Today (14 Dec) would have been Linda Jones' 78th birthday had she not tragically died of a diabetic coma aged
only 27 on 14 Mar 1972 whilst she was at her artistic peak.
She was born in Newark, NJ on 14 Dec 1944 and began singing
aged six in her family's gospel group, the Jones Singers. Her first
recording was under the pseudonym Linda Lane which was a cover of
the Jackie Wilson's 1958 hit "Lonely Teardrops" on Cub Records in
1963. Another two singles were released on Atco in 1965 and Blue Cat
in 1966 produced by George Kerr which also failed to make any
impact.
Kerr took her to Russ Regan's Loma label (a Warner Bros.
subsidiary) in 1967. Her first recording for the label became her
biggest hit and the label's best selling record "Hypnotized" reaching #4 R&B #21 Hot 100. The flip side "I Can't Stop Lovin' My Baby" would later be picked up on by the UK Northern Soul scene, as
would several other of her Loma recordings such as "My Heart Needs A
Break" and "I Just Can't Live My Life (Without You Babe)" in particular but there were others.
She released seven singles and an album titled "Hypnotized" on Loma before moving to Gamble & Huff's Neptune label for
two singles in 1969-70 and then on to Sylvia Robinson's Turbo label
in 1971 for four singles in 1971-72 before switching to another
Robinson label Stang for a one-off with The Whatnauts before
reverting back to Turbo for her last two. The last five singles were
released posthumously. Turbo also released three albums by her in
1972, "Your Precious Love" with the last two "Let It Be Me" and "A Portrait Of" being released posthumously.
Her catalogue has been fairly extensively covered in several
compilations.
Albums
1967 - Hypnotized [Loma #LS 5907]
Full Album HERE
Hypnotized (2:38)
I Can't Stop Lovin' My Baby (2:03)
Give My Love A Try (2:30)
You Can't Take It (2:20)
What've I Done (To Make You Mad) (2:20)
I Can't Stand It (2:20)
The Things I've Been Through (Loving You) (3:10)
If Only (We Had Met Sooner) (2:38)
Make Me Surrender (Baby, Baby Please) (2:34)
A Last Minute Miracle (2:31)
Seeing Is Believing (3:14)
1972 - Your Precious Love [Turbo #TU-7007]
Full Album HERE
Your Precious Love
Don't Go (I Can't Bear To Be Alone)
Behold
Stay With Me Forever
Not On The Outside
Dancing In The Street
Let It Be Me
I Can't Make It Alone
Doggin Me Around
1972 - Let It Be Me [Turbo #TU 7008]
Full Album HERE
Fugitive From Love (3:20)
Things I've Been Through (3:25)
Let It Be Me (3:50)
Hypnotized (3:15)
I'm So Glad I Found You (3:15)
If Only We Had Met Sooner (3:25)
When Hurt Comes Back (3:55)
I Do (3:26)
1972 - A Portrait Of Linda Jones [Turbo #TU-7004]
All but two of these tracks appear in albums above.
When The Hurt Comes Back (2:35)
Hypnotized (3:10)
Don't Go (I Can't Bear To Be Alone) (3:00)
If Only We Had Met Sooner 93:35)
Behold (2:40)
Stay With Me Forever (3:20)
I Love You (I Need You) (3:50)
I Can't Make It Alone (3:12)
Singles
NB All from Spotify except 5 prefixed '*' from YouTube
1963/06 - *Lonely Teardrops / *Cancel The Celebration [Cub #K9124]
1965/03 - Take The Boy Out Of The Country / I'm Taking Back My Love [Atco #45-6344]
1966/07 - Fugitive From Love / You Hit Me Like T.N.T. [Blue Cat #BC 128]
Loma
1967/05 - Hypnotized / I Can't Stop Lovin' My Baby [Loma #2070]
1967/09 - What've I Done (To Make You Mad) / Make Me Surrender (Baby, Baby Please) [Loma #2077]
1967?? - You Can't Take It / I Can't Stop Lovin' My Baby [Warner Bros (FR) #WV 5080]
1967/12 - Give My Love A Try / I Can't Stand It [Loma #2085]
1968/02 - My Heart Needs A Break / The Things I've Been Through (Loving You) [Loma #2091]
1968/06 - What Can I Do (Without You) / Yesterday [Loma #2099]
1968/09 - It Won't Take Much (To Bring Me Back) / I Who Have Nothing [Loma #2105]
Neptune
1969/10 - I'll Be Sweeter Tomorrow / *That's When I'll Stop Loving You [Neptune #N-17]
1970/05 - Ooh Baby You Move Me / *Can You Blame Me? [Neptune #N-26]
Turbo
1971/05 - Stay With Me Forever / *I've Given You The Best Years Of My Life [Turbo #TU 012]
1971/11 - I Can't Make It Alone / Don't Go (I Can't Bear To Be Alone) [Turbo #TU 017]
1972/02 - Your Precious Love / Don't Go (I Can't Bear To Be Alone) [Turbo #TU 021]
1972/05 - Not On The Outside / Things I've Been Through [Turbo #TU-024]
Stang
1972/06 - Linda Jones & Whatnauts - I'm So Glad I Found You / Whatnauts - World Solution [Stang #ST-5039]
Turbo
1972/09 - Let It Be Me / Don't Go (I Can't Bear To Be Alone) [Turbo #TU-028]
1973-01 - Fugitive From Love / Things I've Been Through [Turbo #TU-032]
Here's a couple of playlists highlighting most of her best
recordings, split into deep soul and Northern Soul in no
particular order other than chronological. There are two different
versions of "If Only (We Had Met Sooner)" in the Northern Soul
sides playlist.
The Deep Sides
The Northern Soul Sides
3 comments:
Excellent work mate and fantastic playlists definitely a public service to Soul and anyone that has Spotify...Its mad for me even though i prefer male vocals the females are harder to sperate because at the top, you got Aretha, Gladys, Linda, Shirley Brown, Anita baker, Sandra Wright, Millie Jackson, Denise Lasalle...Where Do You Stop LOL..Thank you again
Fantastic work. She was one of the best ever!
Shared to The Disco Soul Gold Page on Facebook.
Your blog is in great shape with all these beautiful tributes. Another great lady who is no exception to the rule. Thank you for making all this discover, to those who do not know.
Yves
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