Barbara Weathers is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 R&B

Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...

/soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 singer, and former lead singer of R&B vocal group

Band (music)

In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...

, Atlantic Starr

Atlantic Starr

Atlantic Starr was a 1980s R&B band. Among their biggest hits were "Always" and "Secret Lovers."- History :The group was started in 1976 in White Plains, New York by trumpeter Duke Jones , drummer Porter Carroll Jr., bassist Clifford Archer, percussionist and flautist Joseph Phillips, and three...

. After leaving her first band, Covacus (Greensboro, North Carolina

Greensboro, North Carolina

Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...

-based band of the 1980s), Weathers replaced Sharon Bryant

Sharon Bryant

Sharon Bryant is an American R&B singer. She began her career as the lead singer of the R&B group Atlantic Starr in 1976.Bryant sang lead on songs such as "When Love Calls" and "Circles"...

, who left the group for a solo

Solo (music)

In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...

 career in 1984. Weathers sang on two of Atlantic Starr's biggest hits, "Always

Always (Atlantic Starr song)

"Always" was the second single from All in the Name of Love, the seventh album from R&B group, Atlantic Starr. The song went to number one on both the Hot Black Singles and Billboard Hot 100 charts in June 1987. The song also spent two weeks atop the U.S. adult contemporary chart...

" and "Secret Lovers

Secret Lovers

"Secret Lovers", released in 1985, was the third single from As the Band Turns, the sixth album from R&B group, Atlantic Starr. "Secret Lovers" was Atlantic Starr's true breakthrough hit on the pop charts in both the US and UK, though the group had previously minor pop and R&B hits in both...

". Her smooth vocal

Human voice

The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Its frequency ranges from about 60 to 7000 Hz. The human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary...

 can also be heard on many of the group's soulful ballad

Ballad

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...

s. Weathers left Atlantic Starr in 1987 to pursue a solo

Solo (music)

In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...

 career.

On leaving Atlantic Starr, Weathers released a self-titled solo album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 on Reprise Records

Reprise Records

Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...

 with help from the singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

/record producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 of Earth, Wind, and Fire, Maurice White

Maurice White

Maurice White is a Grammy Award–winning American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, arranger. He is the older brother of Verdine White and Fred White and the leader and founder of the band Earth, Wind & Fire...

, among other well established musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

s. The album consisted mainly of dance music

Dance music

Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...

 numbers, but was led off by the midtempo singles "The Master Key" and "Our Love Will Last Forever." Weathers utilised her ability to sing in the whistle register

Whistle register

The whistle register is the highest register of the human voice, lying above the modal register and falsetto register...

 on the album's operatic closing song "Our Love Runs Deep."

In 1995 Weathers released a near perfect album (according to Allmusic), Seeing for the Very First Time.

Discography

• Barbara Weathers (Reprise, 1990)
• Seeing For The Very First Time (Weberworks/Video Arts; released only in Japan
  Japan
  Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
  
  , 1995)