1.
R&B
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Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated as R&B or RnB, is a genre of popular African-American music that originated in the 1940s. In the commercial rhythm and blues music typical of the 1950s through the 1970s, R&B lyrical themes often encapsulate the African-American experience of pain and the quest for freedom and joy. Lyrics focus heavily on the themes of triumphs and failures in terms of relationships, freedom, economics, aspirations, the term rhythm and blues has undergone a number of shifts in meaning. In the early 1950s it was applied to blues records. This tangent of RnB is now known as British rhythm and blues, by the 1970s, the term rhythm and blues changed again and was used as a blanket term for soul and funk. In the 1980s, a style of R&B developed, becoming known as Contemporary R&B. It combines elements of rhythm and blues, soul, funk, pop, hip hop, popular R&B vocalists at the end of the 20th century included Michael Jackson, R. Kelly, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, and Mariah Carey. Although Jerry Wexler of Billboard magazine is credited with coining the term rhythm and blues as a term in the United States in 1948. It replaced the term race music, which came from within the black community. The term rhythm and blues was used by Billboard in its chart listings from June 1949 until August 1969, before the Rhythm and Blues name was instated, various record companies had already begun replacing the term race music with sepia series. In 2010 LaMont Robinson founded the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame Museum, writer and producer Robert Palmer defined rhythm & blues as a catchall term referring to any music that was made by and for black Americans. He has used the term R&B as a synonym for jump blues, however, AllMusic separates it from jump blues because of its stronger, gospel-esque backbeat. Lawrence Cohn, author of Nothing but the Blues, writes that rhythm, according to him, the term embraced all black music except classical music and religious music, unless a gospel song sold enough to break into the charts. Well into the 21st century, the term R&B continues in use to music made by black musicians. In the commercial rhythm and blues music typical of the 1950s through the 1970s, arrangements were rehearsed to the point of effortlessness and were sometimes accompanied by background vocalists. Simple repetitive parts mesh, creating momentum and rhythmic interplay producing mellow, lilting, while singers are emotionally engaged with the lyrics, often intensely so, they remain cool, relaxed, and in control. The bands dressed in suits, and even uniforms, an associated with the modern popular music that rhythm. Lyrics often seemed fatalistic, and the music typically followed predictable patterns of chords, there was also increasing emphasis on the electric guitar as a lead instrument, as well as the piano and saxophone
2.
The Recording Academy
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The Recording Academy is a U. S. organization of musicians, producers, recording engineers and other recording professionals. The Recording Academy is headquartered in Santa Monica, neil Portnow is the current president of The Academy. The Recording Academy, which began in 1957, is known for its Grammy Awards, in 1997, the Recording Academy launched The Latin Recording Academy, which produces the Latin Grammy Awards. Michael Greene was the founder and the first President of the Latin Grammys, the origin of the Academy dates back to the beginning of the 1950s Hollywood Walk of Fame project. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce asked the help of recording industry executives in compiling a list of people in the music business who should be honored by Walk of Fame stars. This was the start of the Academy and also of the Grammy Awards, the Producers and Engineers Wing is a part of the academy made up of producers, engineers, mixers, and other technically involved professionals. It is composed of almost 6,000 members, the producers and engineers wing addresses various aspects of issues facing the recording profession. They also support music and recording arts education, the P&E Wing also advocates for the use of professional usage of recording technology as well as the preservation of recordings. The members of this division make up a portion of those who vote on the Grammy Awards each year. The Grammy University Network is an organization for students who are pursuing a career in the music industry. It offers forms of networking, interactive experiences and programs, advice from music professionals. The Recording Academy supports the MusiCares Foundation, an organization which provides money. The Academy has twelve chapters in various locations in the United States, the twelve chapters are, Atlanta, Chicago, Florida, Los Angeles, Memphis, Nashville, New York City, Pacific Northwest, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Texas and Washington D. C. List of music organizations in the United States The Latin Recording Academy Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences The Recording Academy Producers and Engineers Wing
3.
Grammy Award
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A Grammy Award, or Grammy, is an honor awarded by The Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the mainly English-language music industry. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and the presentation of awards that have a more popular interest. It shares recognition of the industry as that of the other performance awards such as the Emmy Awards, the Tony Awards. The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4,1959, to honor, following the 2011 ceremony, The Academy overhauled many Grammy Award categories for 2012. The 59th Grammy Awards, honoring the best achievements from October 2015 to September 2016, was held on February 12,2017, the Grammys had their origin in the Hollywood Walk of Fame project in the 1950s. The music executives decided to rectify this by creating a given by their industry similar to the Oscars. This was the beginning of the National Academy of Recording Arts, after it was decided to create such an award, there was still a question of what to call it, one working title was the Eddie, to honor the inventor of the phonograph, Thomas Edison. They finally settled on using the name of the invention of Emile Berliner, the gramophone, for the awards, the number of awards given grew and fluctuated over the years with categories added and removed, at one time reaching over 100. The second Grammy Awards, also held in 1959, was the first ceremony to be televised, the gold-plated trophies, each depicting a gilded gramophone, are made and assembled by hand by Billings Artworks in Ridgway, Colorado. In 1990 the original Grammy design was revamped, changing the traditional soft lead for a stronger alloy less prone to damage, Billings developed a zinc alloy named grammium, which is trademarked. The trophies with the name engraved on them are not available until after the award announcements. By February 2009,7,578 Grammy trophies had been awarded, the General Field are four awards which are not restricted by genre. Album of the Year is awarded to the performer and the team of a full album if other than the performer. Record of the Year is awarded to the performer and the team of a single song if other than the performer. Song of the Year is awarded to the writer/composer of a single song, Best New Artist is awarded to a promising breakthrough performer who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording that establishes the public identity of that artist. The only two artists to win all four of these awards are Christopher Cross, who won all four in 1980, and Adele, who won the Best New Artist award in 2009 and the other three in 2012 and 2017. Other awards are given for performance and production in specific genres, as well as for other such as artwork. Special awards are given for longer-lasting contributions to the music industry, the many other Grammy trophies are presented in a pre-telecast Premiere Ceremony earlier in the afternoon before the Grammy Awards telecast
4.
