Anny Chancel (later known as Sheila) was born on August 16, 1946 in Paris, France. She became a pop/rock star in France in the 1960s, but her early songs have been denounced as childish, vapid, fluffy bubblegum music. Although she sang with B. Devotion (three African-American singers) in some earlier disco songs in the late 1970s, her crowning achievement is regarded as her song “Spacer”. This late-1979 song, as well as the other 7 songs on her 1980 album “King of the World”, were produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of the Chic Organisation. “Spacer” was popular in Europe (including in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the Netherlands) and South Africa, selling 5 million copies worldwide, but was not a big success in the United States.
The back of the cover to the original “Spacer” single record (which also included “Don’t Go”) shows Sheila and the Black Devotion on rollerskates and in concert.
Sheila turned her attention to pop music in the 1980s. A remix of Sheila’s “Spacer” came out in 1998. |
