THOUGH still only eighteen, Evelyn Champagne King is established now. Her disco hit "Shame", was one of 1978's biggest selling records — ending up with almost two million sales in America, success around the world and setting the scenes for her "Smooth Talk" album to attain its Platinum status.
The same album spawned Evelyn's recent hit, "I Don't Know If It's Right" — which has been an even bigger R&B hit in many areas than even "Shame" was.
Now comes the all-important second album, "Music Box". "It was again produced by T. Life," Evelyn begins in her usual bubbly manner. "This time, though, we recorded in New York and not Philadelphia. We feel that the album is a better cross-section of what I can do — some ballads and some disco things again. "Steppin' Out" is the disco track that we feel could be the next single.
"Now that I have that much more experience, I found it a lot easier this time. T. Life is really easy to get along with and it was a lot of fun. It only took two weeks to do, too."
What few people realise, though, is that this is the first album from Evelyn in something like 20 months because "Smooth Talk" was actually released on August 16, 1977.
"I guess people weren't really aware of the album until "Shame" started happening," Evelyn suggests. In fact, there was a single issued prior to "Shame". It was "Dancin', Dancin', Dancin' ", penned by Teddy Pendergrass. It is worth noting that the musicians on the "Smooth Talk" album are the Instant Funk group who are currently faring so well in their own right with the single, "I Got My Mind Made Up".
1978 was an exciting year for the vivacious Ms. King. "I got to go to Paris," she mentions casually, "but it reminded me of New York. And I got to go to Toronto. And next month, I'll be going to Caracas. And I moved my home to New Jersey.
"I would have rather stayed living in New York but people were always disturbing me so I moved to New Jersey for peace and quiet. But, truthfully, I love the city and all of the bustle. I miss the roller skating and all of the movies. To go roller skating in New Jersey is almost impossible because the rink is so far away. But then I don't keep getting mugged in New Jersey!"
Although she is a sophisticated young lady, there is still the element of youth in Evelyn. And it is perfectly exemplified when you enquire as to which movies she has most enjoyed of late.
"I love mystery stories and love stories — not comedy at all," she smiles. "And horror movies — and those karate and kung fu movies. Then I liked "Lord Of The Rings". And I spent a whole day watching "Saturday Night Fever" — I sat right at the back so nobody could see me and I only had to pay once. But I must have seen it six or seven times!"
Since her success, Evelyn has also become something of a nite-owl. "I guess it's because I want to see everything and don't want to miss a thing," she suggests. "I still find meeting people to be exciting. Like when I met Isaac Hayes, the Bee Gees and Helen Reddy — I was really excited."
Evelyn took her nickname of Champagne just before her first album was released. As a child, she had been dubbed Bubbles because as a baby she used a blow spit bubbles. Well, it seems that her mother and T. Life merely updated 'bubbles' to the more sophisticated and expensive 'champagne'.
How did she ever come to get involved in the recording industry at such a youthful age? "While I was still at school, I used to do office cleaning for spare money and one of the jobs I had was at Gamble and Huff's offices," she explains. "Actually, the job was my mother's and sister's and I would do it when one of them couldn't make it.
"Anyway, I was always singing and one day, T. Life — who was a producer for the company at the time — came by and said he was going to make me a star. I had been singing Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" at the time. I must have looked like a star — a mop pail on one shoulder, a mop in one hand and a container of Comet in the othere! So, I'd heard the star bit before and didn't take it too seriously.
"He used to call me 'mouse' so I called him 'rat' — and that was how it all began. Two months later, we were in the studio.''
Evelyn's talent is probably inherited from her father, Eric King — who used to sing with the Harptones. It was her father who really encouraged her to take the whole thing seriously.
But, despite her success, 'a change is not gonna come' for Evelyn. "I still love just meeting people and if this thing stops tomorrow, I can always go back to working in the delicatessen or to cleaning offices," she laughs, obviously meaning it, though. "Whatever happens, I shall always be Evelyn Champagne King — the way I am today."
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