CHANGE was formed 1980, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy.

Band members have included Jocelyn Brown (lead vocals, 1980), Luther Vandross (lead vocals, 1980), Diva Gray (lead vocals, 1981), James Robinson (lead vocals, 1981-83), Gordon Grody (vocals, 1981), Mauro Malavasi (piano, synthesizer, 1980-83), Davide Romani (bass, keyboards, 1980-82, 1985), Paolo Gianolio (guitar, 1980-83), Rudy Trevisi (saxophone, 1980-83), Doc Powell (guitar), Terry Silverlight (drums, 1981-82), Onaje Allan Gumbs (keyboards, 1981), Maurizio Biancani (synthesizer, 1981), Deborah "Debra" Cooper (lead vocals, 1982-85), Timmy Allen (bass, keyboards, lead vocals, 1982-85), Michael Campbell (guitar, 1982-85), Jeff Bova (keyboards, 1982-83), Toby Johnson (drums, 1983-84), Vincent Henry (guitar, saxophone, 1982-85), Jeff Bova (synthesizer, keyboards, 1982-84), Rick Galwey (percussion, 1982), Rick Brennan (lead vocals & Percussion, 1983-85) he was with the “BB & Q Band” first...

Related Artists : Jam & Lewis, Jacques Fred Petrus Genres Boogie, Disco, Synth Funk, Funk, Contemporary R&B, Smooth Soul

Change was a studio project, masterminded by Guadeloupean business man, Jacques Fred Petrus. Petrus emerged on the late-70s disco scene with several successful outfits such as Macho, Revanche and Peter Jacques Band, all recorded with Italian musicians and New York session singers. With the arrival of the 80s, Petrus and his musical partner Mauro Malavasi moved away from the pounding disco sound into a more soulful pop-R&B-oriented sound. Together with bassist Davide Romani and guitar player Paolo Gianolio, they laid down a number of Chic-inspired grooves in Bologna, Italy, in December 1979, and took the tapes to New York to look out for suitable vocalists. They found Jocelyn Brown (at the time known as Jocelyn Shaw), already a hot session singer and lead vocalist of disco group Inner Life, and equally in-demand singer Luther Vandross. Released in April 1980, The Glow of Love soared to the Top 10 on the Billboard Disco Charts, yielding the hit singles "A Lover's Holiday / The End", "The Glow of Love / Searching". It even became Billboard's #1 Disco Album of 1980.

The second album Miracles emerged in March 1981. Jocelyn Brown chose to focus on Inner Life, and Luther Vandross - intended to become the official lead singer - disagreed on the fee offered by Petrus. Yet both of them continued as backing vocalists on the project alongside Ullanda McCullough, Fonzi Thornton and Kristal Davis. Vandross soon after enjoyed his first solo hit with "Never Too Much". Instead, Diva Gray and James Robinson took over the lead vocals. With the singles "Paradise" and "Hold Tight" becoming big club hits, Miracles was another smash and topped the Billboard Disco Charts while Chic - as Change was constantly compared to - ironically was far from the same heights, struggling commercially at the same time.

When demands came in for the group to tour, Jacques Fred Petrus was unable to gather the original musicians since all of them were too busy with other projects so he assembled a tour line-up to go on the road. While James Crabs Robinson remained the male lead singer, Deborah (Debra) Cooper was brought in to do the female lead vocals, and by the third album, a real line-up for Change was finally assembled, and for the first time pictured on the album cover. Being less dance-oriented, Sharing Your Love came out in 1982 - while still yielding hit singles with "The Very Best in You" and "Hard Times", the success wasn't as overwhelming, same for This Is Your Time (1983) which also saw key songwriter Davide Romani's departure, due to financial disagreements with Petrus.

When Malavasi and lead singer James Robinson went solo, Petrus was forced to look for new musical partners to keep Change going. The salvation came with Jam & Lewis, already with hits such as S.O.S. Band's "Just Be Good To Me" to their credit. Change of Heart was the resulting fifth album, 1984, which yielded a Top 10 R&B hit single with the title track. Unfortunately, the lucky strike didn't continue in 1985 with Turn On Your Radio, mainly written & produced by Timmy Allen. It didn't perform well, and when Petrus himself was murdered by the mafia in 1986, Change ceased to be as a recording group. But Rick Brennan was always known as the main face of Change, for he never stopped performing worldwide while others had all moved on to other projects.

Compilations and selected CD-reissues of the original albums revived the music in the late 90s. Janet Jackson also sampled "The Glow of Love" for her 2001 hit single "All for You". Italian Fonte Records released a 5CD box in November 2005, omitting the Change of Heart album but seeing the first CD re-issues of This Is Your Time and Turn On Your Radio.