Chicago, Illinois, and by 1971 was the lead singer in Jerry Butler's backup group. She recorded several singles with Butler, the first of which, "Ain't Understanding Mellow", was her biggest chart success, reaching # 3 on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart and # 21 on the Hot 100. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A in April 1972. Their duet version of "(They Long to Be) Close to You" reached # 6 on the R&B chart and # 91 on the pop chart in 1972. She also sang regularly in Rev. Jesse Jackson's Operation Breadbasket Choir in Chicago in the early 1970s.〔(Jerry Butler and Brenda Lee Eager at Blast From The Past.com )〕 As a solo singer, she had two minor R&B chart hits, "Good Old Fashioned Lovin'" (Playboy Records, 1975) and "Watch My Body Talk" (Private-I Records, 1984).〔 She worked as a backup singer for such artists as Ray Charles, Mavis Staples, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder and Graham Nash.〔 She has also written songs recorded by Bobby Womack, the Staples Singers, Aretha Franklin, Cliff Richard, Gladys Knight, Shirley Brown, Prince, and others.〔〔 She released an album, ''Startin' Over'', in 2000. She performed in the musicals ''The Message is in the Music'', alongside Della Reese, and ''Wild Woman Blues'', in Europe with blues singer Maine Weldon. Since 2006, she has directed The Heaven on Earth (T.H.E.) Choir at the City of Angels Church in Culver City, California.〔()〕 She has also written and performed in a one-woman musical theatre show based on her own life, ''Grace'', which premiered in Los Angeles in 2010.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Brenda Lee Eager」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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