"Don't Make Me Over" by Sybil

Gold Record Alert!

Song#:  4044

Date:  09/23/1989

Debut:  79

Peak:  20

Weeks:  23

Genre:  R&B, Soul

Pop Bits:  New Jersey singer/songwriter Sybil Lynch was singing and making up her owns songs as a kid. As she grew up, she starting singing in church and then eventually picked up work singing with a local R&B band CeCe Rogers & Co. Although Sybil didn't have her sights set on a music career (she was aiming to be an attorney), fate stepped in when she was coaxed into singing on a demo for a pair of songwriter/producers. That track, "Falling in Love," would get picked up by Next Plateau Records and released in the fall of '86. The song did well enough to reach #26 on the Dance chart. A second single, "Let Yourself Go," would do a bit better getting to #23 Dance/#46 R&B. Next Plateau would sign Sybil and a debut album titled Let Yourself Go would be issued out. A third single, "My Love Is Guaranteed," would be a Dance hit reaching #4 (#54 R&B). Then in the summer of '89, a new remix of a track from her debut album, the cover tune "Don't Make Me Over," was issued out. It caught on and was able to reach #4 Dance and #2 R&B. That action led to the tune getting on the Pop chart where it just made the Top 20. The single sold well enough to go gold. A second album, Sybil, would quickly follow. A follow-up single, a remake of "Walk on By," would get to #7 Dance/#3 R&B/#74 Pop. The songs helped the album get to #12 R&B/#75 Pop.

ReduxReview:  This definitely had a Soul II Soul "Keep on Movin'" vibe. The beats were nearly identical. All Sybil and her team did was put them under a cover tune. The results were interesting in giving a bit of a spin on an old Warwick classic, but nothing about it really stood out. It was a good listen in a background kind of way. Something chill and easy on the ears while working on your laptop and sipping chai latte at the local coffee shop.

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  Double Shot!  1) This is a remake of a song originally recorded by Dionne Warwick. Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, it was Warwick's first chart hit getting to #21 Pop/#5 R&B in 1962. The song started a long and successful collaboration between Warwick, Bacharach, and David. 2) For her second album, 1990's Sybilization, Sybil would collaborate with the Stock Aitken Waterman team for the song "Make It Easy on Me." Released as the first single, it didn't fare well only getting to #52 at R&B. Another single was a minor R&B chart entry and that left the album stopping at #70 R&B. In 1993, Sybil would release two albums. Doin' It Now! would be an R&B-leaning effort aimed at the US market while Good 'N' Ready focused more on Eurodisco and was released in the UK/European market. The LPs shared four tracks including the singles "You're the Love of My Life" and "The Love I Lost." The two songs were issued out as a double a-sided single in the US and it would get to #90 Pop. "You're the Love of My Life" would itself get to #37 R&B while "The Love I Lost" would get to #18 Dance. The album would not chart. However, "The Love I Lost" would become a big hit in the UK getting to #3. A second single, "When I'm Good and Ready" would get to #5. In turn, the Good 'N' Ready album would reach #13. Sybil would release one more album for the European/Japan markets that didn't do well and that brought an end to her heydays. Although she would continue to dabble in music over the years, Sybil would become an educator and along the way earn a master's degree

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