Alvin Fields
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alvin Fields(born October 16, 1950). His musical career began when he first appeared on stage at age seven to sing a Christmas carol and stunned the audience with his amazing voice. Alvin was in foster care from the age of 5, so singing was his only way to be noticed and he made the most out of his prodigious advantage. The first Orphanage he was placed in was St. Dominic's in Blauvelt, NY. The nuns took notice of his amazing talent and at every given opportunity they would teach him songs and have him perform every holiday. At the age of 11 Alvin was placed in St. Vincent's Home for Boy's where he learned to play the guitar and the piano. He formed a group and taught each member how to play their instruments, as he also taught them the songs. At thirteen Alvin's group played regularly and St. John's University and stunned the crowds. In 1968 he went on to study dance as therapy for a broken ankle and became a lead dancer in The Children's Repertory Ballet Company where he appeared in the ballet "The Stolen Prince". Once a teacher saw him appear on an NBC television show called "Someone New" on NBC hosted by Leon Bibb, she insisted he take the lead in every High School musical.
Throughout his dance experience Alvin's writing abilities evolved to the point where he brought some of his works to Jerry Love who was the head or A&R for A&M records. Jerry loved him and encouraged him to pursue his music. It was Jerry Love who introduced Alvin to Michael Zager, his co-producer and hence spawned the Dance Classic "Let's All Chant" which to this day is played around the world as one of the hottest dance records ever. His first solo Album was titled Special Delivery for A&M records where Alvin which featured guest appearances by Herb Alpert and both Whitney and Cissy Houston, produced by Michael Zager and Jerry Love, published by Sumac music's Susan McKusker. Alvin also co-wrote several songs with Cissy Houston for her album titled "Think It Over" for CBS records. His duets include "Don't Sneak On Me" with Luther Van Dross, and "Tearin' It Up" with Chaka Khan, produced by Arif Mardin. Alvin went on to win the lead in the Obie Award Winning play, The Me Nobody Knows for Showtime On Broadway also starring Tisha Cambell narrated by James Earl Jones where he played Lloyd.
Alvin's vocal arrangement and gospel compositions for the renowned New York Boy's Choir re-united him with Whitney Houston who gave support to the choir enabling them to appear on stage with her at Radio City Music Hall in 1994 and several other performances.
He can also be credited with working with Coolio and Stevie Wonder for his vocal arranging and conducting of the award winning "Gangsta's Paradise" performance on the 1995 Billboard Awards.
Alvin can be seen in the DVD titled The British Rock Symphony 2000 as a lead vocalist alongside Darlene Love, Roger Daltrey of The Who, Billy Preston, Alice Cooper, Paul Young, Peter Frampton and more international artists.
Alvin has over 300 songs registered in the BMI songwriters catalogue and continues to flow as he so puts it. "Regardless of all the works I've created in past, I wake up each day feeling like I haven't made my mark yet...time for a new song!"
