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Saturday 6 August 2022

R.I.P. Sam Gooden (The Impressions) (2 Sep 1934 - 4 Aug 2022)


One of the original members of the legendary group The Impressions, Sam Gooden, has died on Thursday (4 Aug) aged 87, just a month from his 88th birthday. He was born and died in his home town of Chattanooga, TN.

The Impressions began as The Roosters in Chattanooga in the 50s consisting of Gooden, Richard and Arthur Brooks before they moved to Chicago where Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield were added to the group and they became known as Jerry Butler & The Impressions. Butler left for a solo career in 1960 and was replaced by Fred Cash and the Brooks brothers left in 1962 leaving just a trio.

Mayfield left for a solo career in 1970 (being replaced by Leroy Hutson) and died in Dec 1999 aged 57, Fred Cash is now the only surviving member of the original line-up from 1960.

Although several members came and went i.e Leroy Hutson, Ralph Graham, Reggie Torian, Vandy Hampton and Willie Kitchens, Gooden was the only original member to be with the group from beginning to end in their 60 year career from 1958 -2018, although Cash has also been a member since 1960.

The group's first hit was "For Your Precious Love" in 1958 (#3 R&B #11 Hot 100) and they went on to achieve Hot 100 top 10 hits with "It's Alright" (1963), "Amen" (1965) and far too many top 10 R&B hits to list (approx. 16) and around 30 top 20 entries. The original members of the group, Gooden, Brooks brothers, Butler, Mayfield and Cash were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. 

There are just so many songs to choose from that I've deferred a playlist for now until I've had a chance to go through them all but leave you with a couple of videos of their iconic tunes "It's Alright" (1963) and "People Get Ready" (1965).

Curtis Mayfield, Sam Gooden, Fred Cash

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1 comment:

USMAN47 said...

Another page closes for this mythical group which brought me to Soul in the sixties. How sad !!!

Yves