Babyface (musician)
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For the guitarist and Beard Of Wales, see Thee Faction. Kenneth Brian Edmonds, known professionally as Babyface, is an American singer, songwriter and he has written and produced over 26 number-one R&B hits throughout his career, and has won 11 Grammy Awards. Edmonds was born on April 10,1959, in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Marvin, Barbara was a production operator at a pharmaceutical plant. Edmonds, who is the fifth of six brothers, attended North Central High School in Indianapolis, Indiana, when he was in eighth grade, Edmonds father died of lung cancer, leaving his mother to raise her sons alone. At this stage, Edmonds became determined to have a career in music, Edmonds later played with funk performer Bootsy Collins, who tagged him Babyface because of his youthful look. He also performed in the group Manchild as a guitarist and he played keyboards in the light-funk and R&B group the Deele. One of his first major credits as a songwriter for outside artists came when he wrote the tune Slow Jam for the R&B band Midnight Star in 1983, Babyface remained in the Deele until 1988, when both he and Reid left the group. His album Playlist consists of eight songs and two original works. It was released on September 18,2007 and it was the first album on the newly re-launched Mercury Records label. On February 4,2014, he released a Grammy Award-winning duet album with Toni Braxton titled Love, Marriage & Divorce on Motown Records. In the late 1980s, he contributed to the creation of new jack swing, writing and producing music for the likes of Bobby Brown, Karyn White, Pebbles, Paula Abdul, in 1989, Edmonds co-founded LaFace Records with Reid. Three of the early artists TLC, Usher, and Toni Braxton were very successful. TLCs second album CrazySexyCool, for which he wrote and produced some of the hits, under his direction, TLC was able to sell more than 60 million albums worldwide, and a combined total of 75 million records. Toni Braxtons first two albums, Toni Braxton and Secrets, for which he wrote the majority of the songs, Babyface helped form the popular late-1990s R&B group Az Yet. Edmonds also helped to mold and work some of his then-wife Tracey Edmonds acts, such as Jon B. Edmonds has worked with many performers in contemporary music. “I’m Your Baby Tonight”, produced for Whitney Houston, was his first No.1 Top 40 hit in the US. He also wrote and produced Boyz II Mens 1992 End of the Road and 1994 Ill Make Love to You and he received three consecutive Grammy Awards for Producer of the Year from 1995 to 1997
5.
Stevie Wonder
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Stevland Hardaway Morris, known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist. A child prodigy, he is considered to be one of the most critically and commercially successful musical performers of the late 20th century, Wonder signed with Motowns Tamla label at the age of 11, and he continued performing and recording for Motown into the 2010s. He has been blind since shortly after birth, Wonder is also noted for his work as an activist for political causes, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King Jr. s birthday a holiday in the United States. In 2009, Wonder was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace, in 2013, Billboard magazine released a list of the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists to celebrate the US singles charts 55th anniversary, with Wonder at number six. Stevie Wonder was born in Saginaw, Michigan, in 1950, the third of six children of Calvin Judkins and Lula Mae Hardaway, when Wonder was four, his mother left his father and moved to Detroit with her children. She changed her back to Lula Hardaway and later changed her sons surname to Morris. Wonder has retained Morris as his legal surname and he began playing instruments at an early age, including piano, harmonica and drums. He formed a partnership with a friend, calling themselves Stevie and John, they played on street corners. Before signing, producer Clarence Paul gave him the name Little Stevie Wonder, because of Wonders age, the label drew up a rolling five-year contract in which royalties would be held in trust until Wonder was 21. He and his mother would be paid a stipend to cover their expenses, Wonder received $2.50 a week. Wonder was put in the care of producer and songwriter Clarence Paul, tribute to Uncle Ray was recorded first, when Wonder was still 11 years old. Mainly covers of Ray Charless songs, it included a Wonder and Paul composition, the Jazz Soul of Little Stevie was recorded next, an instrumental album consisting mainly of Pauls compositions, two of which, Wondering and Session Number 112, were co-written with Wonder. At the end of 1962, when Wonder was 12 years old, he joined the Motortown Revue, at the Regal Theater, Chicago, his 20-minute performance was recorded and released in May 1963 as the album Recorded Live, The 12 Year Old Genius. A single, Fingertips, from the album was released in May. The song, featuring a confident and enthusiastic Wonder returning for a spontaneous encore that catches out the replacement bass player, was a No.1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 when Wonder was aged 13, making him the youngest artist ever to top the chart. The single was simultaneously No.1 on the R&B chart and his next few recordings, however, were not successful, his voice was changing as he got older, and some Motown executives were considering cancelling his recording contract. During 1964, Wonder appeared in two films as himself, Muscle Beach Party and Bikini Beach, but these were not successful either, sylvia Moy persuaded label owner Berry Gordy to give Wonder another chance. He also began to work in the Motown songwriting department, composing songs both for himself and his mates, including The Tears of a Clown, a No.1 hit for Smokey Robinson
6.
Bill Withers
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William Harrison Bill Withers, Jr. is an American singer-songwriter and musician who performed and recorded from 1970 until 1985. He recorded several hits, including Lean on Me, Aint No Sunshine, Use Me, Just the Two of Us, Lovely Day. Withers won three Grammy Awards and was nominated for four more and his life was the subject of the 2009 documentary film Still Bill. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015, Withers was born the youngest of six children in the small coal-mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia. He was born with a stutter and has said he had a hard time fitting in, raised in nearby Beckley, he was thirteen years old when his father died. Withers enlisted with the United States Navy at the age of 18 and served for nine years, during which time he got over his stutter, Mr. Withers left the Navy in 1965. Using the $250 he received from selling his furniture to IBM co-worker Ron Sierra, he picked up, when he debuted with the song Aint No Sunshine he refused to resign from his job because of his belief that the music business was a fickle industry. During early 1970, Withers demonstration tape was auditioned favorably by Clarence Avant, Avant signed Withers to a record deal and assigned former Stax Records stalwart Booker T. Jones to produce Withers first album. Four three-hour recording sessions were planned for the album, but funding caused the album to be recorded in three sessions with a break between the second and final sessions. Just as I Am was released in 1971 with the tracks, Aint No Sunshine, the album features Stephen Stills playing lead guitar. On the cover of the album, Withers is pictured at his job at Weber Aircraft in Burbank, California, at the 14th annual Grammy Awards on Tuesday, March 14,1972, Withers won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for Aint No Sunshine. The track had sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA in September 1971. During a hiatus from touring, Withers recorded his second album, the single, Lean on Me went to number one the week of July 8,1972. It was Withers second gold single with confirmed sales in excess of three million and his follow-up, Use Me released in August 1972, became his third million seller, with the R. I. A. A. Gold disc award taking place on October 12,1972 and his performance at Carnegie Hall on October 6,1972, was recorded, and released as the live album Bill Withers, Live at Carnegie Hall on November 30,1972. In 1974, Withers recorded the album +Justments, due to a legal dispute with the Sussex company, Withers was unable to record for some time thereafter. Footage of his performance was included in the 1996 documentary film When We Were Kings, other footage of his performance is included in the 2008 documentary film Soul Power which is based on archival footage of the 1974 Zaire concert. After Sussex Records folded, Withers signed with Columbia Records in 1975 and his first album release with the label, Making Music, Making Friends, included the single Shes Lonely, which was featured in the film Looking for Mr. Goodbar
7.
