Angela Bofill had the makings to be a much bigger star than she was, if only producers had known exactly what to do with her. But despite a few quickly dated missteps into ’80s pop, which derailed the momentum from her superlative first two albums released at the close of the 1970s, Bofill still managed to garner respect from critics and lovers of sophisticated urban music.
A native New Yorker of Cuban and Puerto Rican descent, Bofill was among the first Latinas to score crossover hits in the urban pop world. But her sound was so steeped in the soul and jazz of her youth that many fans assumed she was a light-skinned African American. With her model-ready face – soulful kewpie doll eyes and pillow lips – she was often mistaken for fellow urban stylist, Phyllis Hyman.
The two had much in common: both released debut albums in the late ’70s largely sidestepping the trends of the day to fuse jazz, uptown soul and torch songs. Each sang with a command and lyrical intelligence that belied her age; both were in their 20s. Each recorded for labels – Bofill on GRP and Hyman on Buddah – absorbed by Arista Records in the early 1980s. It was then that the two sophisticated singers came under the tutelage of Arista chieftain and pop impresario, Clive Davis. Bofill and Hyman would spend most of the decade at the label shoehorning their approach into a sparkly pop style that never felt believable and rendered limited commercial returns – a sound Davis later gave to a fresh-faced choir girl from Newark named Whitney Houston.
Between 1981 and 1985, Bofill recorded five albums for Arista, each carrying a gem or two. They were mostly uneven affairs that tried to position her as a teen-friendly pop star. Narada Michael Walden, who later scored multi-platinum melodramatic hits for Houston and Aretha Franklin at Arista, produced most of Bofill’s work at the label. He managed to get her a Top 5 dance hit with 1983’s “Too Tough,” also the title track of her best and biggest-selling album on the label.
But songs from Bofill’s first two efforts – “Angie” (1978) and “Angel of the Night” (1979) – were still heard on the radio alongside her perky singles on Arista. The difference in approach was palpable. Whereas Bofill’s Arista output felt largely tentative, her debut and sophomore albums on GRP showcased a fully formed artist whose distinctive rangy voice and horn-like phrasing shone in smart, empathetic arrangements overseen by jazz fusion producers Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen.
The albums also showcased her skills as an ambitious songwriter as evident on “Under the Moon and Over the Sky,” the shifting, esoteric opening track on “Angie.” That album also featured her first chart hit, an intense reading of “This Time I’ll Be Sweeter,” a brokenhearted ballad previously recorded by British singer-songwriter Linda Lewis and pop legend Roberta Flack. Bofill scored the biggest and most memorable hit with it, peaking at No. 23 on Billboard’s R&B chart and sealing the Top 40 on the adult contemporary list.
Although never released as a single, “I Try” from “Angel of the Night” is one of Bofill’s most beloved songs. The silken self-penned ode to defeatism in romance immediately found a home on Quiet Storm and smooth jazz stations, where the song is still heard. “I Try” was referenced in Terry McMillan’s best-selling 1989 novel, “Disappearing Acts,” and covered two years later by smooth soul singer Will Downing. “What I Wouldn’t Do (For the Love of You)” was the hit single from the album, peaking at No. 18 on Billboard’s R&B chart. By the time “Angel of the Night” hit the streets, Bofill was established as an album artist. Her artistry was better appreciated over a program of songs as oppose to singles.
Davis at Arista, however, pushed for bigger chart hits. But with a sound and style too refined for the emerging MTV crowd, Bofill was commercially adrift during the Reagan era. She left the label after 1985’s “Tell Me Tomorrow” came and went. Bofill re-emerged three years later for one album on Capitol Records, “Intuition,” with production by fusion artist Norman Connors. It was a return to form, so to speak, and Bofill scored a hit with a plaintive, jazz-kissed remake of Gino Vannelli’s “I Just Wanna Stop,” which sailed to No. 11 on the R&B chart. It was Bofill’s last significant hit.
While still a popular concert draw in urban areas and overseas well into the 2000s, Bofill singing career ended after she suffered a second stroke in 2007. She was featured about five years later in an episode of TVOne’s “Unsung” series. With limited speech and mobility, Bofill lives with her sister. It’s an unfortunate ending, a silencing of a sound never fully appreciated.
