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

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.