| Born: Genre: Style: |
1947 – Washington, District Of Columbia, USA Funk / Soul Soul, R&B |
| Year | Album Title | Label | In House |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Be Thankful For What You Got | Roxbury Records | On Website |
| 1980 | Figures Can't Calculate The Love I Have For You | TEC Records | No |
DeVaughn was a freelance government worker, graphics technician, and part-time singer. He wrote the song "A Cadillac Don't Come Easy," which was eventually rewritten as "Be Thankful for What You Got" (1972). He spent $900 to record the album at Omega Sound, a Philadelphia production company. Producer John Davis (a member of the MFSB studio session group), came up with a refined arrangement, eventually booking time to record at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, operated by Philadelphia International Records. Studio owner and chief engineer Joe Tarsia recorded and mixed the track.
The session featured members of the MFSB group: guitarists Norman Harris and Bobby Eli, drummer Earl Young, vibraphonist Vince Montana and percussionist Larry Washington, underwritten by Allan Felder, who also provided the separate backup choir with his sister's vocal group. John Davis played keyboards on the track. Frank Fioravanti, the track's executive producer and coordinator, secured the song's release through Roxbury Records, a subsidiary of Chelsea Records headed by industry veteran Wes Farrell.
The record sold nearly two million copies upon its release in 1974, charting on the Billboard R&B charts (#1) and the Billboard Hot 100 (#4). In the United Kingdom, the song also charted on the singles charts: (#31, 1974) and (#44, 1980). The record was certified gold by the RIAA in May 1974. With a sound and pleasing influence by Curtis Mayfield, its simple and encouraging lyrics scored internally, until it was played on gospel radio stations. With his success as a recording artist seemingly assured, DeVaughn quit his government job.
DeVaughn released an album, mainly with songs of a religious nature. His second single Blood Is Thicker Than Water reached the charts in 1974 (#10, r&b) and (#43, popcharts). Give the Little Man a Great Big Hand had only moderate success on the r&b charts in early 1975. DeVaughn also preached live and admonished his audience from the stage. He lost interest in the music business and soon afterward he worked in a record store and again as a designer.
Fioravanti provided DeVaughn's 1980 effort, named after a new DeVaughn song, Figures Can't Calculate for TEC Records in Philadelphia. The title song charted on the R&B charts (#37) and a new version of Be Thankful for What You Got was also included on the album. Soon after, DeVaughn recorded the Fioravanti-penned song Creme de Creme, released on the American label Houston Connection Recording Corporation, Britain's Excalibur and Europe's Red Bus.
In 2004, DeVaughn released the new single I Came Back on his own Mighty Two Diamond Records. In 2014, the two previously unreleased tracks Staying Power and Love Ballad of the Year were added to the Sound Gems Records oldies compilation Lost Soul Gems. In December 2016, the additional previously unreleased track Love in Any Language was added to the Lost Soul Gems collection. All of these later tracks were written by Fioravanti and others.
In May 2017, the twin song medley What Does It Take (to Win Your Love for Me) and I Gotta Dance To Keep From Crying was released on Sound Gems Records.
