Sherrick
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
But Raynoma was smitten by their silky voice lead singers 6 4 handsome looks and even taller potential as a recording artist/entertainer. What she didnt know at the time was his thirst for cocaine and his involvement with other women; Lynne, for one, had children by Sherrick. Acting as mentor and occasional lover, she finagled the strong tenor gigs as backing vocalist on Motown sessions and began cutting tracks for a solo album.
But the project became a time bomb and the relationship stormy as Sherricks habit of disappearing, unnoticed at first, became an issue. Raynoma persevered on until 1985 when Jay Lasker fired her and killed the prospect of Sherricks career with Motown. Through Benny Medina (ex member of Apollo), then working at Warner Brothers Records, she got WB interested in the project.
Sherricks problem grew bringing on speculation that someone at Motown knew about the singers illness; hence, the reason for the cooling towards Kagny, Sherricks solo project, and Raynomas dismissal, cause as long as she was around he would be close by.
Raynoma often got frantic calls from Sherrick begging her to bring money to destitute parts of Los Angeles to pay off dealers who often held her car (which he took off with) as collateral for debts. It got plug-ugly one night when he was beaten and shot in the pelvis. She found out about Lynne awhile back but learned even more about Sherricks other world at the hospital when she met Rita who had made recent plans to marry Sherrick. Somehow, Raynoma kept the drama away from the people she dealt with at Warner Brothers who were in the process of drawing up a contract for the singer and their jointly owned production company.
Sherrick attended rehab sessions while finishing up Just Call (1987). Two singles from it charted in the United Kingdom: “Just Call (#30 UK) and “Let Be Lovers Tonight (Top 75). Sherrick set out on a promo tour across America where the album and singles success was minimal to pump up the interest. But he went on cocaine finding missions in every city on the itinerary; on one journey—in the middle of the tour—he didnt return and missed subsequent engagements. By now everyone knew of the “problem.
When he returned, the work on a second album began (and ended) when he booked with thousands in advance money. The album was never completed and Raynoma washed her hands on the problematic singer. (Raynoma Gordy-Singleton devoted an entire chapter to Sherrick in her riveting The Untold Story: Berry, Me, and Motown (out-of-print.) He disappeared in 1988 and didnt surface until 1999 apparently drug-free and working on new material. But the comeback ended tragically, when he died in Los Angeles, January 22, 1999 of unknown causes.
