Sylver Logan Sharp will be performing at the Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club on Jan. 21. (Courtesy Photo)
On Jan. 21, the Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club, will serve as the venue to portray the talents of one of Washington, DC’s unsung super-talents — Sylver Logan Sharp.
Though Sharp may not be a house-hold name in the DMV, in the internationally-acclaimed music industry, her vocal talents are well-known.
For nearly 20 years, she worked stages throughout North America, Europe and Asia – as lead singer with Nile Rodgers of the legendary disco/pop band, Chic. Sharp says that her tenure with the group began in 1991, when co-founders Nile Rodgers and the late Bernard Edwards wanted to re-form the band after its hey days of the late 1970s.
“At one point, I was working the local DC circuit, and the next – I did an audition with Nile and Bernard [Edwards, bassist]. They liked what they heard, and hired me on the spot. I accepted the gig, but told them I still had some commitments at home I needed to fulfill.”
Sharp had been working with several local bands, including an all-girl group named Euphoria. In addition, she needed to return to D.C. to accept a local award from the Washington Area Music Association.
“I’ve been around, but I still credit my D.C. musicians for helping make me what I am. And that includes all my homies in the Go-Go world,” she added.
As a self-proclaimed child of the arts, Ms. Sharp’s career started humbly as the daughter of a classically-trained dance teacher, Paula Potts. “By age 4, I was learning tap, ballet and jazz dance from my mother. I was a busy child,” she fondly recalls.
Sharp’s family pedigree is notable, considering her grandfather is Dr. John Foster Potts Sr., a former president of the prestigious Vorhees College, a historically Black college in Denmark, South Carolina.
“As a small child, my mother moved us to D.C. [from South Carolina],” she says. Eventually, her talents would lead her to matriculate to the highly acclaimed Duke Ellington School of the Arts High School. “That’s where I got a chance to meet so many talented people, from all over the city,” she says. As a kid, she primarily grew up in the city’s Northeastern section, and also spent vital developmental years in Prince Georges County, Maryland.
She eventually met a Philly-based publicist and radio personality named Dyana R. Williams, a regular contributor to the UNSUNG TV show (of the Kenny Gamble of the legendary Gamble & Huff music production team in Philadelphia.) Williams knew of Chic’s interest in auditioning new singers to re-tool the group and connected Ms. Sharp with the audition opportunity.
During her years with Chic, Sharp says she was provided an unforgettable opportunity to see the world, meet top musician, while working to develop her own craft. She appeared on the “Tonight Show with Johnny Carson”, “Storytellers on VH-1”, the Ellen DeGeneres Show with Kid Rock, and Larry the Cable Guy’s Christmas Special. She also recorded with and shared stages with Roberta Flack, Patti LaBelle, Michael Bolton, Ledisi, Whoopi Goldberg, Italian singer-songwiter, the late Pino Daniele and earned a Grammy Award singing background with Yolanda Adams on a live LP at Constitution Hall in DC, she says.
In 2010, she decided the time had come to leave CHIC and forge ahead with her own solo career.
Sharp is no stranger to solo recording success. In 2005 she released “All This Time,” a house-music hit with DJ Jonathan Peters. The song charted for several weeks in the Billboard dance category, she said.
Four years later, she released her debut solo CD, “Place to Begin,” produced by noted songwriter Daryl “L.A.” Hunt. Her first solo CD titled “The Groovement,” recorded live in Stockholm, Sweden, is scheduled for release early in 2016. The debut single, “Little Things,” is available now.
In addition to her musical talents, Ms. Sharp also owns a jewelry line called Sylverwear. Her clients include Sir Elton John, Chaka Khan, Nile Rodgers, her friend and acclaimed drummer Omar Hakim (Sting and Journey).
Sylver Logan Sharp’s will perform at the Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club on Jan. 21. The venue is located at 7710 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda, MD 20814. For tickets, call 240-330-4500.
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