Sylvia Smith: Woman of the World (1975) ...plus

This is the wonderful surprise that our friend Phil left last Sunday in the comments section of Christine Kittrell's post. Woman of the World is the only album ever recorded by this unknown soul sister with super long legs, Sylvia Smith. All I can say about her is that she released a single in 1975 ('Is This The Way Love's Supposed to Be (A Good Feeling for You and a Hurt for Me)' b/w 'Original Midnight Mama'), taken from this ABC album, plus a couple of self-produced 12'' singles in 1986 and 1987 respectively, issued on Quest Records ('Don't Wanna Be a Sometime Lover' and 'Heartbreaker'). She also produced, wrote and made backing vocals for other artists' albums, including the Four Tops (vocals on 'Tell Me You Love Me', from the album Meeting of the Minds, 1974) and Jack Ashford (backing vocals on Hotel Sheet, from 1977). She co-wrote the song 'You Blew It' from Rose Royce's 1982 album Stronger Than Ever and produced Billy Preston's single for Motown 'Since I Held You Close,' in 1986 (this song can be found on The Ultimate Collection). And I am afraid that is all the information I could get from Sylvia Smith. Highlights on Woman of the World include 'Original Midnight Mama,' the fantastic ballad 'Shape Your Arms Like a Cradle,' plus the nice dancer 'Breakin' Up a Happy Home'. Phil has included the song 'Thanks I Needed That', from The Glass House's 1972 Invictus album of the same name, which supposedly features Sylvia on lead (though I am not very sure about that). I also added both sides of the single 'Don't Wanna Be a Sometime Lover' as bonus tracks. Enjoy and thank you again Phil for sharing a neat copy of this hard to find record!

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