Ann Sexton - A Profile

Ann Sexton was born Mary Ann Sexton in Greenville, SC, on 5 Feb 1950 and is 73 today. She is the cousin of Chuck Jackson.

Sexton released around thirteen solo singles and two albums between 1971-76. She is held in esteem in Northern Soul circles for the B side of her debut single on Impel "You've Been Gone too Long" but also by lovers of southern soul for her other material. Virtually all her her recordings were for Nashville based label Seventy Seven or associated labels. Despite the consistent quality of her music, only two of her singles charted , "You're Gonna Miss Me" (R&B #47 1973) and  "I'm His Wife (You’re Just A Friend)" (R&B #79 1977).

As with most southern soul singers, she sang gospel in her church choir. Moving to secular music she started winning local talent shows before singing back-up on a recording by Elijah (Hawthorne) & The Ebonies. The record was "I Confess" billed as Elijah & The Ebonies featuring Mary Sexton, the only release on Greenville label Gitana in 1968. She later married the group's saxophonist, Melvin Burton (who had played saxophone in Moses Dillard's band) and they formed their own group, Ann Sexton & The Masters of Soul, in the late 1960s. She was seen performing with the group at the Washington Center in Shelby, NC, by songwriter David Lee, the owner of the small local Impel record label, who recorded and released her first solo single, "You're Letting Me Down" / "You've Been Gone Too Long", in 1971. Lee released around fourteen singles and two albums between his Impel, Washington Sound and SCOP labels which he ran from his record shop Washington Sound in Shelby.

The writer's credits for "You've Been Gone Too Long" are to David M. Lee and Ann and Melvin Benton which was an alias for Burton, so the pair were married by this time. Unless it was a spelling error on the label, I suspect using the names may have been to disguise her real identify to the gospel fraternity. Only 500 copies were pressed making it pretty hard to find on the original label now.

The record was picked up by John Richbourg's Seventy Seven Records. Richbourg was a DJ for Nashville radio station WLAC known as John R. as well as being a producer and manager. He became head of A&R for Fred Foster's Sound Stage Seven in 1965 and he also produced most of it's output under the name JR Enterprises. Seventy Seven released the Impel single twice, first on a yellow label and then on the standard multi-coloured orange and black label. The latter being pressed to satisfy demand on the UK Northern soul scene for the flip which was played at the Blackpool Mecca from release.

It would be her fifth single, "You're Gonna Miss Me", for the label in 1973 that would chart, reaching #47 R&B. The same year she released her debut album "Loving You, Loving Me". The albums twelve tracks were the A and B sides of all her singles up to that point.

Their relationship with Lee and John R. degenerated when she and the band failed to turned up for a show to promote her chart single and John R. then lost interest in her feeling that she was being badly managed by her husband Burton.

Her second album "The Beginning" arrived in 1977 but only one song from the album saw a release as a single, "I'm His Wife (You’re Just A Friend)", which was her only other R&B chart entry at #79. The non-album flip side, "You Got To Use What You Got", was another of her songs picked up on by the Northern Soul scene. Interestingly, I note one of the backing singers on the album was Gwen Owens from Detroit who had a few of her 60s singles played on the Northern Soul scene. It transpires that she was signed on contract by Terry Woodford and Clayton Ivey who worked on the album. It is said that she had another single, "Just In Time To Be Too Late", set for release on Prelude after the album, but it was never released.

After the release of her second album, Ann moved to New York and left the music business to become a school teacher working with special needs students. She retired in 2010. However, she was cajoled out of retirement from music in Mar 2007 by Dan Dombrowe to perform at the Baltic Soul Weekender where she also appeared the following year in Apr 2008 and has made other occasional appearances at other event since. In 2010 she featured on Ferry Ultra's "Rising Up" and in 2015 she visited the UK at a soul connoisseurs event at the Wilton Ballroom, Castleford, run by the late Dave Box and his wife Val.

Album Discography

1973 - Loving You, Loving Me [Seventy Seven #77-107]

1977 - The Beginning [Sound Stage 7 #SS1500]

Compilations

1987 - Love Trials [Charly #CRB 1143]

1987 - The Beginning [P-Vine #PLP-340]

1995 - You're Gonna Miss Me [Charly #CPCD 8012]

2004 - Anthology [Soul Brother #SBCB 20]

Singles Discography

Elijah & The Ebonies featuring Mary Sexton

1967 - I Confess / Get Out Of My Life Girl [Gitana #CR 3144]

Ann Sexton And The Soul Masters

1972 - You're Letting Me Down / You've Been Gone Too Long 

           [Impel #SS-AS-103]

Ann Sexton

1971-10 -  You're Letting Me Down / You've Been Gone Too Long 

                 [Seventy Seven #77-104]

1972-07 - Come Back Home (I Know I Did You Wrong) / 

                 I Still Love You [Seventy-Seven #77-114]

1973-02 - It's All Over But The Shouting / Have A Little Mercy 

                 [Seventy-Seven #77-125]

1973-10 - You're Gonna Miss Me / You're Losing Me 

                 [Seventy-Seven #77-133]

1974 - You Can't Win / Let's Huddle Up And Cuddle Up 

                 [Seventy-Seven #SP 2136]

1974-05 - Love, Love Love (I Want To Be Loved) / You're Losing Me 

                 [Seventy-Seven #SV 900]

1974-12 - You Can't Win / Let's Huddle Up, Let's Cuddle Up 

                 [Seventy-Seven #SV-907-N]

1975-?? - Lovin' You, Lovin' Me / If I Work My Thing On You 

                 [Dash #5019]

1976-?? - If I Work My Thing On You / Loving You, Loving You 

                 [Seventy-Seven #SP-2123]

1973-?? - Love, Love, Love (I Want To Be Loved) / You're Losing Me 

                 [Sound Plus #SP 2124]

1977-?? - Sugar Daddy / I Wanna Be Loved [Monument #45-225]

1977-02 - I'm His Wife (You're Just A Friend) / You Got To Use What 

                You Got [Sound Stage 7 #ZS7-2504]

197?-?? - You're Letting Me Down / You've Been Gone Too Long 

                [Seventy-Seven #77-104]

197?-?? - Love, Love, Love (I Want To Be Loved) / You're Losing Me 

                [Seventy-Seven #SP 2124]

Ann Sexton & The Baltic Soul Orchestra / 

Gloria Lynne & The Baltic Soul Orchestra

2009-?? - You’re Losing Me / Help Me Off This Merry-Go-Round 

                [Unique #156] (German release)

Ferry Ultra Featuring Ann Sexton (12inch)

2010-01 - Rising Up (Atjazz Remix) / Rising Up (Soul Minority Remix) / 

                Rising Up (Trancemicsoul Vocal Remix) 

                [Peppermint Jam PJM-50143]

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