Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin - (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (1988)
Live at the Fox Theatre, Detroit.
"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" is a 1967 single released by American soul singer Aretha Franklin on the Atlantic label. The record was a big hit for Franklin, reaching number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, and became a standard song for her.

Co-written by the celebrated writing-producing team of Carole King and Gerry Goffin, the song was inspired by Atlantic Records co-owner and producer Jerry Wexler. As recounted in his autobiography, Wexler, a student of African-American musical culture, had been mulling over the concept of the "natural man" when he drove by King on the streets of New York. He shouted out to her he wanted a "natural woman" song for Franklin's next album. In thanks, Goffin and King granted Wexler a co-writing credit.

It was recorded by Carole King on her landmark 1971 album Tapestry, and by Mary J. Blige, whose 1995 version, from the soundtrack of New York Undercover, also charted. Bobby Womack did a version of the song on his 1973 album Facts of Life with lyrics and title altered to "(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Man" Rod Stewart covered that version in 1974 for his album Smiler. Bonnie Tyler did a very succesful version of the song on her album Natural Force in 1978 wich also contained her biggest hit It´s a heartache.Céline Dion also recorded this song in 1995 for the Tapestry Revisited album. Franklin gave a live performance of the song alongside King, Dion, Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan and Shania Twain on the first VH1 Divas special in 1998. The song appears on the game Karaoke Revolution. - Wikipedia

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin - Sparkle - (1978)
Live in Edmington in Canada. Very rare footage. Written & produced by Curtis Mayfield.
Sparkle was also a successful film, and is something of a cult classic among African-American audiences. Its success was inspirational in the creation of the musical that would eventually debut on Broadway in 1981 as Dreamgirls.

In fact, one of Dreamgirls' central characters is named "Effie", the name of the Mary Alice character in Sparkle. The film's soundtrack album, featuring Aretha Franklin in place of the actresses in the film, was also a success. Two of Sparkle's stars, Dorian Harewood and Irene Cara, portray Alex Haley's parents in the 1979 miniseries Roots: The Next Generations.

Warner Bros. and Whitney Houston's BrownHouse Productions had planned a modernized remake of Sparkle at the turn of the 21st century. Aaliyah was signed to star as Sparkle, but died in August 2001 before production began.

Although the film was put on hold following the singer's death, Now the remake is in the beginning process with plans to cast R&B singers Alicia keys as Sister, Keyshia Cole as Dolores, Jordin Sparks as Sparkle, and Omarion as Stix.

Sparkle was released on VHS in the early 1990s. After being long out of print and unavailable save for television broadcasts, Sparkle was released on DVD on January 2, 2007. An abbreviated edition of the accompanying Aretha Franklin album was included on a bonus disc. - Wikipedia

Esther Phillips

Esther Philips - I Could Have Told You (1966)
By request only. Born Esther Mae Jones, 23 December 1935, Galveston, Texas, USA, d. 7 August 1984, Carson, California, USA. This distinctive vocalist was discovered by bandleader Johnny Otis. She joined his revue in 1949 where, performing as Little Esther, the teenage singer recorded two number 1 R&B singles, "Double Crossing Blues" and "Mistrustin' Blues'.

She then worked solo following the band's collapse, but by the middle of the decade Phillips was chronically addicted to drugs. In 1954 she retired to Houston to recuperate and did not fully resume recording until 1962. Phillips" version of "Release Me", a country standard that was later a hit for Engelbert Humperdinck, mirrored the blend of black and white music found, contemporaneously, in Ray Charles and Solomon Burke. An album, Release Me! - Reflections Of Country And Western Greats, consolidated this style, but when Phillips moved to the Atlantic Records label, her recordings assumed a broader aspect.

Polished interpretations of show tunes and standards contrasted a soul-based perspective shown in her retitled version of the John Lennon/Paul McCartney song, "And I Love Him", a performance showcased on the syndicated television show Around The Beatles. Her unique, nasal intonation was perfect for her 1966 hit, "When A Woman Loves A Man", while her several collaborations with the Dixie Flyers, the highly respected Criteria studio house band, were artistically successful.

