William Jermaine Stewart was born in Columbus, Ohio, and in 1972 his family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where Stewart took his first steps toward a career in entertainment. Eventually, he gained recognition as a dancer on the locally produced television show 'Soul Train', and while working there he befriended two other 'Soul Train' dancers, fellow Chicagoan Jody Watley and Jeffrey Daniel. After the show relocated to Los Angeles, the three friends auditioned to become members of the group Shalamar, which was put together by 'Soul Train' creator Don Cornelius and booking agent Dick Griffey. Watley and Daniel were selected for the group as backup/semi-lead vocalists, but Stewart lost out to Gary Mumford during his audition for lead vocalist, although Stewart toured with the new group as a dancer for several years. While in London for a show, he met Mikey Craig of Culture Club, and realizing that Stewart was a talented singer, Craig helped him put together a demo tape, and Stewart was given the opportunity to sing background vocals on Culture Club's song 'Miss Me Blind'. As a result of the combination of a strong demo and his ties with Culture Club, he landed a recording contract with Arista Records. Stewart saw some success in 1984 with the single 'The Word Is Out' from the album of the same name, which peaked at number 90 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart, and number 30 on the US R&B Albums chart.
Stewart's next album was 1986's 'Frantic Romantic', which included the Billboard Hot 100 top ten song 'We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off', which was a global hit, peaking within the top ten of the charts in Canada, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom. A second single, 'Jody', was released, the inspiration being his friend Jody Watley, and this reached the US R&B top twenty. Stewart's third album was entitled 'Say It Again', with production handled largely by André Cymone, and supported by international live dates with his band The Party, the title track became Stewart's second US Top 40 Billboard hit, and also reached the US R&B Top 10. Stewart's fourth and final album under contract with Arista Records was 'What Becomes A Legend Most', but the album sold poorly in America, while the lead single 'Tren de Amor' only just reached the top 100 in the UK. In 1991, Stewart teamed up with Chicago producer Jesse Saunders for his last recorded work, an album for Reprise Records called 'Set Me Free'. The title track was released as a single in the US, but sold poorly, and so the 1992 release date was cancelled, and the album remains unreleased. Stewart would later return to his R&B roots and begin work on a follow-up project, but sadly he would pass away from complications of liver cancer aged just 39, before the album was completed. Here is that 1992 album, so that we can hear Stewart's last recorded work before his untimely death in 1997.
Track listing
01 Intro (The Riot)
02 Set Me Free
03 Conclusion
04 Happiness
05 Dippin'
06 Special
07 Never In A Million Years
08 Shell-Shock
09 Don't Sit Down
10 Friends Like You
11 Good Times
12 I Just Want To
13 Ask No Questions
14 I'm in XTC
15 XTC
16 Set Me Free (Reprise)
17 Money
18 Basement Boy
19 Lifestyle
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