Alicia Keys
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Alicia Augello Cook, known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, pianist and actress. Keys released her album with J Records, having had previous record deals first with Columbia. Keys debut album, Songs in A Minor was released in 2001, producing her first Billboard Hot 100 number-one single Fallin, the album earned Keys five Grammy Awards in 2002. Her sophomore album, The Diary of Alicia Keys, was released in 2003, spawning successful singles You Dont Know My Name, If I Aint Got You and Diary, the duet song My Boo with Usher scored her a second number-one single in 2004. The album garnered her an additional four Grammy Awards in 2005, later that year, she released her first live album, Unplugged, becoming the first woman to have an MTV Unplugged album debut at number one. As I Am was released in 2007, producing the Hot 100 number-one single No One, selling 5 million copies worldwide, the Element of Freedom was released in 2009, becoming her first chart-topping album in the UK, and selling 4 million copies worldwide. Keys additionally collaborated with Jay Z on Empire State of Mind as her fourth number-one single, Girl on Fire was released in 2012 as her fifth Billboard 200 topping album, spawning the successful title track. Her second live album, VH1 Storytellers was released in 2013, Here was released in 2016, becoming her seventh R&B/Hip-Hop chart topping album. Keys made her first television appearance on The Cosby Show in 1985 as a four year old child and she made her film debut in Smokin Aces and later in The Nanny Diaries in 2007. Keys then had a NAACP Image Award nominated appearance in The Secret Life of Bees in 2008, Keys also made an appearance on season 2 of Empire in 2015. She is currently a coach on The Voice as of 2016, Keys has won numerous awards such as 15 Grammy Awards and 17 NAACP Image Awards. She has sold over 35 million albums and 30 million singles worldwide, considered a pop icon, Billboard magazine named her the top R&B artist of the 2000s decade and placed her number 10 on their list of Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years. Time named her in their 100 list of most influential people in 2005, Keys was born Alicia Augello Cook on January 25,1981, in the Hells Kitchen area of Manhattan, New York City. She is the child of Teresa, a paralegal and part-time actress, and Craig Cook. Keys father is African American and her mother is of Italian, Scottish, Keys has expressed that she was comfortable with her multiracial heritage because she felt she was able to relate to different cultures. Her parents separated when she was two and she was raised by her mother during her formative years in Hells Kitchen. Keys has 2 younger half brothers, Clay Cook and Cole Cook, in 1985, Keys made an appearance on The Cosby Show at the age of four, where she and a group of girls played the parts of Rudy Huxtables sleepover guests in the episode Slumber Party. Throughout her childhood, Keys was sent to music and dance classes by her mother and she graduated in four years as valedictorian at the age of 16
8.
Otis Redding
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Otis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, and talent scout. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and his singing style influenced many other soul artists of the 1960s. During his lifetime, his recordings were produced by Stax Records, based in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1958, he joined Johnny Jenkinss band, the Pinetoppers, with whom he toured the Southern states as a singer and driver. An unscheduled appearance on a Stax recording session led to a contract and his first single, These Arms of Mine, Stax released Reddings debut album, Pain in My Heart, two years later. Initially popular mainly with African-Americans, Redding later reached a wider American pop music audience, along with his group, he first played small gigs in the American South. He later performed at the popular Los Angeles night club Whisky a Go Go and toured Europe, performing in London, Paris and he also performed at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. Shortly before his death in a crash, Redding wrote. The song became the first posthumous number-one record on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts, the album The Dock of the Bay was the first posthumous album to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart. Already on the verge of bankruptcy, the label soon discovered that Atlantic Records owned the rights to his song catalog. Redding received many accolades, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In addition to The Dock of the Bay, Respect and Try a Little Tenderness are among his best-known songs, Redding was born in Dawson, Georgia, the fourth of six children, and the first son, of Otis Redding, Sr. and Fannie Mae Redding. Redding senior was a sharecropper and then worked at Robins Air Force Base, near Macon, when Otis was three the family moved to Tindall Heights, a predominantly African-American public housing project in Macon. At an early age, Redding sang in the Vineville Baptist Church choir and learned guitar, from age 10, he took drum and singing lessons. At Ballard-Hudson High School, he sang in the school band, every Sunday he earned $6 by performing gospel songs for Macon radio station WIBB. His passion was singing, and he often cited Little Richard, Redding said that he would not be here without Little Richard and that he entered the music business because of Richard – he is my inspiration. I used to sing like Little Richard, his Rock n Roll stuff and my present music has a lot of him in it. At age 15, Redding left school to help support his family, his father had contracted tuberculosis and was often hospitalized. He worked as a digger, as a gasoline station attendant
9.
Steve Cropper
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Steven Lee Cropper is an American guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M. G. s and he also acted as the producer of many of these records. He was later a member of the Blues Brothers band, rolling Stone magazine ranked him 39th on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. Born on a farm near Dora, Missouri, Cropper moved with his family to Memphis at the age of nine, bitten by the music bug, Cropper acquired his first mail order guitar at the age of 14. Personal guitar heroes included Tal Farlow, Chuck Berry, Jimmy Reed, Chet Atkins, Lowman Pauling of the Five Royales, Cropper and guitarist Charlie Freeman formed the Royal Spades, who eventually became the Mar-Keys. The name referred to the marquee outside Stax studios, known as Satellite Records at the time, eventually the Mar-Keys began playing on sessions and had a hit single of their own with Last Night in 1961. Besides being impressed with the guitarists playing, Stax Records president Jim Stewart saw professionalism. When American Records founder Chips Moman left Stax, Cropper became the companys A&R man. He became a member of the Stax house band Booker T. & the M. G. s, along with Hammond organ player Booker T. Jones, bassist Donald Duck Dunn. As a house guitarist he played on recordings such as the Dock of the Bay, co-written with and performed by Otis Redding. When Cropper played on the remake by the Blues Brothers. At this time, Croppers fame was not limited to the United States, the Beatles favoured Croppers playing, and his production on Otis Redding records. John Lennon and Paul McCartney made tentative plans to record in Memphis, however Brian Epstein cancelled the sessions, citing security problems. Regarding this period, Rob Bowman, in his book Soulsville U. S. A, the Story of Stax Records, quoted Booker T. In 1969, Cropper released his first solo album, With a Little Help From My Friends, when Cropper left Stax in the fall of 1970, the label lost one of its most successful producers and songwriters. Cropper then set up TMI Studios with Jerry Williams and former Mar-Key Ronnie Stoots, there he played guitar and produced various musicians including Tower of Power, Rod Stewart, John Prine, José Feliciano, The Jeff Beck Group, Ringo Starr and John Lennon. Its little-known that Cropper also played guitar on the cover of The Velvet Undergrounds Femme Fatale that appears on fellow Memphians Big Stars Third/Sister Lovers, by 1975, Cropper had moved to Los Angeles and along with Jackson and Dunn, reformed Booker T. & the M. Gs. Jackson, whom Cropper called the greatest drummer to ever walk the earth, was murdered in his Memphis home before the group could make their comeback
10.
