Mojim Lyrics
Mojim Lyrics > Americas singers > The Manhattans( 曼哈頓樂團 )
The Manhattans( Manhattans )【 70 songs in total 】
The Manhattans are an American popular R&B vocal group. Their work includes million-selling songs 'Kiss and Say Goodbye' recorded in 1976 and 1980's 'Shining Star'. The Manhattans have recorded twelve top 10 R&B hits in the United States charting on the Billboard chart for the first time in 1965. Their 1983 song 'Forever by Your Side' remains especially popular in Brazil thirty years after its release.


Early history

The Manhattans, originally from Jersey City, formed in 1962 with members George 'Smitty' Smith (born December 18, 1939, Florida; died December 16, 1970), Edward 'Sonny' Bivins (born Edward Jessie Bivins, Jr., January 15, 1936, Macon, Georgia; died December 3, 2014, Basking Ridge Bernards Township, New Jersey), Winfred 'Blue' Lovett (born Winfred Lorenzo Lovett, November 16, 1936, Jersey City; died December 9, 2014, Arizona), Kenny 'Wally' Kelley (born Kenneth Bernard Kelly, January 9, 1941, Jersey City; died February 17, 2015), and Richard 'Ricky' Taylor (born in 1940; died December 7, 1987). Bivins, Lovett, and Kelley were graduating from Lincoln High School, while Taylor and Smith were graduating from Snyder High School. All five enlisted in the armed forces and came together as a group following their discharges from their respective branches.

The group's first single was 'For the Very First Time,' released in 1964 by Carnival Records. They continued recording successfully with songs written by various members of the group. In 1968, the group received the 'Most Promising Group' award by NATRA. In 1969, the group moved to the De Luxe record label, a subsidiary of King Records, subsequently embarking on a college tour. While playing at Kittrell College in North Carolina, the group met another group, the New Imperials, featuring Gerald Alston, nephew of The Shirelles' lead singer, Shirley Alston-Reeves. They were so impressed with Alston that they asked him to join the group, but he declined.

Misfortune hit the group late in 1970 when George Smith fell down a flight of stairs and later took ill. With him unable to perform, the group began to search for a new lead. First they attempted to woo The Cymbals' lead, Lee Williams, but he was unwilling to leave his current group. The group then renewed their request to Gerald Alston (born November 8, 1951, North Carolina), who accepted and took over the lead spot. Original lead singer George Smith died of a brain tumor on December 16, 1970, 2 days before his 31st birthday.

The Manhattans continued recording throughout the 1970s with Alston singing lead vocals. They struck chart gold in 1973 with the Bivins-written song 'There's No me Without You'. Then their biggest song to date was 'Kiss and Say Goodbye,' written by Blue Lovett and arranged/co-produced with the group by the Philadelphia-based record producer Bobby Martin, a former member of the MFSB band of session musicians. The song quickly became a #1 chart topper on both the US Billboard Pop and R&B charts. It also became only the second single to go platinum[citation needed], after the RIAA introduced the award in 1976. Taylor left in 1976 to concentrate on his conversion to Islam. He died in 1987 after a long illness. The group continued as a quartet, and found further success in March 1980 with the release of 'Shining Star,' which reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #4 on the R&B Chart. Produced and co-written by the Chicago-based record producer, Leo Graham, it received a Grammy Award the following spring.

In 1983, The Manhattans released the album Forever by Your Side, by Columbia Records, which brought the two singles the group that year. The first was the song 'Crazy', the great success of this album, peaked at #4 on the R&B chart. The second single was the title track 'Forever by Your Side', which had moderate success in the United States, peaked at #30 on the R&B chart, but has become a great success and a romantic classic in Brazil two years later, when she was part of the soundtrack of a soap opera in the country in 1985. The success made 'Forever by Your Side' gain a Portuguese version the following year, called 'Pra Sempre Vou Te Amar', which also was successful in Brazil and was recorded by several Brazilian artists. Another highlight of this album Forever by Your Side was the song 'Just The Lonely Talking Again', written by the American singer and songwriter Sam Dees, which was originally recorded by The Manhattans this 1983 album and was later re-recorded by Whitney Houston on her second studio album 'Whitney' in 1987.

