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Change
was a studio group of musicians from Italy and session vocalists from
the United States led by Jacques Fred Petrus and Mauro Malavasi.
With
material recorded in Bologna (where the producers owned a 24-track
studio) and New York, "The Glow Of Love" got the group off to
a winning start, with success on the UK charts arriving with "Searching"
sung by Luther Vandross and Jocelyn Shaw.
With touring engagements forthcoming, a permanent aggregation of
personnel was vaunted, with James Robinson taking over from Vandross on
vocals and Diva Gray was brought in for female lead. Following "Miracles"
which rocketed to the Billboard's Disco Top 100 and "Sharing your
love", he would embark on a solo career and be replaced at the
front of the group by Debra Cooper, who later went on to join C&C
Music Factory, and Rick Brenna, backed by Timmy Allen, Vince Henry and
Michael Campbell.
The production team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis took over for "Change
Of Heart", which brought two further UK hits with the title-track
and "You Are My Melody". Time changes everything,
and by 1984 Jacques Fred Petrus and Mauro Malavasi were no longer a
team. When it became time for a sixth and final album, Petrus looked
inward instead of outward and employed the writing and production
talents of keyboardist Timmy Allen; he even co-wrote two songs himself.
Jacques Fred Petrus was murdered in 1987 at the airport of Guadeloupe.
Little is known concerning the mysterious circumstances of his death.





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