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Angela Bofill started her professional singing career as a teenager in New York’s All City Voices and The Dance Theater Of Harlem. She would later meet Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen of GRP Records who would release her first album Angie in 1978. The album was successful on the jazz charts and “This Time I’ll Be Sweeter” was the single to give her an identity point with the public. “Under The Moon And Over The Sky” comes from this debut that was playable from beginning to end. Bofill would follow her first project up with the even stronger Angel Of The Night. “I Try,” which would later be covered by Will Downing, is on this tracklist enhanced by some of music’s most essential talents. With a personnel including such stars as Patti Austin, Gwen Guthrie and Eric Gale among others, Angel would be another collection best enjoyed by giving it a whole listen at once instead of digesting individual songs. Clive Davis bought her GRP contract, signed her to Arista and had Narada Michael Walden produce her third album Something About You. The results produced songs like “Break It To Me Gently” and “Holding Out For Love” that asserted her voice more with the R&B crowd leaving her jazz fans behind. Too Tough was her 1983 release and become her most commercially fruitful album. “Too Tough” the single and “Tonight I Give In” were radio hot and validated her unusual presence as a Latin singer on the soul charts. Of Cuban and Puerto Rican descent, she would be one of the first Latin singers to do well with R&B fans. Teaser came out in the later part of ’83 back when R&B artists could record and release music before farmers could get organic certification for their soil. “I’m On Your Side” was a hit for her and became one for Jennifer Holiday when she covered it in 1991. Arista would soon have her working with The System and Let Me Be The One had a tepid chart reception despite favor in the community. She would record a last album Tell Me Tomorrow for Arista in 1985 before taking a three-year break. When she returned to her career she signed with Capitol and did the album Intuition produced by Norman Connors. Although it was not her very best work fans believed that Capitol should have treated the project as her pinnacle of the ’80s. Bofill released three more albums notably the Live From Manila CD recorded in 2004 and released in 2006. Manila is her first live recording the last one before she had two strokes in 2006 and 2007. Bofill has been recuperating and the proceeds from the Manila album and some benefit concerts have helped pay for her medical expenses. She has hopes to return to singing again has been practicing but even if she does not her legacy has already made her an unforgettable vocalist with solid fanbase.
