Lavine Hudson (born in London, England) is an R&B/gospel singer from the 80s. Her parents are the Reverend Austin and Elaine Hudson. She started singing and playing musical instruments, piano and guitar at a young age.
In 1978 at the age of 16, Lavine began singing professionally when she became the lead singer for an up and coming contemporary British gospel group called the Harmonisers after being spotted by their leader/keyboardist, Doug Wallace.
In 1983, Lavine won a scholarship to the Berkley School of Music in Boston, Massachussetts where she developed & improved her musical technique.
She returned to England in 1985 and by that time, Lavine was being compared to singers such as Whitney Houston, Randy Crawford, Deniece Williams and Aretha Franklin which sparked offers in the British record industry.
Lavine became a featured artist in a Channel 4 U.K. gospel television series, "People Get Ready."
Throughout the 80s, she worked with famous gospel artists in the U.S. such as Marvin Winans, the Clark Sisters, Derek Barkley and Andrae Crouch. In the late 80s, Lavine signed a record deal with Virgin Records.
In 1988, Lavine released her debut album, "Intervention" which peaked at #19 on Billboard's Gospel Albums chart.
The title song peaked at #85 on Billboard's Hot Black Singles chart, staying on the chart for 4 weeks and #57 on the U.K. Singles chart.
She appeared at the Montreaux Jazz Festival and on a BBC television documentary entitled "The Friday Report."
In 1991, Lavine released her sophomore album, "Between Two Worlds" which didn't generate a lot of success.
In the early 90s, Virgin Records was sold to EMI who pressed her to move away from gospel music to a more secular style, but she turned it down.
These days, Lavine suffers from poor health, but she continues to attend church and sing, but not professionally.
To see the music video for "Intervention," go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd3vzYTp1Iw
