Cheryl Lynn

While Cheryl Lynn benefited from timely associations with David Foster and David Paich, Ray Parker, Jr., Luther Vandross, and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the major players who co-wrote and/or produced her biggest hits, it can be argued just as easily that the singer provided her collaborators with some of their most significant and opportune career achievements. There's no imagining the platinum breakthrough "Got to Be Real," "Shake It Up Tonight," "If This World Were Mine," and "Encore," all Top Five R&B hits from 1978 through 1983, as hits for anyone but Lynn, a church-raised...