(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay
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The Dock of the Bay is a song co-written by soul singer Otis Redding and guitarist Steve Cropper. It was recorded by Redding twice in 1967, including once just days before his death in a plane crash, the song was released on Stax Records Volt label in 1968, becoming the first posthumous single to top the charts in the US. It reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, Redding started writing the lyrics to the song in August 1967, while sitting on a rented houseboat in Sausalito, California. He completed the song with the help of Cropper, who was a Stax producer, the song features whistling and sounds of waves crashing on a shore. While on tour with the Bar-Kays in August 1967, Redding wrote the first verse of the song, under the abbreviated title Dock of the Bay, on a houseboat at Waldo Point in Sausalito and he had completed his famed performance at the Monterey Pop Festival just weeks earlier. While touring in support of the albums King & Queen and Live in Europe, he continued to scribble lines of the song on napkins and hotel paper. In November of that year, he joined producer and guitarist Steve Cropper at the Stax recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee, to record the song. In a September 1990 interview on NPRs Fresh Air, Cropper explained the origins of the song and he had been in San Francisco doing The Fillmore. And the story that I got he was renting boathouse or stayed at a boathouse or something, and thats about all he had, I watch the ships come in and I watch them roll away again. If you listen to the songs I collaborated with Otis, most of the lyrics are about him, Otis didnt really write about himself but I did. Songs like Mr. Pitiful, Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa, they were about Otis and Otis life, Dock of the Bay was exactly that, I left my home in Georgia, headed for the Frisco Bay was all about him going out to San Francisco to perform. Together, they completed the music and melancholy lyrics of The Dock of the Bay, from those sessions emerged Reddings final recorded work, including Dock of the Bay, which was recorded on November 22, with additional overdubs on December 8. Reddings restrained yet emotive delivery is backed by Croppers memorably succinct guitar playing, the song is somewhat different in style from most of Reddings other recordings. While discussing the song with his wife, Redding stated that he had wanted to be a little different with The Dock of the Bay, Redding had considered the song to be unfinished and planned to record what he considered a final version, but never got the chance. The song features a tune heard before the songs fade. It was originally performed by Redding, who had this little fadeout rap he was gonna do and he forgot what it was so he started whistling. Redding continued to tour after the recording sessions, on December 10, his charter plane crashed into Lake Monona, outside Madison, Wisconsin. Redding and six others were killed, after Reddings death, Cropper mixed Dock of the Bay at Stax Studios
11.
Chain of Fools
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Chain of Fools is a song written by Don Covay. Aretha Franklin first released the song as a single in 1967, the recording featured Covay singing and playing guitar, overdubbed with himself singing background. Listening to the demo, Wexler chose to place the song with Aretha Franklin rather than Redding and it reached number one on the U. S. R&B chart, staying there for four weeks, and went to number two on the pop chart in January 1968. It won the Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, in 2004, this song was ranked #249 on Rolling Stones list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The trademark tremolo guitar licks at the introduction were played by Joe South, the song was edited for LP &45, the original long version appeared on the quadrophonic LP The Best of Aretha Franklin in 1973, and on the 1995 Rhino remastering of Lady Soul. Live recordings have appeared on the albums Aretha in Paris and VH1 Divas Live and it is musically noteworthy in that its composed completely in a minor mode, and is one of the few hit songs based on just one chord. The tongue-in-cheek choreography by Heikki Värtsi included girl group dancing and Carola whipping a man in a cave, in 1969 jazz flutist Herbie Mann covered the song on his album Memphis Underground British Heavy Metal band Tank covered the song on their 1984 album Honour & Blood. In 1987, the Bulgarian singer Camellia Todorova, also known as Camy Todorow, did a version of the song. In 1989 the Spanish singer Germán Coppini did a version of this song called Barbazul for his second solo album. Carol Grimes also covered the song on her 1989 album Why Dont They Dance, Chain of Fools was one of the soul songs covered by the 1990 Irish film The Commitments. It was sung by The Commitments bands female singers The Commitmentettes and features in the movies self-titled soundtrack album, in 1990 the American hard rock band Little Caesar covered the song on their self-titled debut album. Clint Black with The Pointer Sisters also covered the song on the 1994 album project Rhythm, Country, a blues boogie version by R. L. Burnside appears on his 2000 album Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down. High & Mighty covered the song on their 1999 single, in 2000 Australian Rock artist Jimmy Barnes did a cover version of this song for his live album Soul Deeper. In 2001 the American Rock band Lit made a cover of the song for their album Atomic, in 2001, Italian group Zu covered the song with Eugene Chadbourne and Roy Paci on the 2001 album Motorhellington. A German version, entitled Schön, Schön, Schön, was published in 2003 by the German soul singer Stefan Gwildis, in the 2003 film School of Rock, the character Tomika performs part of the song as an audition to become a backing singer in the band. Fantasia Barrino performed a cover of the song on American Idol 3, Joe Cocker covered the song on his 2004 album Heart & Soul In 2005, cover version Chain of Fools, Revisited appeared on the album Timeless Playground by Milto Eph. Brazilian singers Pitty and Negra Li covered the song on 2007 EP Estúdio Coca-Cola - Pitty e Negra Li A version by Eva Cassidy appears on her 2008 album Somewhere, on American Idol season 7, contestant Syesha Mercado sang this song during Hollywood week. Nicole Scherzinger samples Chain of Fools in the New Kids on the Block song Grown Man,2009 Blues Music Award Nominee Jean Shy and her band The Shy Guys performed, and recorded this song live at an Open Air Concert in Duisburg, Germany
12.
