'You Are My Starship' was on the radio this evening and it may me thing about what an underrated talent he was. I did a search on him and this is what I found:


Vocalist/bassist Michael Henderson has enjoyed successful careers as a player and performer. He moved from Yazoo City, Mississippi to Detroit in the early '60s, and was a session player. As a 13-year-old, Henderson played bass with the Fantastic Four, Detroit Emeralds, Billy Preston, and other Motown acts in 1964 and 1965. He later toured with Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin before joining Miles Davis. Henderson played and toured with Davis for seven years. When he met drummer/producer Norman Connors, Henderson pitched him some songs. Connors recorded "Valentine Love" on his Saturday Night Special LP, featuring Henderson with Jean Carne. This was his vocal debut, and it reached nubmer ten on the R&B chart. Henderson wrote two other hits for the LP, "We Both Need Each Other" and "You Are My Starship," which peaked at number four.

Those successes landed Henderson his own Buddah deal in 1976, and in 1978 he got his first Top 10 R&B hit with "Take Me I'm Yours" for Buddah. Henderson recorded for Buddah from 1976 to 1983, earning his biggest hit in 1980 with "Wide Receiver," a number four hit. He moved to EMI in 1986. Henderson also recorded "Can't We Fall in Love Again" with Phyllis Hyman on her own LP, and sang with Bobby Womack and Johnnie Taylor, as well as producing the Dramatics. He also helped discover Cherrelle, who was his next door neighbor in the late '70s. She sang background and toured with him for four years. ~ Ron Wynn, All Music Guide

My favorite songs by Michael Henderson are:

Wide Receiver...I still can't believe he got away with mentioning marijuana in that song. That song was laced with homosexual references. Did anyone else catch them?

You Are My Starship - w/Norman Conners

Take Me I'm Yours

There was another duet he did and the name escapes me.

fan over here!

Classic!

While growing up in the 70's, I remember hearing You Are My Starship and the fast cut Wide Reciever. Purple Charm, its interesting that you picked up on the sexual references in Wide Reciever. When, I first heard this song, I knew something was up b/c I know what postion wide reciever plays in a football game.

"Wide Receiver" (1980) is the jam,but I never knew exactly what he was singing about...lol...does anyone know what that song is really about?

"Reach out for me"
" Wide reciever"

I love "You Are My Starship". I didn't know that Michael Henderson had anything to do with it, I only have this song on a compilation album.

I love "Wide Receiver", "Prove It", and "Fickle".

I caught the marijuana and homosexual references on "Wide Receiver" also. The homosexual references were hilarious. He sounded kinda like Bugs Bunny when he said "Hey, yoohoo...YOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!.....any of you fellows wanna tight end?"

The song was about football.

Hotlegs said:

Exactly hotlegs. It was all about the double entendre in that song. On the surface it appeared to be about football, but that is not hardly what it was about.

Here a few lines that clued me in on what the song is really about.

'Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometime you nut.'
'Yoohoo, yoohoo, any of you fellas need a tightend'
'Hit me from the rear'
'I need a hotdog, a hotdog, you know what I mean'

The lyrics to that song are very clever. I haven't heard it in a while.
I hope I can find it on winmx.

I remember a kickass jam he did in 1981,a year or so after "Wide Receiver".It was called "Sling Shot".Anybody remember that one?

But he lost his edge as the 80s progressed.Who remembers his weak mid-80s single "Do It To Me Good Tonight"?

In The Night Time is another one of my favorites.

I liked his albums and the things he did with Norman Connors.
My Favorites are:

At The Concert(with Roberta Flack)
Valentine Love
Take Me I'm Yours
You are My Starship

"Wide Receiver"
This song always reminded me of the Steelers, Lynn Swann (And I'm not even a football fan.)