Yvonne Fair was born Flora Yvonne Coleman in Richmond, Virginia, in October 1942. She left high school in 11th grade, married Leroy Fair and had a son, Leroy Jr., and her husband pushed her to join the vocal group the Chantels. By 1961 she was a featured singer in the James Brown Revue, and in 1962 she recorded I Found You for King Records. Three years later Brown sped it up, added staccato horns and released it as I Got You (I Feel Good). Fair and Brown were also involved and had a daughter, Venisha Brown, who died in 2018 at 53.
With help from Chuck Jackson she moved to Motown, opening for the Temptations, the Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder and singing in the 1972 film Lady Sings the Blues. Producer Norman Whitfield paired her raw voice with his hard funk on singles such as Love Ain't No Toy and Funky Music Sho Nuff Turns Me On, leading to her 1975 album The Bitch Is Black. Her 1976 version of It Should Have Been Me barely touched the U.S. Hot 100 but reached No. 5 in the UK, where the Northern Soul audience embraced it.
Brown's revue docked pay for missed cues and unpolished shoes.
She lip-synced It Should Have Been Me in the 1991 British TV film Mister Roadrunner with Jools Holland and Stephen Fry.
The song featured in a 2006 Christmas special of The Vicar of Dibley.
She sang backing vocals on Patti LaBelle's You Are My Friend and the Commodores' Jesus Is Love, worked as Dionne Warwick's wardrobe coordinator and married Sammy Strain.
She died of pancreatic cancer in Las Vegas on March 6, 1994, at 51, and Tika Sumpter played her in the 2014 film Get On Up.
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