Aretha Franklin
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Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter and musician. Franklin began her career singing gospel at her father, minister C. L. Franklins church as a child, in 1960, at the age of 18, Franklin embarked on a secular career, recording for Columbia Records but only achieving modest success. Following her signing to Atlantic Records in 1967, Franklin achieved commercial acclaim and success with such as Respect, A Natural Woman. These hits and more helped her to gain the title The Queen of Soul by the end of the 1960s decade, in 1998, Franklin won international acclaim for singing the opera aria Nessun dorma, at the Grammys of that year replacing Luciano Pavarotti. Later that same year, she scored her final Top 40 recording with A Rose Is Still a Rose, Franklin has won a total of 18 Grammy Awards and is one of the best-selling artists of all time, having sold over 75 million records worldwide. Franklin has been honored throughout her career including a 1987 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and she was inducted to the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. In August 2012, Franklin was inducted into the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame, Aretha Louise Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the daughter of Barbara and Clarence LaVaughn Franklin. Her father, who went by the nickname, C. L. was an itinerant preacher originally from Shelby, Mississippi, while her mother was a piano player. Alongside Franklin, her parents had three children while both C. L. and Barbara had children from outside their marriage. The family relocated to Buffalo, New York when Franklin was two, before her fifth birthday, C. L. Franklin permanently relocated the family to Detroit, Michigan where he took over the pastorship of New Bethel Baptist Church. Franklins mother died on March 7,1952, before Franklins tenth birthday, several women, including Franklins grandmother Rachel, and Mahalia Jackson took turns helping with the children at the Franklin home. During this time, Franklin learned how to play piano by ear, Franklins fathers emotionally driven sermons resulted in him being known as the man with the million-dollar voice and earning thousands of dollars for sermons in various churches across the country. Just after her mothers death, Franklin began singing solos at New Bethel, debuting with the hymn, Jesus, Be a Fence Around Me. Four years later, when Franklin was 14, her father began managing her and he helped his daughter get signed to her first recording deal with J. V. B. Records, where her first album, Songs of Faith, was issued in 1956, two singles were released to gospel radio stations including Never Grow Old and Precious Lord, Take My Hand. Franklin sometimes traveled with The Caravans and The Soul Stirrers during this time and developed a crush on Sam Cooke, after turning 18, Franklin confided to her father that she aspired to follow Sam Cooke to record pop music. Serving as her manager, C. L. agreed to the move and helped to produce a demo that soon was brought to the attention of Columbia Records. Franklin was signed as a five-percent artist, during this period, Franklin would be coached by choreographer Cholly Atkins to prepare for her pop performances
13.
Homer Banks
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Homer Banks was an African-American songwriter, singer and record producer, best known for his songs for Stax Records in the 1960s and 1970s. Many of the songs he wrote have become contemporary classics, Banks was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and at the age of 16 formed the Soul Consolidators gospel group which toured around the southern states, often performing his own material. After military service, he returned to Memphis in 1964, and started a career with the small Genie label where he met Isaac Hayes. Soon, Stax founder Estelle Axton hired him to work at the record shop attached to the companys Satellite Studios, one of his Minit recordings, A Lot of Love, provided the basic riff later used by the Spencer Davis Group on their hit Gimme Some Lovin. Jim Stewart at Stax refused to give Banks a contract as a singer and he began working with co-writer Allen Jones, placing songs with Johnnie Taylor and Sam and Dave, and also writing I Cant Stand Up For Falling Down, later a UK hit for Elvis Costello. Banks had greater success with the Staple Singers, writing their first Stax single Long Walk To DC, in 1968 he formed a songwriting trio with Bettye Crutcher and Raymond Jackson, calling themselves We Three. Their first song was Whos Making Love, which was recorded by Johnnie Taylor and became a #3 pop hit and #1 R&B hit, Banks twin brother James also worked for Stax, co-writing the companys last big hit, Shirley Browns Woman to Woman. After Stax folded, Homer Banks and Carl Hampton signed a deal with A&M Records and moved to California. In 1977, as Banks and Hampton, they recorded the album Passport To Ecstasy for Warner Bros, in the 1980s, Banks formed the Twos Company recording company with Lester Snell, which released albums by J. Blackfoot and Ann Hines. Banks and Brooks also produced the Intimate Storm album on the Sound Town Records label which included four singles that made the Billboard R&B Chart, all of these song were produced for World Production Company formed and owned by Banks, Reginald Jenkins and Chuck Brooks. Homer Banks died in Memphis of cancer, aged 61, Homer Banks at Find a Grave
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Who's Making Love
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Whos Making Love is a song written by Stax Records staffers Homer Banks, Bettye Crutcher, Don Davis and Raymond Jackson and recorded by singer Johnnie Taylor. Released on the Stax label in the summer of 1968, it became Taylors breakthrough single, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot R&B singles chart. It became one of the few singles Taylor would become known for in the mainstream. The song featured the Stax house band, Booker T. & the M. G. s and it was Taylors best-selling single before the release of Disco Lady almost a decade later. According to Bettye Crutcher, the lyrics were inspired by the 1920s novelty song Who Takes Care of the Caretakers Daughter, tony Joe White covered the song on his 1968 album Black and White. The Blues Brothers released a version as a single in 1980. Latvian Blues Band released a version on their 2013 live album Live at the Dream Factory. Christian McBride included the song in his 2013 album Out Here, lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
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Johnnie Taylor
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Johnnie Harrison Taylor was an American vocalist in a wide variety of genres, from blues, rhythm and blues, soul, and gospel to pop, doo-wop and disco. Johnnie Taylor was born in Crawfordsville, Arkansas and 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 Chicagos Chance Records label in the 1950s, as part of the gospel group Highway QCs, which had been founded by a young Sam Cooke. His singing then was close to that of Sam Cooke, and he was hired to take Cookes place in the latters gospel group. A few years later, after Cooke had established his independent SAR Records, Taylor signed on as one of the labels first acts, however, SAR Records quickly became defunct after Cookes death in 1964. In 1966, Taylor moved to Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee and he recorded with the labels house band, which included Booker T. & the MGs. His hits included I Had a Dream, Ive Got to Love Somebodys Baby and most notably Whos Making Love, Whos Making Love sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. In 1970, Taylor married Gerlean Rocket and they remained married until his death in 2000, I Believe in You also sold in excess of one million copies, and was