Rebecca FERGUSON

⬇️ REBECCA FERGUSON ⬇️

DISCOGRAPHY 2012-2023 (9CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Rebecca Caroline Ferguson (born 21 July 1986) is an English soul singer and songwriter. In 2010, Ferguson finished as the runner-up in the seventh series of The X Factor. She later released her debut album titled Heaven in December 2011. The album peaked at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart. Since then, Ferguson has released 4 more albums: Freedom (2013), Lady Sings the Blues (2015) Superwoman, and Heaven Part.2 (2023). She cites Aretha Franklin, Kings of Leon, Christina Aguilera, and Amy Winehouse among her influences.

Rebecca Ferguson was born on 21 July 1986 at Mill Road Hospital in Liverpool to a father of Jamaican descent and a white British mother.[citation needed] She has a younger brother, Sam. She spent the first two years of her life in Huyton. Her family moved to a house on an estate in Woolton Village when her parents separated. Ferguson received her primary education at Woolton Primary School and her secondary and sixth form education at Gateacre Community Comprehensive School. As a teenager she later moved to Anfield, where she became pregnant with her first daughter.

Two years later she had her first son. Ferguson revealed that she always wanted to become a pop star when she was young and said that her family fully supported her passion of becoming a professional singer, helping her through two previous X Factor auditions. She also revealed that she was, "bullied as a kid because my family was poor, and I never had the right clothes or toys." Despite having a difficult start in life, Ferguson insisted that she wanted people to focus solely on her talent. She revealed on Loose Women that she was sexually abused in a care home when she was 8 years old.

Ferguson is a qualified legal secretary, having studied at Hugh Baird College, Bootle. She later commented, "There is only so long you can chase the dream when you are a mum. I wanted the kids to see me do well and be a better role model. They were always seeing their mummy fail. That was why I started college." ... (Wikipedia)

Johnnie TAYLOR

⬇️ JOHNNIE TAYLOR ⬇️

(Johnnie Harrison Taylor)

DISCOGRAPHY 1967-2024 (33CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Johnnie Harrison Taylor (May 5, 1934 – May 31, 2000) was an American recording artist and songwriter who performed a wide variety of genres, from blues, rhythm and blues, soul, and gospel to pop, doo-wop, and disco. He was initially successful at Stax Records with the number-one R&B hits "Who's Making Love" (1968), "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone" (1971) and "I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)" (1973), and reached number one on the US pop charts with "Disco Lady" in 1976.

In 2022, Taylor was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Johnnie Taylor was born in Crawfordsville, Arkansas, United States. He grew up in West Memphis, Arkansas, performing in gospel groups as a youngster. As an adult, he had one release, "Somewhere to Lay My Head", on Chicago's Vee Jay Records label in the 1950s, as part of the gospel group The Highway Q.C.'s, which included a young Sam Cooke.[5] Taylor's singing then was strikingly close to that of Cooke, and he was hired to take Cooke's place in the latter's gospel group, the Soul Stirrers, in 1957.

A few years later, after Cooke had established his independent SAR Records, Taylor signed on as one of the label's first acts and recorded "Rome Wasn't Built In A Day" in 1962.[5] However, SAR Records quickly became defunct after Cooke's death in 1964.

In 1966, Taylor moved to Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was dubbed "The Philosopher of Soul". He recorded with the label's house band, which included Booker T. & the M.G.'s. His hits included "I Had a Dream", "I've Got to Love Somebody's Baby" (both written by the team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter) and most notably "Who's Making Love",[5] which reached No.5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No.1 on the R&B chart in 1968. "Who's Making Love" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. In 1970 Taylor married Gerlean Rocket, with their divorce finalized on May 10, 2000, 21 days before his passing. His children from that marriage are Jon Harrison Taylor, and Tasha Taylor, both musicians.

During his tenure at Stax, he became an R&B star, with over a dozen chart successes, such as "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone", which reached No.23 on the Hot 100 chart, "Cheaper to Keep Her" (Mack Rice) and record producer Don Davis's penned "I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)", which reached No.11 on the Hot 100 chart. "I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)" also sold more than one million copies, and was awarded gold disc status by the R.I.A.A. in October 1973. Taylor, along with Isaac Hayes and The Staple Singers, was one of the label's flagship artists, who were credited for keeping the company afloat in the late 1960s and early 1970s after the death of its biggest star, Otis Redding, in an aviation accident. He appeared in the documentary film, Wattstax, which was released in 1973.... (Wikipedia)

Gladys KNIGHT

⬇️ GLADYS KNIGHT ⬇️

(Shirley Valerie Horn)
DISCOGRAPHY 1967-2014 (59CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

       

Shirley Valerie Horn (born May 28, 1944), known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American recording artist, songwriter, businesswoman, humanitarian and author.