The group celebrated its 20th anniversary in 1985 with the release of Too Hot To Stop It. It included the Evans/Smith-penned 'When We're Made As One,' originally recorded in 1966 but covered in an a cappella, doo wop style to emphasize the group's doo wop roots. The album was also dedicated to George Smith.

The group continued until 1988. That year, Alston left to record as a solo artist, scoring with several major R&B hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s for Motown. Roger Harris was recruited as the new lead singer for the group, which moved to the new label, Valley Vue, when their Columbia recording contract expired.
Sorted by Sorted by album (Time) Sorted by song name (Characters) Sorted by other
  Song Lyricist Composer Date
1 After You     2016
2 Am I Losing You (Alternate Version w o Rap)(Provided)     2016
3 Am I Losing You (Extended Edit)      
4 Am I Losing You Alvin Fields, Barbara Moore, Doug Stender    
5 Crazy      
6 Devil in the Dark(Provided)     2016
7 Do You Really Mean Goodbye?      
8 Don't Say Goodbye (X-Rated Version)(Provided)     2016
9 Don't Say Goodbye(Provided)     2016
10 Don't Take Your Love      
11 Dreamin'      
12 Everybody Has a Dream     2016
13 Everyday People Stewart Sylvester    
14 Falling Apart at the Seams(Provided)     2016
15 Follow Your Heart      
16 Forever by Your Side     1983
17 Girl of My Dream Leo Graham, James Mack    
18 Goodbye Is the Saddest Word     2016
19 Happiness(Provided)     2016
20 Here Comes the Hurt Again (X-Rated Version)(Provided)     2016
21 Here Comes the Hurt Again(Provided)     2016
22 Honey, Honey      
23 Hurt Jimmie Crane, Al Jacobs    
24 I Got It Right (Remastered)      
25 I Just Wanna Be the One in Your Life(Provided)     2016
26 I Kinda Miss You Winfred Lovett    
27 I'll Never Find Another (Find Another Like You)      
28 I'm Not a Run Around(Provided)     2016
29 I'm Ready to Love You Again     1983
30 If My Heart Could Speak      
31 It Feels So Good to Be Loved So Bad (Live)      
32 It's so Hard Loving You(Provided)     2016
33 Just One Moment Away      
34 Just the Lonely Talking Again     1983
35 Kiss And Say Godbye      
36 Kiss and Say Goodbay      
37 Kiss And Say Goodbye (Radio Edit)      
38 Kiss And Say Goodbye - Single Version      
39 Kiss And Say Goodbye Winnifred Lovett    
40 Love Talk(Provided)     2016
41 Manhattan Stomp      
42 Movin'(Provided)     2016
43 New York City(Provided)     2016
44 Reasons      
45 Send for Me      
46 Share My Life(Provided)     2016
47 Shining Star (Re-Recorded / Remastered)      
48 Shining Star Leo Jr Graham, Paul Edward Richmond    
49 Shinning Star      
50 Soul Train(Provided)     2016
51 That's Not Part of the Show (X-Rated Version)(Provided)     2016
52 That's Not Part of the Show(Provided)     2016
53 The Day the Robin Sang to Me     2016
54 The Other Side of Me(Provided)     2016
55 The Right Feeling at the Wrong Time(Provided)     2016
56 The Way We Were / Memories      
57 Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye(Provided)     2016
58 There's No Good in Goodbye(Provided)     2016
59 There's No Me Without You (Live)      
60 There's No Me Without You     2016
61 Tomorrow(Provided)     2016
62 Turn Out the Stars (Remastered)      
63 We Made It(Provided)     2016
64 We Never Danced to a Love Song (Live)      
65 We Tried(Provided)     2016
66 When I Leave Tomorrow      
67 Wish That You Were Mine     2016
68 You Are My Shining Star Jr., Leo Graham, Paul Richmond    
69 You'd Better Believe It     2016
70 You're My Life     2016