awarded gold disc status by the R. I. A. A. in October 1973. He appeared in the film, Wattstax, which was released in 1973. After Stax folded in 1975, Taylor switched to Columbia Records and it spent four weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and six weeks at the top of the R&B chart. It peaked at #25 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1976, Disco Lady was the first certified platinum single by the RIAA. Taylor recorded several successful albums and R&B single hits with Davis on Columbia, before Brad Shapiro took over production duties. Z. Hills funeral in spring 1984, in 1996, Taylors eighth album for Malaco, Good Love. Reached number one on the Billboard Top Blues Albums chart, and was the biggest record in Malacos history, with this success, Malaco recorded a live video of Taylor at the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas, Texas, in the summer of 1997. The club portion of the Good Love video was recorded at 1001 Nightclub in Jackson, Taylors final song was Soul Heaven, in which he dreamed of being at a concert featuring deceased African-American music icons from Louis Armstrong to Otis Redding to Z. Z. Hill to The Notorious B. I. G. among others, in the 1980s, Johnnie Taylor was a DJ on KKDA-AM, a radio station in the Dallas area, where he had made his home. The stations format was mostly R&B and Soul oldies and their personalities were often local R&B, Soul, blues. Taylor was billed as The Wailer, Johnnie Taylor, Taylor died of a heart attack at Charlton Methodist Hospital in Dallas, Texas, on May 31,2000, aged 66
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Barrett Strong
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Barrett Strong is an American singer and songwriter. Strong was the first artist to record a hit for Motown, although he is best known for his work as a songwriter, among his most famous work at Motown, Strong wrote the lyrics for many of the songs recorded by the Temptations. He was born in West Point, Mississippi, Strong was among the first artists signed to Berry Gordys fledging label, Tamla Records, and was the performer on the companys first hit, Money, which reached No.2 US R&B in 1960. The single was released on Tamla, Motowns first label, but was then leased to the Anna label as it was getting airplay. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA, Strong claims that he co-wrote Money with Gordy and Janie Bradford, his name appears on the songs original copyright registration with the United States Copyright Office. Gordy disputed these claims, stating that Strongs name was included because of a clerical error. In the mid 1960s, Strong became a Motown writer lyricist, Strong received a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song in 1973 for Papa Was a Rollin Stone. Strong and Whitfield also co-wrote the ballad Just My Imagination, a 1971 Billboard No.1 that also marked the last Temptations single to feature original members Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams. After Motown moved its operations base from Detroit, Michigan, to Los Angeles, California, Strong left the label and he signed with Epic in 1972. Strong left the label for Capitol Records, where he recorded two albums in the 1970s. In the 1980s, Strong recorded Rock It Easy on an independent label, co-wrote the Dells Stay In My Corner, and wrote You Can Depend on Me and he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004. Strong has re-released his latest album, Stronghold II, which he wrote and composed in collaboration with rocker/songwriter Eliza Neals in 2008, in digital format only. In 2010, Strong appeared in Misery, his first music video in his fifty years of recording music, co-produced by Eliza Neals and Martin Tino Gross with Strong at the helm
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I Wish It Would Rain
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I Wish It Would Rain is a 1967 song recorded by the Temptations for the Motown label and produced by Norman Whitfield. The song is one of the most melancholy in the Temptations repertoire, with lead singer David Ruffin delivering, in a pained voice, the story of a heartbroken man who wants to hide his sorrow. His woman has just left him, and he wishes that it would start raining, producer Norman Whitfield devised much of the musical structure of the song, with former Motown artist Barrett Strong composing the songs signature piano intro on a piano with only ten working keys. Motown staff writer Roger Penzabene provided the songs lyrics, more so than a number of other Motown songs, there is real sentiment and pain behind the songs words. Lyricist Penzabene had just found out his wife was cheating on him with another man, the distraught Penzabene committed suicide on New Years Eve 1967, a week after the singles release. The single was the point of the Temptations 1968 album The Temptations Wish It Would Rain. I Wish It Would Rain has been covered by a number of artists, including Percy Sledge, marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin from Get It Right, Little Caesar, have also recorded versions of the song. Overseas, The Faces, recorded a 1973 cover and was a hit in the United Kingdom, gayes version, produced under a funk sound and featuring just him in vocals, was the B-side to his number-one hit Lets Get It On. Australian singer song-writer, Jon Stevens recorded and released a version of the song in 1994, the song peaked at number 49 in New Zealand. Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
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The Temptations
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The Temptations are an American vocal group known for their success with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. Known for their choreography, distinct harmonies, and flashy wardrobe, having sold tens of millions of albums, the Temptations are one of the most successful groups in music history. As of 2015, the Temptations continue to perform with one member, Otis Williams. Featuring five male vocalists and dancers, the formed in 1960 in Detroit. In 1964, Bryant was replaced by David Ruffin, who was the lead vocalist on a number of the groups biggest hits, including My Girl, Aint Too Proud to Beg, and I Wish It Would Rain. Ruffin was replaced in 1968 by Dennis Edwards, with whom the group continued to record hit records such as Cloud Nine, the groups lineup has changed frequently since the departures of Kendricks and Paul Williams from the act in 1971. Over the course of their career, the Temptations have released four Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles and fourteen R&B number-one singles, and their material has earned them three Grammy Awards. The Temptations were the first Motown recording act to win a Grammy Award - for Cloud Nine in 1969 -, six of the Temptations were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. Three classic Temptations songs, My Girl, Just My Imagination, the Temptations were also ranked at number 68 on Rolling Stone magazines list of the 100 Greatest Artists of all time. Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams started singing together in church as children, by their teenage years, they formed a doo-wop quartet in 1955 with Kell Osborne and Wiley Waller, naming themselves the Cavaliers. After Waller left the group in 1957, the trio left Birmingham to break into the music business. The group settled in Detroit where they changed their name to the Primes under the direction of Milton Jenkins, the Primes soon became well known around the Detroit area for their meticulous performances. Jenkins later created a group, The Primettes, later known as the Supremes. Kendricks was already seen as an idol in the Detroit area while Williams was well received for his baritone vocals. Texas teenager Otis Williams moved to Detroit as a youngster to be with his mother, by 1958, Williams was the leader of a vocal group named Otis Williams and the Siberians. The group included Elbridge Al Bryant, James Pee-Wee Crawford, Vernard Plain, the group recorded a song, Pecos Kid for a label run by radio deejay Senator Bristol Bryant. Shortly after its release, the changed its name to The El Domingoes. Following this, Montgomery native Melvin Franklin replaced Arthur Walton as bass vocalist and Franklins cousin, Detroit-born Richard Street, signing with Johnnie Mae Matthews Northern Records, the group had their name changed again to The Distants
