Soul Strutter: Willie Hutch - A Profile Of... Part 1: The Singles

Sunday, 12 December 2021

Willie Hutch - A Profile Of... Part 1: The Singles

I've had this post in the pipeline for some time and realised this week (6 Dec 2021) that Willie Hutch would have been 77 ( 6 Dec 1944 - 19 Sep 2005) so what better time to post.

The genius of Willie Hutch (William McKinley Hutchinson) (who seems to be much undervalued by the general record buying public) first came to my attention, probably like many others, via his Northern Soul favourite released in 1965 on Dunhill, a great double-sider which featured "The Duck" c/w "Love Runs Out". "The Duck" appeared on one of the early Northern Soul compilations "Out On The Streets Again" in 1976 on ABC which was the only way to hear it back then as the original 45 is still extremely rare, the last one to sell sold in Sep 2020 for nearly £1,200! The style of what was traditionally labelled Northern Soul has changed considerably since the heyday of the 70s, but these two tracks epitomise the 'original' sound. "The Duck" was bootlegged by the infamous Simon Soussan in 1974 as Richard Temple "Let's Do The Duck" on a counterfeit Stephanye label (I think this bootleg version was even speeded up a bit). I'm not exactly sure when or where this record was originally broken but given it was bootlegged in 1974 it would suggest that it would have been pressed to 'meet demand' so probably a Wigan Casino tune but may have already been played before the Casino opened it's doors? The flip side "Love Runs Out" was reissued in the UK as a double A side with Bobby Hutton's album only track "Lend A Hand" by ABC in 1978.

Another big track played from him was "Lucky To Be Loved By You" which Casino DJ, Richard Searling, played from his 1969 "Soul Portrait" album on RCA, as it has never had an official 45 release. His next release on Modern also has two good Northern Soul tunes "I Can't Get Enough" c/w "Your Love Has Made Me A Man". Another stomper followed in 1967 on Soul City with "I Can't fight The Power".

As is often the case with Wiki, I think their facts are incorrect as it states that he debuted with a single "Love Has Put Me Down" on Soul City in 1964. Firstly I can find no trace of said recording and secondly Soul City didn't come into existence until 1966. However it is partially correct as he was a member of The Phonetics who recorded the song on H-E-D which could have been in 1964. It appears to be the only release (listed) on the label and is as rare as hen's teeth as it was only listed on Discogs a year ago (not listed on 45Cat) and none have sold there nor are there any listed sales on Popsike. The Phonetics released a further four singles on Trudel between 1964-65, with "Just A Boy's Dream" being the most 'in-demand' which sells for over £4k. The flip "Don't Let Love Get You Down" was released on three of the four Trudel 45s. The Phonetics account for four of the seven (listed) releases on Trudel between 1963-65.

Hutch was born in L.A. in 1944 before moving to Dallas with his mother. He was part of a doo-wop group called The Ambassadors at Booker T. Washington high school in Dallas. After serving in the marines he moved back to L.A. to begin his music career where her joined Soul City and wrote and produced for The Fifth Dimension (he wrote their debut single "I'll Be Loving You Forever") before moving to RCA where he recorded two albums. He was approached by Hal Davis to write the lyrics for "I'll Be There" for The Jackson Five which, at the time (1970), became Motown's biggest ever selling single. On the strength of that he was promptly signed to Motown by Berry Gordy as writer, arranger, producer and musician for many Motown artists.

His first Motown album "Fully Exposed" arrived in 1973. His next two Motown albums were soundtracks for "The Mack" (1973) and "Foxy Brown" (1974). He released a further five albums in his first stint at Motown before recording two for Norman Whitfield's label in 1978 and 1979. In 1982 he re-joined Motown and released a few singles and one album but they also released a compilation on him. It was another nine years before his next recording appeared, an album on Omni / GG.it, followed by two more in 1996 and 2002 before he sadly died in 2005 aged only 60.

He was predominantly an album artist, releasing sixteen studio albums between 1969-2002. Only fifteen of his singles dented the US R&B chart, with only three of them reaching the Billboard Hot 100, the biggest (and only top 10 entry) being "Love Power" in 1975 (#8 R&B #41 Hot 100).

In the UK only two of his recordings made any impact on the chart "In And Out" #51 1982 and "Keep On Jammin'" #72 1985.

I was going to put everything he's done in a singe post but it would be huge so I'll split it into several parts. This part will cover just his singles. Other parts will cover his albums Part 2 Pre- Motown i.e. RCA, Part 3 Motown, Part 4 Whitfield and Part 5 Later Years