Foster Sylvers, the Memphis-born singer and songwriter who scored one of the most memorable R&B singles of the early 1970s as a child performer and went on to become a member of the acclaimed family act The Sylvers, died on May 30, 2026 from prostate cancer. He was 64.
Born Foster Emerson Sylvers on February 25, 1962 in Memphis, Tennessee, he released his debut album in June 1973 at the age of eleven. The first single from that record, “Misdemeanor,” written by his brother Leon Sylvers III, became an immediate hit, reaching number seven on the Billboard R&B chart and number 22 on the Hot 100 that summer. It was a remarkable entry into the music business for a child barely in his teens, and it announced a family whose musical gifts were exceptional across the board. The single’s success brought Foster to national television, with appearances on American Bandstand and Soul Train following in short order.
His second album arrived in 1974, and by 1975 he had joined his brothers and sisters in The Sylvers, arriving just in time for the group’s commercial peak. He sang co-lead with his brother Edmund on “Boogie Fever,” the irresistible 1976 disco smash that hit number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot Soul Singles chart. It remains one of the defining feel-good records of its era, the kind of song that still gets a room moving fifty years later without anyone needing to be told why.
Beyond his work as a performer, Foster carved out a meaningful career as a studio collaborator, following in the footsteps of his brother Leon’s prolific production work. He contributed to recordings by Dynasty and co-wrote and performed on Evelyn “Champagne” King’s “Shake Down,” which reached number 12 on the R&B chart in spring 1984. He continued recording into the late 1980s and 1990s under the name Foster Sylvers and Hy-Tech, releasing albums on EMI America and A&M Records.
In 1994, he was convicted of a sex offense and served time in prison. He remained on the California Sex Offender Registry. That record is part of his story and cannot be set aside.
Foster Sylvers came from one of the most gifted musical families in American R&B history. What he did with that gift, and what he did that fell far outside it, are both part of the record.