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Candi Staton
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In Europe, her biggest selling record is the anthemic You Got the Love from 1986 released in collaboration with the Source. Staton was inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame, at the age of eleven or twelve, Staton and her sister Maggie were sent to the Jewell Christian Academy in Nashville, Tennessee. Her vocal abilities quickly set her apart from the crowd, the schools pastor teamed the two sisters with a girl to form the Jewell Gospel Trio. As teenagers, they toured the gospel circuit in the 1950s with the Soul Stirrers, C. L. Franklin. They recorded several sides for Nashbro, Apollo and Savoy Records between 1953 and 1963, Staton appeared on the September 23,1972 edition of Soul Train. It was remixed and re-released in 1986 reaching the UK Top 50, follow up song Destiny hit the Top 50 in the UK. Candis version of Nights on Broadway hit the UK Top 10 in 1977, in 1978, she scored another Top 50 hit in the UK with Honest I Do I Love You. In 1979, from her album Chance Staton released album single When You Wake Up Tomorrow and the title song Chance, other Dance club chart hits included When You Wake Up Tomorrow and Victim. In 1982, Candi again hit the UK chart with a version of Elvis Presleys Suspicious Minds, in 1996, singer Kym Mazelle recorded Young Hearts Run Free for the film adaption Romeo + Juliet of William Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet. In 1982, Staton returned to gospel music and she married her fourth husband, John Sussewell. Together they founded Beracah Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia with help from Jim and she has since recorded eight gospel albums, two of which received Grammy Award nominations. Staton signed with Intersound Records in 1995, in 2000, she released her eleventh album, Heres a Blessing. Two of Statons children, Cassandra Hightower and Marcus Williams, joined her on the CD, a second studio album for Honest Jons, titled Whos Hurting Now. Statons television show New Direction aired on TBN, Staton has also made appearances on the Praise the Lord telecast with Paul Crouch and his wife Jan Crouch. Staton has been married six times, Joe Williams 4 children, Marcus Williams Marcel Williams Terry Williams Cassandra Hightower Clarence Carter 1 child, Clarence Carter Jr
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Jerry Butler
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Jerry Butler, Jr. is an American soul singer and songwriter. He is also noted as being the lead singer of the famed R&B vocal group the Impressions, as well as a 1991 Rock. Butler is also an American politician and he serves as a Commissioner for Cook County, Illinois, having first been elected in 1985. As a member of this 17-member county board, he chairs the Health and Hospitals Committee, Butler was born in Sunflower, Mississippi in 1939. The mid-1950s had a impact on Butlers life. He grew up poor, having lived in Chicagos Cabrini–Green housing complex, music and the church provided solace from the poverty of the slums he lived in, and difficulties of a predominantly segregated society. He performed in a choir with Curtis Mayfield. As a teenager, Butler sang in a quartet called Northern Jubilee Gospel Singers. Mayfield, a player, became the lone instrumentalist for the six-member Roosters group. Inspired by Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers, the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, Butlers younger brother, Billy Butler, also had a career in the music industry, including playing guitar with Jerrys band, until his death in 2015. Butler co-wrote the song For Your Precious Love and wanted to record a disc, looking for recording studios, the Impressions, auditioned for Chess Records and Vee-Jay Records. The group eventually signed with Vee-Jay, where they released For Your Precious Love in 1958 and it became The Impressions first hit and gold record. Butler was dubbed the Iceman by WDAS Philadelphia disc jockey, Georgie Woods and he co-wrote, with Otis Redding, the song Ive Been Loving You Too Long in 1965. His 1969 Moody Woman release became a Northern Soul favourite and featured at number 369 in the Northern Soul Top 500, Butler released two successful albums, The Ice Man Cometh and Ice on Ice. The Ice Man Cometh garnered Butler three Grammy nominations and he collaborated on many of his successful recordings with the Philadelphia-based songwriting team, Gamble and Huff. With Motown, in 1976 and 1977, Butler produced and co-produced two albums, Suite for the Single Girl and It All Comes Out in My Song, subsequently, Butler and Wilson produced an album with Dee Dee Sharp-Gamble with Philadelphia International. In 1981 with Breaking and Entering / Easy Money, from Sharp-Gambles album Dee Dee, Butler continues to perform while serving as a Cook County Board Commissioner since the 1980s. As Cook County Commissioner, Butler voted to uphold a historic 2008 Cook County sales tax increase, as a result, the Chicago Tribune encouraged people to vote against him in the 2010 elections
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The Isley Brothers
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The Isley Brothers are an American musical group originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, originally a vocal trio consisting of brothers OKelly Isley, Jr. Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley. The group has cited as having enjoyed one of the longest, most influential. Alongside a fourth brother, Vernon, the group performed gospel music until Vernons death a few years after its formation, initially a modest charted single, the song eventually sold over a million copies. Influenced by gospel and doo-wop music, the group experimenting with different musical styles incorporating elements of rock. The inclusion of younger brothers Ernie Isley and Marvin Isley, for the next full decade, they recorded top-selling albums including The Heat Is On and Between the Sheets. The six-member lineup of the band splintered in 1983, with Ernie, Marvin, eldest member OKelly died in 1986 and Rudolph and Ronald released a pair of albums as a duo before Rudolph retired for life in the Christian ministry in 1989. Ronald re-formed the group two years later in 1991 with Ernie and Marvin, five later in 1996, Marvin Isley left the group due to complications of diabetes. The remaining duo of Ronald and Ernie accomplished mainstream success with the albums Eternal and Body Kiss, with the former album spawning the top twenty hit, as of 2016, the Isley Brothers continue to perform under the lineup of Ronald and Ernie. The Isley Brothers have had four Top 10 singles on the United States Billboard chart, sixteen of their albums charted in the Top 40. Thirteen of those albums have been certified gold, platinum or multi-platinum by the RIAA. The brothers have been honored by several institutions including being inducted to the Rock. Five years later, they were inducted to Hollywoods Rockwalk and in 2003, were inducted to the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. The Isley Brothers originally came from Cincinnati, Ohio, and were raised at the citys Lincoln Heights suburb, patterning themselves after groups such as Billy Ward and his Dominoes and the Dixie Hummingbirds, the brothers began performing together in 1954. Eventually they landed a spot on Ted Macks Amateur Hour where they won the competition, with Vernon on lead vocals, the quartet soon began touring all over the eastern US regions performing in a variety of churches. When Vernon was thirteen, he was killed after a car struck him as he was riding his bike in his neighborhood, eventually convinced to regroup, the brothers decided to record popular music and left Cincinnati for New York in 1957 with their parents blessings. With Ronnie assuming the lead position in the group, the group got into contact with Richard Barrett. The songs were only regional hits, however, by 1959, the group landed a recording deal with RCA Records. The original version of the peaked at 47 on the Billboard Hot 100
