Soul Train Cruise Artists Head Back to The Old School
It's that time of year again, when kids of all ages head back to school. What were the Soul Train Cruise performers doing back during their own school days?
Frankie Beverly was asked to join his first vocal group, The Silhouettes, while still in junior high! He made his professional debut when he was only 12 years old.
Gladys Knight started even earlier — all the way back in grade school. She won the televised Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour at age 7 and started The Pips when she was 8.
The Spinners and The Delfonics first met their bandmates in high school. The Stylistics go back all the way to junior high and were even mentored by their high school English teacher.
Did you know that Marilyn McCoo earned a degree in business administration from UCLA just before joining The 5th Dimension?
And earlier this year, Valerie Simpson received an honorary doctor of music degree from the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Alonzo Bodden was a teacher for a time... training jet mechanics at one of the world's leading aircraft manufacturers, McDonnell Douglas. He graduated from Aviation High School in New York and worked on the Stealth Bomber early in his aerospace career.
Tony Cornelius studied film and communication in college, but there's no doubt that his greatest education came from the "Soul Train" set.