Remembering the 30th Anniversary of Phyllis Hyman's Passing

[daviddesper]

This slipped up on me yesterday, but June 30, 1995 was the date that we lost Phyllis. It was just a few days before her July 6th birthday, which one of our members reminded me of today. David Nathan's Soul Tracks just published a mention of it [[the birthday) that contains several clips of her songs.

As for her death, it was one of those things where you remember where you were when you heard the news. At the time I was not yet that savvy on the internet and basically my musical knowledge consisted of what I read on album jackets. [[I had really not even gotten into CDs yet by that time!) If it had not been for my local newspaper publishing a one-paragraph blurb on it, I might not have learned for quite some time.

At that time, Phyllis was one of many ladies I followed and eagerly awaited each new release. I would not have been aware at the time of her personal issues and/or her troubles with labels.

I have therefore learned much more about her from her death than I did from her life. Truly a sad situation. She definitely had the raw talent to be as big a star as anyone you can name, but the chips just did not fall right for her.

[sansradio]

Time has rocketed. It stood still for me that afternoon. I was moved enough to travel an hour and a half by train to attend her memorial service. In the words of one of her deep cuts, "Was Yesterday Such a Long Time Ago?"

[carlo]

I was a kid when Phyllis made her transition, so I did not discover her until TV One's Unsung. Since then, I have been a big fan of hers and ended up befriending her personal assistant, Bill Schultz, who used to post here as Phillysdad. He also sadly passed on, a few years ago. I have always enjoyed her tremendous talent and music. The story of her tragic end had affected me for some time, when I had first discovered her in my late teens. I can't imagine how shocking that news was, for those of you who were fans of hers at that time. Knowing that Bill had been one of the few who had discovered her on that fateful day...I know that experience had changed his life forever. However, we all continue to remember and celebrate her spirit and her music. I noticed the other day that her Facebook fan group has 63,000 members, which is extremely impressive. She is certainly not forgotten.

There are some recordings of hers that remain to be unreleased. Hopefully they will come out one day. In the early days of Facebook, I had been able to get in touch with Kenny Gamble and he had confirmed that he had unreleased music of hers. He had said that the recordings would need some additional production, in order to complete them. He seemed to imply that it would be problematic, since that requires some investment upfront.

[daviddesper]

That would be exciting if there was new music someday from her. But I thought I had heard the opposite.....that the vaults had been purged. I guess we wait and see.

[Motown Eddie]

I remember hearing about Phyllis Hyman's death on the radio the day after it happened. It was shocking news and a sad end to such a brilliant career. Continue to Rest In Music, Power & Peace Phyllis Hyman.