The singer moved to Kudu Records in 1972 where she recorded the distinctly biographical "Home Is Where The Hatred Is", an uncompromising Gil Scott-Heron composition. The same label provided "What A Diff'rence A Day Makes" (1975), which reached the US Top 20 and the UK Top 10. She also completed two exceptional albums at this time, From A Whisper To A Scream and Alone Again Naturally, but was increasingly pushed towards a specialist rather than popular audience. Ill health sadly undermined this artist's undoubted potential, and in August 1984, Phillips died of liver and kidney failure. - Music.us

Ray Charles

Ray Charles/Raelettes - Whatd I Say (1959)
I remember watching this recording when I was very young and being very impressed with the whole concept of this live recording - classic. "What'd I Say" or "What I Say" is a two-part recording that was released in 1959 by rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles.

After Charles' run of R&B hits, this song finally broke Charles into mainstream pop and the song itself sparked a new sub-genre of rhythm and blues titled soul, finally putting together all the elements that Charles had been creating since he recorded "I Got a Woman". It was ranked at #10 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

According to Charles, while performing at a Milwaukee nightclub, he had performed the last song of his set, "Night Time Is the Right Time", when he was informed that there was another twelve minutes left in the show. Charles decided to fill the time by performing an impromptu version of the song that would eventually be recorded as What'd I Say. Charles told his backing band and female background singers, the Raelettes, to "just follow me". The song began on a Latin influenced drum beat and a Wurlitzer electric piano riff before Charles improvised his own lyrics to it.

As the band became more comfortable with the piece, Charles and the Raelettes started an impromptu call and response vocalization. Charles later said that the call and response section was "all about the sounds of making love". Although the song is usually listed as "What'd I Say", Charles always insisted that the name of the song is "What I Say" as heard on the track.

Executives at Charles' record label, Atlantic Records, expressed concerns that the song was "too risqué" and "too long". Radio station WAOK in Atlanta had recorded the tune as part of the live album Ray Charles in Person and placed their hot exclusive in heavy rotation. It became a hit.

Atlantic was convinced. To remedy the problem of length, in-house studio engineer Tom Dowd split the song into two parts. With Atlantic's backing, the new studio recording of "What'd I Say" was released as a single in the spring of 1959 and soon rose to the top of the charts. The song would peak at #1 on Billboard's R&B singles chart and #6 on the popular charts. - Wikipedia

Big Joe Turner

Big Joe Turner - Shake Rattle & Roll (1954)
In 1951 "Big" Joe started the first of 13 years with the fledgling Atlantic Records, where he became one of the very few jazz/blues singers of his generation who managed to regain healthy record sales in the teenage rock 'n' roll market during the mid- to late 50s.

His early Atlantic hits were largely blues ballads such as "Chains Of Love" and "Sweet Sixteen", but 1954 witnessed the release of Turner's "Shake Rattle And Roll" which, covered by artists such as Bill Haley and Elvis Presley, brought the 43-year-old blues shouter some belated teenage adoration. This was maintained with such irresistible (and influential) classics as "Hide And Seek" (1954), "Flip, Flop And Fly", "The Chicken And The Hawk" (1955), "Feelin' Happy" (1956) and "Teenage Letter" (1957).

At the height of rock 'n' roll fever, Atlantic had the excellent taste to produce a retrospective album of Turner singing his old Kansas City jazz and blues with a peerless band, featuring his old partner Pete Johnson. The album, The Boss Of The Blues, has since achieved classic status.In the late 50s, Atlantic's pioneering rock 'n' roll gave way to over-production, vocal choirs and symphonic string sections. In 1962 Turner left this fast-expanding independent company and underwent a decade of relative obscurity in the clubs of Los Angeles, broken by the occasional film appearance or sporadic single release on Coral and Kent. The enterprising Bluesway label reintroduced "Big" Joe to the general public.

In 1971 he was signed to Pablo Records, surrounded by old colleagues such as Count Basie, Eddie Vinson, Pee Wee Crayton, Jay McShann, Lloyd Glenn and Jimmy Witherspoon. He emerged irregularly to produce fine one-off albums for Blues Spectrum and Muse, and stole the show in Bruce Ricker's essential jazz film, The Last Of The Blue Devils. Turner's death in 1985 was as a result of 74 years of hard living, hard singing and hard drinking, but he was admired and respected by the musical community and his funeral included musical tributes by Etta James and Barbara Morrison. music.us

King Curtis Ousley

King Curtis - Memphis Soul Stew (1970)
In the late 60's I was mad on saxophone solos on great soul tunes. Responsible for many of them was Curtis Ousley. He was a must with Atlantic artistes like Aretha Franklin.

