When Austin was four years old, she performed at the Apollo Theater.[4] As a teenager she recorded commercial jingles and worked as a session singer in soul and R&B.[4] She had an R&B hit in 1969 with "Family Tree".[4] She sang backing vocals on Paul Simon's 1975 number-one hit "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover". The jazz label CTI released her debut album, End of a Rainbow, in 1976.[5] She sang "The Closer I Get to You" for Tom Browne's album Browne Sugar, a duet with Michael Jackson for his album Off the Wall, and a duet with George Benson on "Moody's Mood for Love".[5] After singing on Quincy Jones's album The Dude, she signed a contract with his record label, Qwest, which released Every Home Should Have One with "Baby, Come to Me", a duet with James Ingram that became a No. 1 hit on the Billboard magazine pop chart.[5] A second duet with Ingram, "How Do You Keep the Music Playing", appeared on soundtrack to the movie Best Friends (1982).[5] GRP released her album Love Is Gonna Getcha, which contained the singles "Good in Love" and "Through the Test of Time".[5]
