Got to Be Real
1978 single by Cheryl Lynn
"Got to Be Real" is a song by American singer Cheryl Lynn from her 1978 self-titled debut studio album. The song, which was released in August 1978 as Lynn's debut single, was written by Lynn, David Paich and David Foster.
Composition
Sheet music for "Got to Be Real" gives the key of G minor, with a modulation to A minor. Vocals range from G3 to B♭5.
Recording
For the recording, David Shields played bass, David Paich played keyboards, James Gadson played drums and Ray Parker Jr. was the session guitarist.
Chart performance
In the United States, "Got to Be Real" hit number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit number one on the Hot Soul Singles chart in early 1979. Along with the album tracks "Star Love" and "You Saved My Day", "Got to Be Real" peaked at number eleven on the National Disco Action Top 40 chart. In the UK the song did not chart upon its original release - in 2010 it was used for a TV advertising campaign for Marks & Spencer, a department store, and it entered the main charts for the first time at number 78 for the week ending April 4, the next week peaking at number 70.
Track listing and formats
US 7-inch vinyl single
"Got to Be Real" – 3:42
"Come in from the Rain" – 3:35
US 12-inch vinyl single
"Got to Be Real" – 5:10
"Come in from the Rain" – 3:35
Charts
Erik version
In 1993, British singer Erik released a cover of "Got to Be Real", produced by Pete Waterman and Dave Ford.
The public source identifies “Got to Be Real” as 1978 single by Cheryl Lynn. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Real, single and Cheryl.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5587703. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1978, 1979, 2010 and 1993.
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This entry incorporates text from “Got to Be Real” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.