I had a few of his albums where he did cover versions of soul tunes of the day. This track though I thought was great because it introduced new music fans to what noises were making what on records. Describing it like it was a sort of a stew and these are the ingredients necessary, nice touch.

Curtis was born in Fort Worth, Texas. During the 1950s and early to mid 1960s he both worked as a session player on such records as "Yakety Yak" and recorded his own singles. He played on the Buddy Holly song "Reminiscing," after Buddy personally hired him to do some studio work. His best known singles from this period are "Soul Twist" (Enjoy Records) and "Soul Serenade" (Capitol Records).

In 1965 he moved to Atlantic Records, where his most successful singles were "Memphis Soul Stew" and "Ode to Billie Joe", both released in 1967. He led Aretha Franklin's backup band, The Kingpins, and produced records, at first with Jerry Wexler and then by himself. He also recorded for Groove Records.

One of his last releases was the critically acclaimed Live At Fillmore West which boasted heavyweight live versions of "Memphis Soul Stew" and Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" and Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered". Musicians Billy Preston (organ), Jerry Jemmott (bass), Cornell Dupree (guitar; Curtis had a long standing relationship with Dupree), Pancho Morales (percussion), Bernard Purdie (drums) and The Memphis Horns backed up Curtis.

The album's live version of Procol Harum's Whiter Shade of Pale was used as the title music in the seminal 1980s British comedy film Withnail & I. Curtis also played a rousing sax solo on "It's So Hard", a song featured on John Lennon's Imagine album, which was released just weeks after his death.

Joe Tex

Joe Tex - Show Me (1966)
I saw Joe live at Birmingham Odeon on the Soul Together tour in 1969 and was well impressed at his show. Joe did impersonations of Elvis, Ray Charles and others and was very good all round entertainer. I have a tape parts of that show.

The horn section was all psychedelic with flower patterned floppy hats and did they look cool. His show here though, three years earlier, is much more suit and ties, still good though!

Joe Tex (born Joseph Arrington Jr. and later known as Yusuf Hazziez following religious conversion 8 August 1933 — 13 August 1982), was an American soul and disco singer-songwriter most popular during the 1960s and 1970s. His style of speaking over music, which he called 'rap', made him a predecessor of the modern style of music.

Although early releases showed promise, it was not until 1965 that Tex prospered, guided by Nashville, Tennessee record producer, Buddy Killen. Recorded at the FAME studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and distributed by Atlantic on Killen's Dial record label, "Hold What You've Got" was a U.S. #5 pop hit. Others followed, namely "A Woman Can Change A Man", and "The Love You Save (May Be Your Own)" which were both slow ballads. But a change in tempo also brought hits such as "S.Y.S.L.J.F.M. (The Letter Song)" (1966), and "Show Me" (1967).

Gatemouth Brown

Gatemouth Brown & The Beat Boys - Midnight Hour/Philly Dog (1966)
Born in Vinton, Louisiana, Brown was raised in Orange, Texas. His professional musical career began in 1945, playing drums in San Antonio, Texas. Tagged with the "Gatemouth" handle by a high school instructor who accused Brown of having a "voice like a gate," Brown has used it to his advantage throughout his illustrious career.

He took note, and his fame took off, during his impromptu fill-in in a 1947 concert by T-Bone Walker in Don Robey's Bronze Peacock Houston nightclub. When Walker became ill, Brown took up his guitar and played "Gatemouth Boogie," to the delight of the audience.
In the 1960s he moved to Nashville, Tennessee to participate in a syndicated R&B television show the Beat!!! , and while he was there recorded several country singles. He struck up a friendship with Roy Clark and made several appearances on the television show Hee Haw. By the late 1960s he had decided to leave the music industry and he moved to New Mexico and became a deputy sheriff.

