Fern Kinney-Lewis, known professionally as Fern Kinney, was born on July 11, 1949, in Jackson, Mississippi. She began her musical career in the mid-1960s as a singer and joined The Poppies, replacing Patsy McClune. With The Poppies, she achieved her first hit with "Lullaby of Love" in 1966, which charted on the US Billboard charts. In 1968, Kinney released her debut solo single, "Your Love’s Not Reliable", under Atlantic Records, though it did not achieve commercial success. Throughout the early 1970s, she worked as a studio musician and background singer for artists such as Jean Knight, Frederick Knight, King Floyd, and Dorothy Moore. In 1979, Kinney made a comeback with her own version of "Groove Me", transforming it into a disco number that reached number 6 on the Billboard Club Play Charts. Her follow-up single, "Together We Are Beautiful", topped the UK Singles Chart for one week in March 1980. Despite these successes, Kinney's subsequent singles did not replicate this achievement, and she returned to her role as a background singer. She released several albums including Groove Me (1979), Fern (1981), and Sweet Music (1982).
