Background
Peak was born in 1943 in Asheville, North Carolina, and attended Stephens-Lee High School.
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Frances Nero
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Career
She recorded for Motown after winning their 1965 talent contest and had a United Kingdom hit single in 1991 with. She almost joined The Marvelettes, but returned to Asheville for a time before going back to Detroit and settling into married life. She had two children, and sang jazz in nightclubs, before entering a talent contest on WCHB, the soul radio station in Detroit, sponsored by Motown.
She was awarded $500, a dozen long stemmed red roses, a recording contract for one year and the honor of being the first female artist signed to Motown"s subsidiary Soul label.
Her first record release was "Keep On Lovin" Maine", written by William Weatherspoon and James Dean, and originally intended for The Marvelettes. lieutenant was produced by William "Mickey" Stevenson, and released by Soul in early 1966.
However, it was not a major hit. She made no further recordings with Motown, and left the company after three years.
After leaving Motown, Nero made further recordings with Raynoma Gordy and Gino Parks at Shrine Records, which went unreleased.
In the 1970s she cared for her mother until her death, and went to cosmetology school. She then began teaching the beauty trade, and worked on fashion shows, script writing and other businesses. In 1989, she was contacted by Ian Levine, a British record producer and promoter of Northern soul music, and they recorded, written by Levine with Ivy Jo Hunter and Steven Wagner.
Her first recording for 23 years, the single reached no.17 in the United Kingdom Singles Chart in 1991, and was dubbed by British disc jockeys "the soul anthem of the nineties".
She made further recordings with Gino Parks, and released an album, Out On The Floor, on Levine"s Motorcity label. She appeared on Canada"s television program, Swinging Time with host Robin Seymour, and on United Kingdom shows such as Top of the Pops, The Terry Wogan Show and The Hitman and Her.
She formed her own record label, AJA Records, and released a single in 1996. A Civil Defense compilation of her recordings with Levine, The Very Best of Frances Nero, was issued in the United States. In 2006, she issued a Digital Video Disc autobiography, Mountains, Motown & Motion Pictures, and in 2007 AJA released a Civil Defense. Nero"s death was announced by various agencies on November 29, 2014, at the age of 71.