The Drifters

The Drifters - Under The Boardwalk (1982)
The Drifters were formed in 1953 and had many hits in that decade. George Treadwell who owned the 'Drifters' name sacked all members of the group after a bust-up and formed another group featuring Ben. E. King. The second group went through many line-up changes through the 1960's (over 60!!)

The Drifters moved to England and continued with unstable personnel lineups. Although early lineups included golden era singers Moore and Lewis, and later Ben E. King, having left the US, they virtually fell off the radar, but continued to have UK chart successes, notably "Like Sister & Brother", "Kissing in the Back Row of the Movies", "There Goes My First Love" and "You're More Than a Number in My Little Red Book".

Butch Leake and former Ink Spot Grant Kitchings replaced Sheppard and Thomas. Fredricks was replaced by Clyde Brown the next year, and Kitchings by Billy Lewis the year after. Leake was replaced by Joe Blunt in 1976, making the lineup Johnny Moore, Clyde Brown, Joe Blunt, and Billy Lewis. This year, Faye Treadwell renamed the group's management company Treadwell Drifters Inc.

Moore left in 1978 and was replaced by Ray Lewis. Blunt and Billy Lewis left in 1979 and were replaced by the returning Johnny Moore and former Temptations lead Louis Price. Moore left again in late 1982, along with Clyde Brown. They were replaced by two returning members, Benjamin Earl Nelson (a.k.a. Ben E. King) and Bill Fredricks.

Fredricks, Lewis, and Price all left in 1983, and were replaced by the returning Johnny Moore, Joe Blunt, and Clyde Brown. In 1986, the group split up, and the a new lineup was constructed by Treadwell, consisting of new member Jonah Ellis and former members Ray Lewis, Billy Lewis, and Louis Price. The next year, more former members came in as replacements, making the group Moore, Billy and Ray Lewis, and Gene Jenkins (replaced shortly after by George Chandler, then John Thurston). Ray Lewis was out in 1988, and was replaced by Joe Cofie. In 1989, Billy Lewis left, and replaced by the returning George Chandler, then Tony Jackson, Keith John, and finally Peter Lamarr in 1990. - Wikipedia (extract)

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin - Respect
This is so good it hurts! A live show with this sort of excitement doesn't come along very often. The girl with the permed hair moving around the audience looks like Mary J. Blige in another life! If you compare this with the Blues Brother's film footage, you can see why my heart sank as I watched that film for the first time - good though it was!

Franklin is one of the most honored artists by the Grammy Awards, with 20 Grammys to date, which include the Living Legend Grammy and the Lifetime Achievement Grammy. She also sang at the presidential inauguration of 44th President of the United States Barack Obama. She has scored a total of 20 #1 singles on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart, two of which also became #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, Franklin has scored a total of 45 "Top 40" hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

On January 20, 2009, Franklin performed "My Country 'Tis of Thee" during the inauguration ceremony of Barack Obama and much had been said about her hat that day. Aretha said she will face up to surgery at the age of 66 if she can loose 100lbs on her own, to help her overweight problem.

Wilson Pickett

Wilson Pickett - Land Of A 1,000 Dances
What a great title for a song. Screaming and wild saxophone playing wins the day on this footage from an African Soul To Soul Tour in 1971.

Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American R&B/Rock and Roll and soul singer and songwriter known for his raw, raspy, passionate vocal delivery. A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, and frequently crossed over to the pop charts as well.

Among his best known hits are "In The Midnight Hour" (which he co-wrote), "Land of 1,000 Dances", "Mustang Sally", and "Funky Broadway". The impact of Pickett's songwriting and recording led to his 1991 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The Spinners

The Spinners - Mighty Love
Like the Ben E. King footage, this also comes from the Atlantic 30 Celibrations of the 1988. In 1954 a group of friends in Ferndale High School in Ferndale, Michigan, just outside Detroit, came together to make music. Billy Henderson, Henry Fambrough, Pervis Jackson, C. P. Spencer, and James Edwards called themselves The Domingoes. James Edwards lasted only a few weeks; he was replaced by Bobbie Smith, who sang lead on most of the Spinners' early records (and many of their biggest Atlantic hits). C. P. Spencer left the group shortly afterwards, and would later go on to be a member of the Voice Masters and The Originals. He was replaced by George Dixon. The group renamed themselves The Spinners in 1961. This name was chosen after looking at popular car hubcaps and noting how they spun around on a car's wheel.

