Angela Bofill

Angela Tomasa Bofill (May 2, 1954 – June 13, 2024) was an American singer-songwriter of Cuban-Puerto Rican origins. A New York native, Bofill began her professional career in the mid-1970s.^[2] Bofill is most known for singles such as "This Time I'll Be Sweeter", "Angel of the Night", and "I Try". Bofill's career spanned over four decades.

Angela Tomasa Bofill was born on May 2, 1954, in the Brooklyn area of New York City^[3] to a Cuban father and a Puerto Rican mother.^[4] Raised in The Bronx, Bofill grew up listening to Latin music and was also inspired by African-American performers. During Bofill's childhood, her weekends were taken up studying classical music and singing in New York City's All City Chorus, which featured the best singers from all of the high schools in the five boroughs.^[5] For high school, Bofill attended Hunter College High School; graduating in 1972.^[6] Bofill later studied at the Manhattan School of Music, receiving a Bachelor of Music degree in 1976.

Bofill began her professional career, singing during her teenage years. Bofill performed with Ricardo Marrero & the Group and Dance Theater of Harlem chorus before being introduced to Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen of the jazz label GRP Records by Dave Valentin, her friend and jazz flutist.^[8] Grusin and Rosen signed Bofill and produced her first album, Angie, in 1978. Angie was well received both critically and commercially and included the chart single "This Time I'll Be Sweeter" (co-written by Gwen Guthrie and Haras Fyre), and Bofill's sprawling jazz composition, "Under the Moon and Over the Sky". Less than a year later, a second album, Angel of the Night was released and outperformed its predecessor. The album included the chart singles "What I Wouldn't Do (For the Love of You)" and the up-tempo title track, as well as the song "I Try", written by Bofill and covered by Will Downing in 1991. The reception of these albums positioned Bofill as one of the first Latina singers to find success in the R&B and jazz markets.^[9]

Bofill performed a sold-out concert at Avery Fisher Hall as part of the Newport Jazz Festival on June 20, 1980.  Her musical director was Onaje Allen Gumbs, keyboards, Sammy Figueroa, percussion, a 9-piece band and guests including Steve Khan, guitar, Eddie Daniels, tenor sax and flute, and a 24-voice choir.^[10]

Clive Davis, the head of Arista Records, showed interest in Bofill. Arista had a distribution deal with GRP. Bofill switched labels for her next album, Something About You (1981). Produced by Narada Michael Walden, the album was an attempt to move Bofill into mainstream R&B and pop music. It didn't perform as well as previous releases, despite the singles "Holdin' Out for Love" and the title track, which both reached the R&B Top 40.^[11] The following year, Bofill and Walden reunited for Too Tough. The title song reached No. 5 on the R&B chart and spent four weeks at No. 2 on the Dance chart. A follow-up single, "Tonight I Give In", reached the Top 20.^[12] Several months later, Bofill released her final collaboration with Walden, Teaser. The album failed to match the success of Too Tough but did produce one Top 20 R&B hit, "I'm On Your Side", which has been covered by several artists, most notably Jennifer Holliday, who had a Top 10 hit with it in 1991.^[12]

Bofill recorded two more albums for Arista with the help of The System and George Duke before leaving the label in the mid-1980s. Following the birth of her daughter, she moved to Capitol Records and the producer Norman Connors for Intuition (1988), which produced her last significant chart success, a cover of Gino Vannelli's "I Just Wanna Stop", which reached No. 11 on the R&B chart. She recorded three more albums over the next eight years and provided backing vocals on albums for Diana Ross and Kirk Whalum and for Connors's Eternity (2000). She performed live (with a sizable audience internationally, particularly in Asia) and appeared in the stage plays God Don't Like Ugly and What a Man Wants, What a Man Needs. She also toured the U.S. and Europe in multi-artist jazz shows.

Bofill returned to the stage, at the suggestion of Engel, for "The Angela Bofill Experience" after losing her ability to sing after her second stroke in 2007. In the show, Bofill recounted her life and career and was joined by Maysa Leak, Phil Perry, and Melba Moore, who performed her biggest hits and signature songs. In 2012, Bofill was profiled and interviewed for the TVOne documentary series, Unsung.^[13][11]

In 2023, Bofill was inducted into the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame.