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Veronica “Randy” Crawford was born on February 18, 1952 in Macon, Georgia. She first performed at club gigs from Cincinnati to Saint-Tropez but made her name in mid 1970s in New York, where she sang with jazzmen George Benson and Cannonball Adderley. She signed with Columbia Records and released her first single, “Knock On Wood” / “If You Say the Word” in 1972. Adderley invited her to sing on his album Big Man: The Legend Of John Henry in 1975. During her brief tenure at Columbia, she recorded “Don’t Get Caught in Love’s Triangle”. In 1977 she was one of the vocalists on Fred Wesley & The Horny Horns – A Blow For Me, A Toot To You album.

1978 saw Crawford performing on the second solo album of former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett, singing vocals on “Hoping Love Will Last”, the opening song on side two of Please Don’t Touch.  The following year she led R&B veterans The Crusaders on the transatlantic hit “Street Life” that ended up on the soundtracks of Sharkey’s Machine and Jackie Brown. and appeared in commercials in the early 2000s. She later recorded for Warner Bros. Records.

Randy follow-up solo efforts included “One Day I’ll Fly Away”, You Might Need Somebody, and “Rainy Night In Georgia” which became soul standards. By the mid ‘80s her star lost its luster and though she continued to record for Warner Bros. she was unable to score crossover success. In 1995 her recording of Naked And True brought Crawford back to her roots: it included George Benson’s “Give Me The Night and confirmed her soul heritage.

She enjoyed her highest profile of the decade when rising starlet, Shola Ama had a worldwide hit with her 1997 cover of “You Might Need Somebody”. She recorded a live session with Joe Sample in 2007 at Abbey Road Studios for Live From Abbey Road. She would record with Quincy Jones, Al Jarreau, Bootsy Collins, Johnny Bristol, and the Yellowjackets among others. Vocalist Randy Crawford has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist^.  She has had multiple top five hits in the UK, including her 1980 number 2 hit, “One Day I’ll Fly Away”. She continues to perform, record and tour.

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