Mable John R.I. P. (2 Nov 1930 - 25 Aug 2022)

A name probably not particularly well known except to soul stalwarts is Mable John who died on Thursday age 91.

She was the first female solo artist signed to Motown's Tamla label and later became a member of Ray Charles backing group The Raelettes. She only troubled the charts with her music on one occasion in 1966 with an Isaac Hayes and David Porter song "Your Good Thing (Is About To End)" on Stax (later covered by Lou Rawls and Etta James). 

Mabel was born in Louisiana the eldest of nine children. One of her brothers was King recording artist Little Willie John who was incarcerated in 1964 for manslaughter after stabbing a man and died in prison in 1968. Some reports say it was of pneumonia (Wiki) and others a heart attack (which aged only 30 would be highly unusual) and others suggest it was foul play in prison, so what to believe?

In 1941 the family moved to Detroit where she would later work at an insurance company run by Bertha Gordy who just so happened to be the mother of one Berry Gordy. Gordy's mother told Mable that her son was writing songs and was looking for a singer and they started performing together. In 1959 she started recording for him when signed to United Artists but they released nothing from her. Gordy set up his own label and she was the first female signing to his Tamla label in 1960 releasing "Who Wouldn't Love a Man Like That?". She released a further three singles without success and her contract was terminated in 1963. 

After leaving Motown she became a Raelette before being signed as a solo artist by Stax (which was probably more suited to her blues/gospel vocal style) where she released seven singles between 1966-1968. The first of which, "Your Good Thing (is About To End)", was her one and only hit reaching #6 R&B and #95 hot 100. I believe that whilst at Stax she recorded an album in 1966, "Stay Out Of The Kitchen", which wasn't released until 1992 along with a batch of other previously unreleased material.

She rejoined The Raelettes until the mid 70s when she left secular music to manage gospel acts and occasional recording.

The fact that Mable went to Stax after Motown got me contemplating whether any other Motown artists have also recorded for Stax. The first one that comes immediately to mind is J.J. Barnes but he recorded on the Volt subsidiary and was acquired by Motown when they bought out Ric Tic and as far as I know didn't release anything on the main label afterwards, so does that count? The only other other I can think of off the top of my head would be Billy Eckstine. I'm sure there may be others.

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