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Cheryl Lynn : Got To Be Real

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On November 3, 1978 Cheryl Lynn's single, "Got To Be Real", entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart at US #78. Lynn, a college student at the University of Southern Caifornia,  got her break scoring a perfect 30 after singing "You Are So Beautiful" on The Gong Show. Record execs began calling and Columbia/CBS got the contract. "Got To Be Real" was written by Lynn, with help from uber producer David Foster and David Paich of Toto. The disco fave, featuring guitar by Ray Parker Jr and funky bass by David Shields, would top the Hot Soul chart and peak at US #12. She remains the most successful alumnus of The Gong Show.

Hip Hop legend Slick Rick says this was the first 45 he ever bought:

“It would have been in the early days of hip hop. I got ‘Got To Be Real’ from a store called ‘Crazy Eddies’ in the Bronx. Crazy Eddies sold stereos and musical equipment and records and cassettes in the very early ’80s”