Change
was a studio group of musicians from Italy and session vocalists from
the United States led by Jacques Fred Petrus and Mauro Malavasi. With
material recorded in Bologna and New York, The glow of love got the
group off to a winning start, with success on the UK charts arriving
with Searching sung by Luther Vandross
and Jocelyn Shaw. With touring engagements forthcoming, a permanent
aggregation of personnel was vaunted, with James
Robinson taking over from Vandross on vocals and Diva Gray was
brought in for female lead. Following Miracles which rocketed to the
Billboard's Disco Top 100 and Sharing your love, he would embark on
a solo career and be replaced at the front of the group by Debra Cooper,
who later went on to join C&C Music Factory, and Rick Brenna, backed
by Timmy Allen, Vince Henry and Michael Campbell. The production team
of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis took over for Change of heart, which
brought two further UK hits with the title-track and You are my melody. Time
changed everything, and by 1984 Jacques Fred Petrus and Mauro Malavasi
were no longer a team. When it became time for a sixth and final album,
Petrus looked inward instead of outward and employed the writing and
production talents of keyboardist Timmy Allen; he even co-wrote two
songs himself. Jacques Fred Petrus was murdered in 1987 at the airport
of Guadeloupe. Little is known concerning the mysterious circumstances
of his death. There are suspicions he was heavily involved in organized
crime and whitewash practices through the music business. There are
however, no accurate sources confirming this.
