LEGENDARY ARTIST/ SONGWRITER/ PRODUCER/ VOCALIST: BYRON STINGILY
LOCATION: CHICAGO, UNITED STATES..
Byron Stingily, the lead vocalist for Ten City and later a solo star, is known for having one of the most beautiful voices in house music. His sweet and impeccably clear high register was akin to legendary artists like Smokey Robinson or disco icon Sylvester. A singer since the age of five, Stingily grew up on the west side of Chicago. While attending Blackburn College in rural Illinois during the early ’80s, he became part of the Windy City’s burgeoning house music scene in the mid-1980s.
Stingily recorded his first single, Funny Love, in 1985 and licensed the song to Trax Records. During this time, he crossed paths with house maestro Marshall Jefferson. Together, they recorded two early Chicago house classics, Can’t Stay Away and Just a Little Bit. Stingily also impressed many as the opening act for Jefferson’s visit to New York City.
While in New York, Jefferson and Stingily decided to make the rounds at the major labels. They impressed Atlantic Records so much that the label offered them a contract even before they formed a group. By 1988, the duo had recruited guitarist Herb Lawson and DJ-turned-keyboardist Byron Burke to form Ragtyme. The trio released Devotion and Right Back to You, later changing their name to Ten City.
Ten City’s debut album, Foundation, was released under Atlantic Records. Though the group recorded two more albums for the label, they did not achieve significant commercial success, despite strong performances on the club scene. As a result, Atlantic dropped them in 1993. The group collaborated with Masters at Work on a song titled Fantasy, which saw massive club play. However, it was over a year before Ten City’s fourth album, That Was Then, This Is Now, was released. By that time, the group’s buzz had dissipated, and Ten City disbanded shortly afterward.
After Ten City’s dissolution, Stingily was offered a solo contract by Columbia Records. However, he opted to return to independent labels and focus on his composing and production skills. He worked with artists such as Kim English on the singles Nitelife and Time for Love, as well as Michael Watford and Maysa Leak (of Incognito). Stingily signed with Nervous Records in 1996 and released two singles, Love You the Right Way and Don’t Fall in Love.
In 1997, Stingily’s single Get Up (Everybody), which sampled Sylvester’s Dance (Disco Heat), became a hit, reaching No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. He also reached No. 1 again in 1998 with a remake of Sylvester’s You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real), produced by Damien Mendis and Stuart Bradbury. In 1999, Stingily re-recorded That’s the Way Love Is, a No. 1 dance hit in 1989 for Ten City, which also topped the dance charts once again.
Stingily’s debut solo album, The Purist, was released in 1998, followed by Club Stories in 2000. His singles continued to have success on the dance charts, with some released on the UK-based record label Defected Records.
Stingily had several hit records in the 1980s and 1990s as the lead singer of Ten City. As a solo artist, he reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart three times. In 2021, he reunited with producer Marshall Jefferson to release Be Free, marking the first single in 25 years credited to Ten City with a ten tracks album titled LOVE IS LOVE.
