Her mom christened Charlene (born June 1, 1950, in Hollywood, CA) Charlene Marilynn D'Angelo. Who would have thought a recording career with Motown, years later, would twist and turn more than a Rubik's Cube? She signed to the label in 1973, when she was 23 years old, as Charlene Duncan. Her first single, "All That Love Went to Waste," came in January 1974, sandwiched between Edwin Starr's "Ain't It Hell Up in Harlem" and the Jackson Five's "Dancing Machine.
She next appeared on Motown's Prodigal label three years later with "It Ain't Easy Comin' Down," which was credited to ...