Solomon Burke

Solomon Burke - Down In The Valley
Live on German TV I think in late 80's. The lighting is very poor and keeps getting in the camera shots. Nice soundthough. Solomon Burke was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 21, 1940.

Some sources claim that he was born in 1936, others say 1938, but in a 2002 interview with Philadelphia Weekly Burke stated himself that he was indeed born in 1940. He began his adult life as a preacher in Philadelphia, and soon moved on to hosting a gospel radio show.

In the 1960s, he signed with Atlantic Records and began moving towards more secular music. His first hit was "Just Out Of Reach Of My Open Arms", a cover of a country song. Though well-received by both peers and critics, and attaining a few moderate pop and several major R&B hits, Burke never could quite break through into the mainstream as did Sam Cooke or Otis Redding, who covered Burke's "Down in the Valley" for 1965's Otis Blue. His best known song is "Cry to Me", used in the dance and seduction scene in the film Dirty Dancing.

In 1964 he wrote and recorded "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love", Burke's most prominent bid for an enduring soul standard. Almost immediately covered by The Rolling Stones the same year, other well-known versions include one by Wilson Pickett and another, a decade and a half later, in the 1980 film by The Blues Brothers.

Burke has enjoyed a special relationship with the Catholic Church throughout his life and in 2000, he and his family were invited to perform at the Jubilee of the Family at the Vatican. Since then, he has been invited back to the Vatican by both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI for Vatican's Christmas celebration.

Burke was also an undertaker and had a mortuary business in Los Angeles.He was trained as a mortician early in his life and had worked in his uncle's funeral parlor.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 - Wikipedia

Esther Phillips

Esther Phillips - What A Difference A Day Makes

This was recorded at the Millionaire Club in Manchester, 1982, just 2 years before she died aged 48 (drugs/booze!). Great little backing band, guitar solo is close to the single version.

Esther had a career in music with hits throughout the 50's, 60's and 70's. One of her greatest post-50s vocal triumphs was in 1972 with the song penned by Gil Scott-Heron, "Home Is Where the Hatred Is" -- a haunting account of drug use. "From a Whisper to a Scream" garnered a Grammy nomination in 1972.

When Phillips lost to the "Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin, the soul diva presented the trophy to Phillips, saying she should have won it instead. In 1975, she scored her biggest hit single since "Release Me" with a disco-style update of Dinah Washington's "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes".

It reached a high of a Top Twenty chart appearance in the U.S., and Top Ten in the UK Singles Chart. On November 8, 1975 she performed the song on an episode of "NBC's Saturday Night" hosted by Candice Bergen. The accompanying album of the same name became her biggest seller yet, with Michael Brecker on tenor sax, David Sanborn on alto sax, and Randy Brecker on trumpet to Steve Khan on guitar and Don Grolnick on keyboards.

She continued to record and perform throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1983 she charted for the final time with "Turn Me Out," which only made it to number 83. Throughout the 1970s she also became a close friend of Andy Warhol. Phillips' performing career also reached its zenith during this period.

Ben E King

Ben E King - Spanish Harlem (1989)

Footage taken from the Atlantic 50 years tribute show. I also recorded an interview with him in the early 70's when he was touring the UK (on this page: pcrlfm ). Ben E. King (born Benjamin Earl Nelson, September 28, 1938) 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 1987 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. Ben Nelson was born in Henderson, North Carolina and moved to Harlem, New York City, New York, at the age of nine.

In 1958, he joined a doo wop group called The Five Crowns. Later that year, The Drifters' manager fired the members of the group and replaced them with The Five Crowns, who had performed several engagements with the Drifters. Nelson co-wrote the first hit by the new version of the Drifters, "There Goes My Baby" (1959). He also sang lead, using his birth name, on "Save the Last Dance for Me", a song written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, "Dance With Me", "This Magic Moment", "I Count the Tears" and "Lonely Winds". King only recorded ten songs with The Drifters, including a non-single called "Temptation".