A seven-time Grammy Award-winner, she is best known for the hits she recorded during the 60's & 70's, for both the Motown and Buddah Records labels, with her group Gladys Knight & the Pips, the most famous incarnation of which also included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and her cousins Edward Patten and William Guest.

Knight was born in Oglethorpe, Georgia, the daughter of Sarah Elizabeth (née Woods) & Merald Woodlow Knight, Sr, a postal worker.

She first achieved minor fame by winning Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour TV show contest at the age of 7 in 1952. The following year, she, her brother Merald, sister Brenda, and cousins William and Elenor Guest formed a musical group called The Pips (named after another cousin, James "Pip" Woods).......

Brook BENTON

⬇️ BROOK BENTON ⬇️

(Benjamin Franklin Peay)
DISCOGRAPHY 1959-2022 (56CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Benjamin Franklin Peay (September 19, 1931 – April 9, 1988), better known as Brook Benton, was an American singer and songwriter who was popular with rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and pop music audiences during the late 1950s and early 1960s, with hits such as "It's Just a Matter of Time" and "Endlessly", many of which he co-wrote.

He made a comeback in 1970 with the ballad "Rainy Night in Georgia." Benton scored over 50 Billboard chart hits as an artist, and also wrote hits for other performers.

When Benton was young, he enjoyed gospel music, wrote songs and sang in a Methodist church choir in Lugoff, South Carolina, where his father, Willie Peay, was choir master.[2] In 1948, he went to New York to pursue his music career, going in and out of gospel groups, such as The Langfordaires, The Jerusalem Stars and The Golden Gate Quartet. Returning to his home state, he joined an R&B singing group, The Sandmen, and went back to New York to get a big break with his group.

The Sandmen had limited success and their label, Okeh Records, decided to push Peay as a solo artist, changing his name to Brook Benton, apparently at the suggestion of label executive Marv Halsman.

Brook earned a good living by writing songs and co-producing albums. He wrote songs for artists such as Nat King Cole, Clyde McPhatter (for whom he co-wrote the hit "A Lover's Question") and Roy Hamilton. He eventually released his first minor hit, "A Million Miles from Nowhere", before switching to the Mercury label, which would eventually bring him major success. He also appeared in the 1957 film Mister Rock And Roll, with Alan Freed. (Wikipedia)

NEW!

ESSENTIAL CLASSICS

Vol. 021-Brook Benton (2CD) @FLAC

The Treniers

⬇️ THE TRENIERS ⬇️

(8CD/LP)

 BIOGRAPHY 

        

The Treniers were an American R&B and jump blues musical group led by identical twins Cliff and Claude Trenier.

They were originally billed as The Trenier Twins, who performed alongside the Gene Gilbeaux Quartet, but shortened their name to The Treniers when Gilbeaux and other musicians became integral members of the group.

Besides the Trenier brothers, group members included Don Hill on saxophone, Shifty Henry and later James (Jimmy) Johnson on bass, Henry (Tucker) Green on drums and Gene Gilbeaux on piano.

Later, additional Trenier brothers Milt and Buddy, and nephew Skip, joined the group on vocals, and there were many other musician and line-up changes over the years including Herman Washington and Mickey Baker on guitar.

The band was based around twins Clifton L. "Cliff" Trenier (July 14, 1919–March 2, 1983) and Claude Oliver Trenier (July 14, 1919–November 17, 2003). They were born in Mobile, Alabama, and formed the Alabama State Collegians when in college together in 1939.....

Ben E. KING

⬇️ BEN E. KING ⬇️
DISCOGRAPHY 1960-2010 (25CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Benjamin Earl Nelson (born September 28, 1938), better known as Ben E. King, is an American soul singer. He is perhaps best known as the singer and co-composer of "Stand by Me," a U.S. Top 10 hit in both 1961 and later in 1986 (when it was used as the theme to the film of the same name) and a #1 hit in the UK in 1987, and as one of the principal lead singers of the R&B vocal group The Drifters.

King was born Benjamin Earl Nelson on September 28, 1938 in Henderson, North Carolina, and moved to Harlem, New York, at age 9.

In 1958, King (still using his birth name) joined a doo wop group called The Five Crowns. Later in 1958, The Drifters' manager George Treadwell fired the members of the original Drifters, and replaced them with The Five Crowns.

King had a string of R&B hits with the group on Atlantic Records. He co-wrote and sang lead on the first Atlantic hit by the new version of the Drifters, "There Goes My Baby" (1959). He also sang lead on a succession of hits by the team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, including "Save the Last Dance for Me," "This Magic Moment," and "I Count the Tears." King only recorded thirteen songs with The Drifters— two backing other lead singers and eleven lead vocal performances —including a non-single called "Temptation" (later redone by Drifters vocalist Johnny Moore).

Due to a contract dispute with Treadwell in which King and his manager, Lover Patterson, demanded that King be given a salary increase and a fair share of royalties, King never again performed with the Drifters on tour or on television; he would only record with the group until a suitable replacement could be found. On television, fellow Drifters member Charlie Thomas usually lip synched the songs that King had recorded with the Drifters. This end gave rise to a new beginning.

In May 1960, King left the Drifters, assuming the more memorable stage name Ben E. King in preparation for a successful solo career. Remaining on Atlantic Records on its Atco imprint, King scored his first solo hit with the ballad "Spanish Harlem" (1961).

His next single, "Stand by Me," written with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, ultimately would be voted as one of the Songs of the Century by the Recording Industry Association of America. "Stand by Me," "There Goes My Baby," and "Spanish Harlem" were named as three of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll and were all given a Grammy Hall of Fame Award, as well as "Save The Last Dance For Me."

King's other well-known songs include "Don't Play That Song (You Lied)," "Amor," "Seven Letters," "How Can I Forget," "On the Horizon," "Young Boy Blues," "First Taste of Love," "Here Comes the Night," "Ecstasy," and "That's When It Hurts." In the summer of 1963, King had a Top 30 hit with "I (Who Have Nothing)," which reached the Top 10 on New York's radio station, WMCA.

King's records continued to place well on the Billboard Hot 100 chart until 1965. British pop bands began to dominate the pop music scene, but King still continued to make R&B hits, including "What is Soul?" (1966), "Tears, Tears, Tears" (1967), and "Supernatural Thing" (1975). A 1986 re-issue of "Stand by Me" followed the song's use as the theme song to the movie Stand By Me and re-entered the Billboard Top Ten after a 25-year absence.

In 1990, King and Bo Diddley, along with Doug Lazy, recorded a revamped Hip Hop version of The Monotones' 1958 hit song "Book of Love" for the soundtrack of the movie Book of Love. He also recorded a children's album, I Have Songs In My Pocket, written and produced by children's music artist Bobby Susser in 1998, which won the "Early Childhood News' Directors' Choice Award" and "Dr. Toy's/The Institute For Childhood Resources Award." King performed "Stand by Me" on the Late Show with David Letterman in 2007. Ahmet Ertegun said, "King is one of the greatest singers in the history of rock and roll and rhythm and blues."

As a Drifter and as a solo artist, King had achieved five No.1 hits: "There Goes My Baby," "Save The Last Dance For Me," "Stand By Me," "Supernatural Thing," and the 1986 re-issue of "Stand By Me." He also earned 12 Top 10 hits and 25 Top 40 hits from 1959 to 1986. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Drifter; he has also been nominated as a solo artist.

King's "I (Who Have Nothing)" was selected for the The Sopranos' Peppers and Eggs Soundtrack CD (2001).

King was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009.

On March 27, 2012, the Songwriters Hall of Fame announced that "Stand By Me" would receive its 2012 Towering Song Award and that King would be honored with the 2012 Towering Performance Award for his recording of the song.

Natalie COLE

⬇️ NATALIE COLE ⬇️
DISCOGRAPHY 1975-2009 (42CD/DVD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

       

Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, and performer.

The daughter of Nat King Cole, Natalie rose to musical success in the mid–1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be", "Inseparable", and "Our Love". After a period of failing sales and performances due to a heavy drug addiction, Cole re-emerged as a pop artist with the 1987 album Everlasting and her cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac".

In the 1990s, she re-recorded standards by her father, resulting in her biggest success, Unforgettable... with Love, which sold over seven million copies and also won Cole numerous Grammy Awards. She sold over 30 million records worldwide.

On December 31, 2015, Cole died at the age of 65 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, due to congestive heart failure.....

Solomon BURKE

⬇️ SOLOMON BURKE ⬇️
DISCOGRAPHY 1957-2010 (40CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Solomon Burke (March 21, 1940 – October 10, 2010) was an American singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, mortician, and an archbishop of the United House of Prayer For All People. Burke was known as "King Solomon," the "King of Rock 'n' Soul," and as the "Bishop of Soul," and described as "the Muhammad Ali of soul," and as "the most unfairly overlooked singer of soul's golden age."

Burke was "the founding father of what was defined as soul music in America in the 1960s," and "a major architect of 1960s soul, infusing post-World War II R'n'B with [his] gospel roots." and "a key transitional figure bridging R'n'B and soul,"

Burke's "sound was a bold merger of orchestrated sophistication and countryish, down-home grit, and his best singles built a Gothic sense of drama and heartbreak. These tracks bridged the gap between the more mannered mainstream rhythm and blues of the Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller songwriting team of the 1950s, as exemplified by the Coasters and Drifters, and the gruffer Southern styles of the later '60s, as heard on the Stax Records sides of Otis Redding and Sam & Dave.

At one time considered by Jerry Wexler to be "the greatest male soul singer of all time," Burke was "a singer whose smooth, powerful articulation and mingling of sacred and profane themes helped define soul music in the early 1960s." Burke drew from his roots: gospel, soul, and blues, as well as developing his own style at a time when R&B, and rock were both still in their infancy.

Artistically, Burke was influenced by the music of the church, as well as by Little Richard. Described as both "Rabelaisian" and also as a "spiritual enigma," "Perhaps more than any other artist, the ample figure of Solomon Burke symbolized the ways that spirituality and commerce, ecstasy and entertainment, sex and salvation, individualism and brotherhood, could blend in the world of 1960s soul music."

During the 55 years that he performed professionally, Burke released 38 studio albums on more than 17 record labels and had 35 songs that charted, including 26 songs that made the Billboard R'n'B charts, including "Got to Get You Off My Mind" that was #1 in the summer of the 1965, and an additional 9 songs that were only listed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including 1964's seminal “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love”.

Burke had over 30 songs make the Cash Box R'n'B charts, with "Got to Get You Off My Mind" reaching #1, and 23 that charted on their pop chart hits, with seven making Cash Box's Top 40.

In 2001, Burke was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a performer. His album Don't Give Up on Me won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 45th Grammy Awards in 2003. By 2005 Burke was credited with selling 17 million albums. Rolling Stone ranked Burke as #89 on its 2008 list of "100 Greatest Singers of All Time."

On February 13, 2011, in his first live appearance at the Grammy Awards, Mick Jagger, who had been influenced by Burke, paid tribute to Burke in the Grammy Awards "In Memoriam' segment by singing "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love," backed by Raphael Saadiq and his band.

Merry CLAYTON

⬇️ MERRY CLAYTON ⬇️

(2CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Merry Clayton (born December 25, 1948, Gert Town, New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American soul and gospel singer (both solo and back-up), and an actress. She has provided a number of back-up vocal tracks to songs recorded by major performing artists during the 1960s, most notably with her duet with Mick Jagger on The Rolling Stones song "Gimme Shelter".

Clayton began her recording career in 1962 at the age of fourteen, singing "Who Can I Count On? (When I Can't Count On You)" as a duet with Bobby Darin on his album "You're The Reason I'm Living". A year later, she recorded the first version of "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)", although it was Betty Everett's version of the same year that reached the top 10 in the Billboard Hot 100.

Her early career included performances with artists including Ray Charles (as one of The Raelettes), Pearl Bailey, Elvis Presley, Phil Ochs, and Burt Bacharach. In 1971 she co-wrote the song "Sho' Nuff", which is about her mother. She contributed vocals to Nicholas Roeg's 1968 film Performance.

Clayton also sang backup on several tracks from Neil Young's debut album Neil Young, originally released in 1968.

She is best known for her 1969 performance in a duet with Mick Jagger on the Rolling Stones song "Gimme Shelter". (Originally, the Stones had intended to have Bonnie Bramlett sing, but Bramlett was not available, possibly due to illness.) Clayton also sang backing vocals on Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama". Also, early in her career, Clayton sang backup vocals for Tom Jones, Joe Cocker ("Feelin' Alright") and Carole King.

She also originated the role of the Acid Queen in the original 1972 London production of The Who's Tommy. More recently, Clayton has provided background vocals for Sparta's latest album Threes on the songs "Atlas" and "Translation". As an actress, she co-starred with Ally Sheedy in the 1987 film Maid to Order, and played Verna Dee Jordan in the final season of Cagney and Lacey.

In 1970, Clayton recorded her own version of "Gimme Shelter," and it became the title track of her debut solo album, released that year. Her version would be the first of five singles under her name to crack the Billboard Hot 100, reaching #73. She continued to release solo albums throughout the next decade, notching several minor R'n'B singles. Clayton performs a live version of what has been deemed the Black National Anthem Lift Every Voice and Sing, on the soundtrack for the 1970 Robert Altman film Brewster McCloud.

Clayton sang "You're Always There When I Need You," the main title for 1980's The Nude Bomb, the first Get Smart movie, which starred Don Adams. She also sang the song "Yes" that was in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing, and featured on the soundtrack album. This tune became her biggest hit to date to crack the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #45 in 1988. She also recorded backing vocals for and sang the infamous 'Man with the Golden Gun' bridge on Tori Amos's 1994 hit, "Cornflake Girl".

LES GENIES DU ROCK

⬇️LES GENIES DU ROCK⬇️

COLLECTION (114CD @FLAC)

ALBUMS CD01 Chuck Berry CD02 Jerry Lee Lewis CD03 Gene Vincent CD04 Les Yardbirds CD05 Les Beach Boys Jan & Dean CD06 Bo Diddley CD07 Carl Perkins CD08 The Animals CD09 Rod Stewart CD10 Muddy Waters CD11 Wanda Jackson CD12 Johnny Cash CD13 Spooky Tooth CD14 Etta James CD15 Chubby Checker CD16 The Shangri-Las CD17 The Meters CD18 Hawkwind CD19 Hank Ballard CD20 Roy Orbison CD21 Humble Pie CD22 The Isley Brothers CD23 The Nice CD24 John Lee Hooker CD25 Chicago CD26 Gene Chandler CD27 The Shirelles CD28 Iggy Pop CD29 Flamin' Groovies CD30 Gun Club CD31 Vince Taylor CD32 Lee Dorsey CD33 Billy Lee Riley CD34 Elmore James CD35 Percy Sledge CD36 Willie Nelson CD37 New Psychedelic Sound CD38 Magma CD39 Jimi Hendrix CD40 The Drifters CD41 Bill Haley CD42 Soft Machine CD43 Sam & Dave Solomon Burke CD44 Ricky Nelson CD45 Dr. John CD46 Louis Jordan CD47 Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers CD48 Rock in Australia CD49 Caravan CD50 Little Richard CD51 The Standells CD52 Daevid Allen CD53 The Staple Singers CD54 Gene Pitney CD55 Steely Dan CD56 The 13TH Floor Elevators CD57 Van Der Graaf Generator CD58 Marvin Gaye CD59 Doobie Brothers CD60 Ike & Tina Turner CD61 Mick Taylor CD62 The Johnny Otis Show CD63 Del Shannon CD64 Inmates CD65 Amon Duul II CD66 Lightnin' Hopkins CD67 Small Faces CD68 Sly & The Family Stone CD69 Desmond Dekker CD70 Peter, Paul & Mary CD71 Jimmy Page CD72 Jerry Butler CD73 Stiv Bators CD74 Jeff Beck CD75 Bob Marley CD76 Bobby Fuller Four CD77 The Stooges CD78 Santana CD79 Gladys Knight & the Pips CD80 John Mayall CD81 The Soul Stirrers Sam Cooke CD82 Kevin Ayers CD83 Brian Auger & Julie Driscoll CD84 Albert King Otis Rush CD85 Linton Kwesi Johnson CD86 Graham Bond Organisation CD87 Van Morrison CD88 Curtis Mayfield CD89 Herman's Hermits CD90 The Ink Spots CD91 British Ska CD92 Kenny Rogers CD93 The Righteous Brothers CD94 Aynsley Dunbar CD95 New York Dolls CD96 Stray Cats CD97 The Sweet CD98 The Bollock Brothers CD99 The Nerves Jack Lee Plimsouls CD100 Link Wray CD101 Tangerine Dream CD102 The Kinks CD103 Status Quo CD104 The Searchers CD105 Gary Moore CD106 Motörhead CD107 The Damned CD108 Fletwood Mac CD109 Uriah Heep CD110 Donovan CD111 Gary Numan CD112 Sex Pistols CD113 Madonna & Werner Von Wernherr CD114 Rock Français

Aretha FRANKLIN

⬇️ ARETHA FRANKLIN ⬇️
(Aretha Louise Franklin)
DISCOGRAPHY 1956-2022 (223CD/DVD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

       

Aretha Louise Franklin (born March 25, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R'n'B, gospel music, and rock.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All Time as well as the ninth greatest artist of all time. She has won 18 competitive Grammys and two honorary Grammys. She has 20 No.1 singles on the Billboard R'n'B Singles Chart and two No.1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: "Respect" (1967) and "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (1987), a duet with George Michael.

Since 1961, she has scored a total of 45 Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. She also has the most million-selling singles of any female artist.

Between 1967 and 1982 she had 10 No.1 R'n'B albums -more than any other female artist. In 1987, Franklin became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

She was the only featured singer at the 2009 presidential inauguration of Barack Obama.

Lily WILDE

⬇️ LILY WILDE ⬇️

& Her Jumpin' Jubilee Orchestra
(2CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Known as one of the West Coast’s most respected rhythm & blues singers, Lily Wilde began life surrounded by music and art.

Her mother Joyce’s favorite story is that of a little Lily adding a fifth harmony while singing along to her parent’s Hi-Lo’s records back in Toronto, where she was born and spent the first five years of her life. Wilde’s father,

Calvin Jackson, was a world-renowned pianist, composer, and arranger with a career that began in the 30s and continued until his death in 1985 while working on arrangements for a 31 piece concert jazz orchestra.....

Ann COLE

⬇️ ANN COLE ⬇️

(Cynthia Coleman)

(4CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Ann Cole (born Cynthia Coleman; Jan. 24 or 29, 1934 – Nov. 1986) was an American R&B and gospel singer who has been described as "a genuinely great soul singer who had the misfortune to be too far ahead of her time". She had several minor hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but is now most noted as the original performer of "Got My Mojo Working", later popularised by Muddy Waters.

She was born in Newark, New Jersey; her father Wallace and her uncles were members of a spiritual vocal group, the Coleman Brothers. In 1949, she formed her own singing group, the Colemanaires, with Joe Walker, Sam Walker, and Wesley Johnson. They toured throughout the US, with Cynthia as lead singer, and released several gospel records in 1953–54 on the Timely and Apollo labels. She released her first secular recordings on the Timely label in 1954, using the pseudonym "Ann Cole", and performed as a singer and pianist in bars around New York City and New Jersey.

There, she was discovered by Sol Rabinowitz who was establishing a new company, Baton Records. Her first recording for Baton, a cover version of Sheb Wooley's country song "Are You Satisfied?", featuring guitar work by Mickey Baker, reached no. 10 on the Billboard R&B chart in early 1956. Later that year, she was voted the Most Promising Female R&B Vocals by Cash Box magazine. Her fourth single for Baton, "In The Chapel", on which she was backed by vocal group the Suburbans, also reached the R&B chart, in 1957.

Late in 1956, she went on a short tour through the Southern states with Muddy Waters, during which she regularly performed a new song written by Preston Foster, "Got My Mo-Jo Working". The song impressed Muddy Waters, who recorded it when he returned to Chess Records, adding some of his own words and allocating himself the songwriting credit. Ann Cole also recorded the song for Baton Records in January 1957, as a follow-up to "In The Chapel". Both versions of the song were released in the same week, but neither made the charts. A later court case resolved a dispute over the song's writing credit in favour of Foster.

Ann Cole continued to record for Baton, with little success, until 1958, and is also believed to be the uncredited female singer on Fats Domino's record "When I See You". She later recorded for the Sir, MGM and Roulette labels. Her only record for Roulette was "Have Fun", which reached no.21 on the R&B chart at the end of 1962; its B-side, "Don't Stop The Wedding", an answer song to Etta James' "Stop The Wedding", reached no.99 on the pop chart. Soon afterwards, she was involved in a serious car accident, which ended her musical career and confined her to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

She died of a heart failure in her sleep in November 1986, aged 52. A compilation of her recordings, In the Chapel – 30 Of Her Greatest Hits!, was issued on CD in 2001. (Wikipedia)

Wynona CARR

⬇️ WYNONA CARR ⬇️

(Wynona Merceris Carr / Sister Wynona Carr)

(4CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Wynona Merceris Carr (August 23, 1923 - May 11, 1976) was an American gospel, R&B and rock and roll singer-songwriter, who recorded as Sister Wynona Carr when performing gospel material.

Carr was born in Cleveland, Ohio, where she started out as a gospel singer, forming her own five-piece group The Carr Singers around 1945 and touring the Cleveland/Detroit area. Being tipped by the Pilgrim Travelers, who shared a bill with Carr in the late 1940s, Art Rupe signed her to his Specialty label, giving Carr her new stage name "Sister" Wynona Carr (modelled after pioneering gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe) and cutting some twenty sides with her from 1949 to 1954, including a couple of duets with Specialty's biggest gospel star at the time, Brother Joe May.

Not having too much success on the charts (except for "The Ball Game" [1952], which became one of Specialty's best selling gospel records and most recently featured in the movie 42), Carr grew increasingly unhappy with the straight gospel direction of her career and pleaded with Rupe to let her record "pops, jumps, ballads, and semi-blues". Rupe relented and from 1955 to 1959 Carr recorded two dozen rock and roll and R&B sides for Specialty, which, like her gospel songs, she mostly wrote herself.

Despite scoring an R&B hit with "Should I Ever Love Again?" in 1957, overall the change from spiritual to secular music did not help Carr in terms of sales or recognition. She also contracted tuberculosis around this time, which kept her from doing the necessary promotional work and touring for two years, effectively ending her tenure with Specialty in mid 1959.

In 1961, Carr signed with Frank Sinatra's Reprise Records and released an unsuccessful pop album. She moved back to Cleveland, sinking into obscurity and suffering from declining health and depression; she died there in 1976..... (Wikipedia)

Irma THOMAS

⬇️ IRMA THOMAS ⬇️

(Irma Lee)

DISCOGRAPHY 1964-2015 (43CD/DVD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Irma Thomas (born February 18, 1941) is an American singer from New Orleans. She is known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans".

Thomas is a contemporary of Aretha Franklin and Etta James, but never experienced their level of commercial success. In 2007, she won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album for After the Rain, her first Grammy in a career spanning over 50 years.

Born Irma Lee, in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, United States, as a teenager she sang with a Baptist church choir. She auditioned for Specialty Records at the age of 13. By the time she was 19, she had been married twice and had four children. Keeping her second ex-husband's surname, she worked as a waitress in New Orleans, occasionally singing with bandleader Tommy Ridgley, who helped her land a record deal with the local Ron label. Her first single, "Don't Mess with My Man", was released in late 1959, and reached number 22 on the US Billboard R&B chart.

She then began recording on the Minit label, working with songwriter and producer Allen Toussaint on songs including "It's Raining" and "Ruler of My Heart", which was later reinterpreted by Otis Redding as "Pain in My Heart". Imperial Records acquired Minit in 1963, and a string of successful releases followed. These included "Wish Someone Would Care", her biggest national hit; its B-side "Breakaway", written by Jackie DeShannon and Sharon Sheely (later covered by Tracey Ullman, among others).

"Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)" was co-written by a young Randy Newman and future country star Jeannie Seely. This song has gained renewed appreciation as a result of its inclusion in numerous episodes of the science fiction anthology television series Black Mirror, stretching back to the first season. On its B-side is "Time Is on My Side", a song previously recorded by Kai Winding and later by the Rolling Stones.

Her first four Imperial singles all charted on Billboard's pop chart, but her later releases were less successful. Unlike her contemporaries Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight and Dionne Warwick, she never managed to cross over into mainstream commercial success. She recorded for Chess Records in 1967–1968 with some success; her version of the Otis Redding song "Good to Me" reached the R&B chart. She then relocated to California, releasing records on various small labels, before returning to Louisiana, and in the early 1980s opened the Lion's Den Club.

Down by Law, the 1986 independent film by Jim Jarmusch featured "It's Raining" in the soundtrack. The film's actors Roberto Benigni and Nicoletta Braschi, whose characters fell in love in the movie, danced to the song.

After several years' break from recording, she was signed by Rounder Records, and in 1991 earned her first Grammy Award nomination for Live! Simply the Best, recorded in San Francisco. She subsequently released a number of traditional gospel albums, together with more secular recordings. The album Sing It! (1998) was nominated for a Grammy in 1999..... (Wikipedia)