This week in 1982: The World's Fair opened in Knoxville, Tennessee; President Ronald Reagan offered a two-step disarmament plan to reduce arsenals by one third; Braniff International Corp. filed for bankruptcy; a New Jersey court upheld mandatory sex education and a singer from Kokomo, Indiana, had her 8th hit record.
A lot of songs were written long before they were recorded while other songs have been written the night before being recorded while others have been written on the way to the studio or during the actual recording sessions.
Songwriters Kyle Fleming and Dennis Morgan wrote Sylvia's 1982 No. 1 "Nobody" the night before Sylvia's next-day recording session and rushed it to record producer Tom Collins' office that morning without ever recording a demo of the tune.
According to Sylvia, she loved the song from the start and couldn't wait to record it, which she did at 2 o'clock that afternoon.
Sylvia's RCA Victor single "Nobody" was released May 14, 1982, and came on the country music charts June 5th. The single was in the No. 1 slot on August 21st.
It was her 8th charted song and was on the charts for 24 weeks.
Sylvia was born Sylvia Jane Kirby in Kokomo, Indiana, in 1956.
She auditioned for Dave and Sugar in 1979 and although she was not picked for the group, RCA Victor did sign her to a recording contract. Her first single, "You Don't Miss A Thing" made the country top 40.
When she left RCA Victor Records in 1987, her "Knockin' Around" album was still on the shelf at RCA and was not released, although the label did release the singles "Nothin' Ventured - Nothin' Gained" and "Straight From The Heart" (written by Jimmy Fortune) from the LP. After leaving RCA Victor, Sylvia hosted her own "Holiday Cooking" special and guest hosted The Nashville Network's "Crook and Chase."
Sylvia formed her own label in 1996 with the release of her "The Real Story" album, followed by "Where In The World" in 2002.
Later that year she released her first Christmas LP titled "A Cradle In Bethlehem." In 2016, Red Pony Records released her "It's All in the Family" LP and in 2018 she re-recorded several of her previous hits and released them in the "Second Bloom: The Hits Re-Imagined" album.
Sylvia placed 20 songs on the country music charts between 1979 and 1987, including 11 top 10's and two No. 1s.
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