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General Johnson (musician)
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General Norman Johnson was the frontman of Chairmen of the Board and an American rhythm and blues songwriter and record producer. Johnson made a start in music when he began singing in his church choir at the age of six. His recording debut came six years later on Atlantic Records, who recorded his group the Humdingers, in 1961, and following a change in name to the Showmen, Johnson and the group recorded a single for Minit Records, It Will Stand. It was a hit in both 1961 and 1964. Although the Showmen recorded other offerings for Minit and Swan, including such hits as 39-21-46, Johnson attempted an abortive solo career before joining the then new Invictus label in Detroit, Michigan. Steered by Holland-Dozier-Holland, Johnson recruited Danny Woods, Harrison Kennedy and their debut single, Give Me Just a Little More Time, rose to #3 in the US Billboard R&B chart in 1970. Further hits included Dangling on a String and Everythings Tuesday, Johnson commenced a career as songwriter with Pay to the Piper, becoming a modest success for Chairmen of the Board. Other songs he wrote were successful when recorded by other musicians and these included the Grammy Award winning Patches for Clarence Carter. Invictus Records labelmates Honey Cone recorded the Johnson penned tracks Want Ads, Stick Up, also Johnson wrote Bring the Boys Home, for Freda Payne. Chairmen of the Boards popularity diminished in the middle of the 1970s, although Johnson, Johnson tried a solo career again in 1976, and his debut solo album on Arista Records was a modest success. He teamed up again with Woods in the decade, making a living on the beach music circuit. In 1993, having lost little of his vocal style, Johnson released another album, What Goes Around Comes Around. In recognition of the contribution that Johnson has made to American popular music, Johnson died on October 13,2010, in suburban Atlanta, Georgia. His obituary in The New York Times reported that his family attributed his death to complications of lung cancer, other obituaries did not mention lung cancer but did note that he was recovering from recent knee surgery
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Patches (Chairmen of the Board song)
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Patches is a country soul song written by General Johnson and Ron Dunbar and best known by the 1970 hit version of Clarence Carter. It won the 1971 Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Song, the song tells a story about how a boy born and raised in poverty in Alabama on a farm way back up in the woods took over responsibility for his family from his dying father. Patches was included on Chairmen of the Boards first album, The Chairmen of the Board, and was the B-side of the groups July 1970 single, Everythings Tuesday, their third chart hit. The blind southern soul singer Clarence Carter heard the song, later saying, I heard it on the Chairmen of the Board LP and liked it and it was my idea to make the song sound real natural. Carter recorded the song at the FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, with Hall as producer and musicians including Junior Lowe, Jesse Boyce, Carters recording was released in July 1970 and was described by a Billboard reviewer as a powerful blues item featuring a blockbuster vocal work-out. The record rose to #4 on the Hot 100, #2 on the R&B chart, following Carters success, the song won the 1971 Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Song for its writers, Johnson and Dunbar. A reggae version was recorded late in 1970 by The Rudies, another version by Canadian country singer Ray Griff reached #26 on the US country music chart the same year. The song was recorded by Jerry Reed in 1982, and by George Jones and B. B. King on the album Rhythm, Country. In 1984, the song was rewritten in Portuguese as Marvin by the Brazilian band Titãs, a later acoustic recording of the song, featured on the album Titãs - Acústico MTV, became popular in Brazil. A parody version of the performed by Joe Cumia, brother of Anthony Cumia of Opie and Anthony fame, titled Black Earl was often played on the Ron
24.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours
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Signed, Sealed, Delivered Im Yours is a soul single by Stevie Wonder, recorded for Motowns Tamla label. Released in June 1970, the spent six weeks at number one on the U. S. R&B chart. In the same year, the song was released on the album Signed, Sealed & Delivered. The song was arranged by Paul Riser and featured a distinctive sitar-guitar in the introduction and this song also marked Wonders first Grammy nomination. The award went to Ronald Dunbar and General Johnson for writing the Clarence Carter song Patches, in 2009 Stevie Wonder was welcomed by President Barack Obama to receive the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song by the Library of Congress. In 1977, Peter Frampton recorded the song on his album Im in You and his version also contains instrumental elements from Wonders hit For Once in My Life. Mick Jagger is featured on backing vocals, framptons version was released as a single, reaching number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 13 on the Cashbox Top 100. His cover also reached number 13 in Canada, shortly before being signed by Uni Records, Elton John recorded a cover of it for a collection of top hits of the day that were released as discount LP sound-alike versions. It was later released on several CD compilations, perhaps the most notable of which was Reg Dwights Piano Goes Pop, eltons version was later included under the end titles of the 2004 romantic comedy film Laws of Attraction starring Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore. In the early 1970s, Bobby Byrd performed a cover of this song on a single with other songs performed by James Brown. In 1975, The Osmonds covered the song, and it appears on their album Around the World, in 1976, Marcia Hines covered the song on her album, Shining. In 1980, co-writer Syreeta Wright released her own version of the song on her second self-titled album, in 1988, Chaka Khan released her album CK of which the song was the first track. Wonder played harmonica on Khans version, released in 1988, the TV special Meet the California Raisins. Featured the song covered by fictional band The California Raisins, during the mid-1990s, Mazda released a series of TV commercials that used a re-recorded version of the song, with the lyrics Here it is/Signed, sealed, delivered/Its yours. Including a Mazda 626 commercial from 1995, in 1995, Kim Wilde performed the track during the last episode of Dont Forget Your Toothbrush on UK television. Jazz fusion and contemporary jazz group Pieces of a Dream presented their version from the bands album Pieces, in 2003, for his first in a two-volume collection of Motown cover songs, Michael McDonald recorded his own version of the song. Later that same year, Wonder recorded a remake with British boy band Blue. The song hit number 11 in the UK charts, human Nature successfully remade the song to feature in their Motown album released in 2006
