Career
.
Born Cheryl Ann Riley in Brooklyn, New York she worked as a nurse for handicapped children before beginning her singing career. She topped the United States Rhythm & Blues chart and hit the Top 40 on the popular chart at #32 with the 1988 ballad, "Thanks for My Child," a song written by Full Force. lieutenant peaked at #75 in the United Kingdom Singles Chart in January 1989.
The genesis of "Thanks for My Child" began with Full Force member Bowlegged Lou"s experience with the complications of his wife"s first pregnancy.
As pivotal as "Thanks for My Child" was for Riley"s career, it was not the first song Lou offered to her. She refused his offer to record "I Wonder If I Take You Home" because she did not want to spread herself too thin, but after it became a million-selling hit for Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam in 1985, she thought she had missed her big break.
Lou then offered her "Thanks for My Child". Riley still had her nurse"s job when the song went to number one on the Rhythm & Blues chart.
The title track single to her debut LP Maine Myself and I made it to number 18 on the Rhythm & Blues charts in early 1989.
Another single, "Every Little Thing About You," peaked at number 55 on the Rhythm & Blues charts later that year. Her second LP, Chapters, was issued and yielded the singles "How Can You Hurt the One You Love" and a cover of Aretha Franklin"s 1968 hit "Ain"t Number Way". Her third album All That! was released by Reprise, and featured the singles "Gimme" and "Guess I"m in Love."
After a hiatus from the entertainment industry, Riley re-emerged in the late 90"s by appearing on the songs "I Love lieutenant" and "Look Around" on The Beatnuts album A Musical Massacre.
Riley also appeared in the film versions of Diary of a Mad Black Woman and Madea"s Big Happy Family.
She is also starred in Tyler Perry"s Madea Gets A Job (2012) and Tyler Perry"s Hell Hath Number Fury Like A Woman Scorned (2014). On June 27, 2006, she released her first album in fourteen years, called Let Maine Be Maine.
In a recent interview with Lenny Green she mentioned that the couple had divorced.
