Bending My Holes

Born on This Day, Thelma Houston (Wednesday, May 7, 1946) Born Thelma Jackson in Leland, Mississippi and raised in Long Beach, California, Thelma Houston carried Gospel roots into a career that moved through Soul, R&B, Disco, Dance, and Pop without losing the force of the church-trained voice underneath it all. Before her Motown breakthrough, she sang with The Art Reynolds Singers, then signed with Capitol Records in 1967. Her 1969 debut solo album, “Sunshower,” written and produced by Jimmy Webb, remains one of the more distinctive early statements in her catalog. Houston reached worldwide recognition with her 1976 recording of “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” a song that became her signature record and earned her the Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Around that era, Motown also helped shape her visual presence through a 1976 image campaign photographed by Harry Langdon, tying her powerhouse voice to the glamour and polish of the “Any Way You Like It” period. Decades later, her work is still receiving institutional recognition: in 2025, her 1975 live direct-to-disc recording “I’ve Got the Music in Me” with Pressure Cooker was added to the National Recording Registry. Across decades of recording, touring, television, and live performance, Houston has remained more than a Disco-era name. In June 2026, she is scheduled to bring “The THELMA HOUSTON Experience” to Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood for a 50th anniversary celebration of “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” with a live band, stories, Disco fever, Motown hits, and beloved songs from across her catalog. Thelma Houston is a Black American vocalist whose voice helped carry Gospel authority into Soul, Disco, Dance culture, and the preservation of recorded sound history itself. Photo: Thelma Houston, via thelmahoustonofficial on Instagram, posted March 10, 2026.

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