HIGH INERGY

Barbara Mitchell, Linda Howard, Michelle Rumph and Vernessa Mitchell formed High Energy in April 1976, when all four singers were accepted into the Bicentennial Performing Arts Program in Pasadena, California, USA. They were discovered by Gwen Gordy-Lupper, sister of Motown Records boss Berry Gordy, who signed them to his Gordy label in 1977. Renamed High Inergy and promoted as ‘the new Supremes’, the vocal combo found immediate success with “You Can't Turn Me Off (In The Middle Of Turning Me On”, a Top 20 hit in the USA in September 1977. By 1983, they had notched up eight further soul hits, without crossing over into the pop market. Vernessa Mitchell left the group in 1979 to pursue a career in gospel. High Inergy disbanded in 1984 when lead singer Barbara Mitchell went solo. She had already duetted with Smokey Robinson on a minor hit single, “Blame It On Love”, in 1983, but her 1984 debut, Get Me Through The Night, provoked little public response.

Discography: Turnin' On (Gordy 1977)***, Steppin' Out (Gordy 1978)**, Shoulda Gone Dancin' (Gordy 1979)***, Frenzy (Gordy 1979)***, Hold On (Gordy 1981)**, So Right (Gordy 1982)**, Groove Patrol (Gordy 1983)**.

Solo: Barbara Mitchell Get Me Through The Night (1984)**.