By Bianca Sierra
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Gwen McCrae (née Mosley, December 21, 1943 – February 21, 2025) was an American singer, best known for her 1975 hit “Rockin’ Chair“. Known in the music industry as the “Queen of Rare Groove”, McCrae’s gospel, soul, disco and funk vocals have been heavily sampled by industry leaders in dance music including Cassius, Madlib, Lady Gaga, Avicii, Cypress Hill, Mobb Deep amongst others. McCrae had hits in both the U.S.A. and Europe and was particularly successful in Europe. She performed regularly until 2012.
Gwen Mosley was born on December 21, 1943 in Penscola, Florida, the youngest of five children. She began performing in local clubs as a teenager, and singing with local groups like the Lafayettes and the Independents. In 1963, she met a young sailor named George McCrae, whom she married within a week.
From 1963, she recorded as a duo with her husband George; the couple got a recording contract with Henry Stone‘s TK Records. In 1967, singer Betty Wright helped get them signed to Stone’s Alston record label.
Signed to TK subsidiary Cat, as a solo artist, she found success on the U.S. R&B charts with a cover of Bobby Bland‘s “Lead Me On” in 1970, followed by “For Your Love“. Following husband George’s solo success with “Rock Your Baby“, Gwen went on to have a major hit of her own in March 1975 with “Rockin’ Chair” which reached number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number one on the R&B chart. The follow-up “Love Insurance” also made the R&B chart (#16). Music critic Robert Christgau said “Rockin’ Chair” is “almost as irresistibly Memphis-cum-disco-with-a-hook as hubby’s ‘Rock Your Baby.'”
In 1972, she recorded the song “Always on My Mind“. The song was later popularized by Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson, and the Pet Shop Boys and also covered by several other artists.
In June 2012, after performing on stage in England, she had a stroke which resulted in paralysis on the left side of her body and the inability to walk.
On February 21, 2025, it was announced that Gwen McCrae had died at the age of 81.
