JOHN L. USRY, JR. (JOHNNY USRY)
I guess I am stalling a little because no one seems to know much about Stratavarious, or their lead singer, who goes by the name of Lady. The band was put together by John L. (Johnny) Usry, Jr., who was the producer and arranger and also the orchestral conductor. He had previously worked with the Three Degrees, who one time provided the vocals on a new theme song for Soul Train. (The show’s long-time host, Don Cornelius died just last month). Public demand led to its release as a single; under the name “TSOP” by MFSB, it was a monster R&B hit in 1974. (The initials stand for “The Sound of Philadelphia” and “Mother Father Sister Brother”).
As an example of the mystery about the band, on one YouTube video, the band is listed as “Stratavarious a/k/a Johnny Usry”; while a short piece on a blog on the Internet says that it was an all-female disco band.
One other thing. Stratavarious might fill an annoying hole in the roster of the Under-Appreciated Rock Bands: Nobody so far has been African-American. I do know that Johnny Usry is black, as is Poison. Also, most of the people that Usry has worked with over the years are African-American: Besides the Three Degrees, they include Teddy Pendergrass, Lou Rawls, and the O’Jays; however, that is not true of Air Supply. I have no photos so far, and the music itself could go either way, so I am still not sure.
(March 2012)
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Additional credits given on the Stratavarious album include Guido Basso who is featured on the song “Nightfall” that opens Side 2; Tabby Johnson is the female vocalist on “Touching”, along with album mastermind John L. Usry, Jr. Both Basso and Johnson are Canadian jazz musicians that have Wikipedia articles. There are other songs with female vocals where the singer is not given, however.
This is the only photo that I was able to find of John L. Usry, Jr., and I am not even positive about this one; it comes from a tribute video that I found online:
(March 2015)
