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Gwen McCrae, whose gospel-infused R&B hits of the early 1970s like \u201cLead Me On\u201d and \u201cRockin\u2019 Chair\u201d featured bouncing, dance-floor-friendly grooves that helped open the door to disco, died on Feb. 21 in Miami. She was 81.<\/p>\n
Her former husband and frequent singing partner, George McCrae, said she died in a care facility from complications of a stroke she had in 2012.<\/p>\n
Though she had her share of nationwide hits, Ms. McCrae was best known on the music scene in the Miami area, where her upbeat R&B fit perfectly with the hot nights and subtropical vibe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
She released most of her best-known songs through TK Records, a regional powerhouse founded by Henry Stone<\/a> that counted other proto-disco acts, like Betty Wright and KC and the Sunshine Band, among its stable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n She began performing with Mr. McCrae as a duo. They recorded their own albums, sang backup on others and carved a presence for themselves in the clubs of South Florida.<\/p>\n They also performed separately, and Ms. McCrae\u2019s repertoire was not limited to dance songs. On her own, she was the first person to release a version of the ballad \u201cYou Were Always on My Mind<\/a>,\u201d in 1972; sometimes shortened to \u201cAlways on My Mind,\u201d it was later recorded by the likes of Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson and the Pet Shop Boys.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was an amazing talent,\u201d Harry Wayne Casey, a songwriter at TK Records and the lead singer of KC and the Sunshine Band, said in an interview. \u201cShe had one of the most soulful voices I\u2019ve ever heard.\u201d<\/p>\n After the worldwide success of Mr. McCrae\u2019s signature hit, \u201cRock Your Baby<\/a>,\u201d in 1974, Ms. McCrae recorded her own hit the next year: \u201cRockin\u2019 Chair,\u201d a sensual, swinging tune that topped the Billboard R&B chart and reached No. 9 on the Hot 100 pop chart.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n There was some dispute over how the two came to record their respective songs. Ms. McCrae later said that Mr. Casey and Richard Finch had written \u201cRock Your Baby\u201d for her, but that she had given it to her husband to help his career \u2014 and then asked for her own hit song once his went big.<\/p>\n But Mr. McCrae had a different spin: Their marriage was on the rocks, he said, and she had given him \u201cRock Your Baby\u201d in a bid to keep them together.<\/p>\n Regardless, their marriage did not last. They divorced a year later.<\/p>\n After TK Records closed in 1981, she moved to New York City and signed with Atlantic, where she had a minor hit with \u201cFunky Sensation<\/a>\u201d in 1981 and recorded two albums.<\/p>\n Though her career had begun to slow in the post-disco era, she found a new fan base in Europe, especially in Britain, where the discovery of classic American soul \u2014 sometimes called \u201crare groove\u201d \u2014 was underway in the 1980s.<\/p>\n She recorded new songs and rerecorded old ones for regional markets, and she found a steady stream of singing gigs over the next few decades. D.J.s and hip-hop artists sampled her songs. She became known as the \u201cqueen of rare groove\u201d across Britain and Europe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n