Jeffrey Daniel facts for kids

Jeffrey Glen Daniel, born on August 24, 1955, is an American dancer, singer, songwriter, and choreographer. He is well-known as a founding member of the R&B music group Shalamar. In Nigeria, many people recognize him as a judge from the first three seasons of the TV show Nigerian Idol.

Jeffrey Daniel's Career Journey

Jeffrey Daniel was born in Los Angeles. Throughout his career, he has worked with and learned from many talented musicians and dancers. These include famous names like Shabba Doo, Popin' Pete, and The Electric Boogaloos.

The Moonwalk and Dance Moves

Jeffrey Daniel was one of the first people to perform a special dance move called "the backslide" on British television. This move is now famously known as the "moonwalk". He showed off this move during a performance of Shalamar's song "A Night to Remember" on the show Top of the Pops in 1982. This was almost a year before Michael Jackson performed the moonwalk on the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever TV special. Michael Jackson was a big fan of Soul Train, where Jeffrey Daniel was a backup dancer. According to Michael Jackson's sister, La Toya, Michael admired Daniel's dancing and sought him out to learn from him.

Daniel credits other dancers for inspiring him. He mentions Don Campbell, one of the first Soul Train dancers, who inspired the original 'Locker' dance style. He also praises Cleveland Moses Jr., his partner on Soul Train, and Tyrone Proctor, who taught him the 'Waacking' dance style. Jeffrey Daniel, along with Geron 'Caszper' Candidate and Derek 'Cooley' Jackson/Jaxson, first performed the moonwalk on U.S. television while doing a routine on Soul Train.

Shalamar: A Music Group

Jeffrey Daniel and his Soul Train dance partner Jody Watley, along with Howard Hewett, formed the popular soul funk group Shalamar. They had many hit songs, including "A Night to Remember", "The Second Time Around", "I Can Make You Feel Good", "Friends", "Make that Move", "Take That to the Bank", "There It Is", and "I Owe You One". In the 1980s, Daniel was often seen in London's club scene with other famous groups like Bananarama, Wham!, and Culture Club.

In 1984, after seven years together, Shalamar performed at London's Wembley Arena and then the group members went their separate ways for a time. Soon after, Daniel took on the role of 'Electra' in Andrew Lloyd Webber's new West End musical Starlight Express. This show involved amazing costumes and complex dance moves performed on roller skates. Also in 1984, Daniel appeared in the Paul McCartney movie Give My Regards to Broad Street. In the movie, he showed his unique robotic or marionette-like dancing style to the Wings hit song, "Silly Love Songs".

On April 12, 1985, Daniel hosted 620 Soul Train, a British version of Soul Train, which aired on the UK's Channel 4. He produced the show with Don Cornelius. This groundbreaking show for the UK ran for 10 episodes. It featured studio dancers, live guest artists, clips from the U.S. version, and sometimes music videos and guest DJs like Pete Tong and Tony Blackburn. The show was very important for fans of soul and dance music because there were few other places to hear this music on UK TV at the time. It was also one of the first TV jobs for UK media personality Jonathan Ross.

Working with Michael Jackson

By 1987, Jeffrey Daniel was working with Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson had been a fan of Daniel's dance style since watching him on Soul Train in the 1970s. Daniel was hired as a co-choreographer for the "Bad" and "Smooth Criminal" music videos, working with the main choreographer Vincent Paterson. Daniel also appeared in these videos. Later, Daniel worked as a creative and choreography consultant for Michael Jackson's world tours and the video Ghosts. Daniel then became a consultant at the MJJ Productions record label, which signed groups like Brownstone, 3T, and Men of Vizion.

Recent Activities

Jeffrey Daniel continues to perform, choreograph, produce, and compose music with various artists. He has worked with musicians such as Babyface, LL Cool J, Paul McCartney, Sheena Easton, The Go-Go's, and Vanessa Williams. He joined Nigerian Idol as a judge in 2010 and served for three seasons. He has also been performing live shows with a reformed Shalamar since 2002. The current Shalamar lineup includes Daniel, Howard Hewett, and Carolyn Griffey. They have toured across the UK in recent years.

Personal Life

On June 13, 1980, Jeffrey Daniel married American R&B singer Stephanie Mills. They later divorced in 1983.

Discography

Albums

• Skinny Boy (1990)

Singles

• "AC/DC" (1984) UK #78
• "She's the Girl" (1990)