Manchild paid their dues in local clubs for most of the early and mid-'70s, before they were signed by the Chi-Sound label in 1977. Their funk and soul sound seemed to finally find a niche, but they couldn't pump their music through the din of the disco era, only scraping the charts with Especially for You that year. The label stuck with them through two LPs but by the end of the decade they were once more free agents. Out of the group's alumnus, one genuine star emerged in the guise of Kenneth Edmonds, aka Babyface, who became both a top-selling artist and massively successful producer and songwriter (chalking up hits with Gladys Knight, among numerous others) during the 1980s and 1990s. Lead singer/guitarist Reggie Griffin also carried on with a career, first as a member of West Street Mob and then forming Reggie Griffin Technofunk, which eventually became known as Griffin (not to be confused with the industrial band of that name). Griffin has worked with Babyface and acts such as Boyz II Men, the Bee Gees, Roberta Flack, Aretha Franklin, Phyllis Hyman, the Isley Brothers, the Sugarhill Gang, and Chaka Khan. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi