⬇️ ROSCOE SHELTON ⬇️
DISCOGRAPHY 1995-2017 (10CD)
Shelton was born in Lynchburg, Tennessee, and raised in Nashville,
Tennessee. In 1949 he joined the Fairfield Four, singing lead vocals
on their gospel music recordings. He then spent four years as a
draftee in the United States Air Force. Upon discharge he joined the
Skylarks in 1956 and recorded for Excello's subsidiary label
Nashboro Records. After the group disbanded, Shelton sang alongside
and toured with both Bobby Hebb and DeFord Bailey, Jr.
In 1961 Shelton's debut album, Roscoe Shelton Sings, was released
by Excello, and various singles followed, including "Strain on My
Heart" (1965). The track was a Top 40 success on the Billboard
R&B chart. By this time Shelton's recordings were released by
Sound Stage 7, including another Top 40 hit, "Easy Going Fellow."
His next album, Soul in His Music, Music in His Soul, was released
in 1966, but the long gap between albums stalled his career.
However, Shelton performed on the same bill as Otis Redding at the
Apollo Theater.
The deaths of Redding and Sam Cooke, who had been friends of
Shelton's, took their toll on him. Shelton left the music industry
in 1969 and went to work for the Meharry Medical College, in
Nashville. In 1994 Shelton, Earl Gaines, and Clifford Curry found
work billed as the Excello Legends. In 1995, Shelton's song "You
Were the Dream" was used in the soundtrack of the film Blue
Juice.
Shelton resumed recording with the producer Fred James, releasing,
amongst others, the album Let It Shine in 1998, and Shelton's and
Gaines's joint effort Let's Work Together.
Shelton died of cancer in Nashville, in July 2002, at the age of
70.
Two years after his death, Shelton's "Say You Really Care" was
included on the Grammy Award–winning compilation album Night Train
to Nashville.