A superb release from Hit and Run with three tracks from
Belita Woods One of the sides in particular ("Magic Corner") somehow escaped Richard Searling's recent Crossover Hot 100. I demand a
recount!
The three sides on this release are from two singles from 1969 on Ollie
McLaughlin's Moira label which only released eight singles: two from
Woods, three from The Fabulous Counts (who were mentioned the other day as
they were Spyder Turner's backing group), two from Jimmy Soul Clark and
one from The Firestones (who were formerly known as The Falcons who at
some point had members such as Wilson Pickett, Eddie Floyd and Levi Stubbs
brother Joe Stubbs (Contours, Originals, 100 Proof aged in
Soul).
Although relegated to the B side on the Hit and Run reissue, "Magic Corner" was the first on Moira (106) which has a sister funk tune of the flip, "Grounded", recorded by Gloria Taylor on Silver Fox in 1970. The record was
also mistakenly pressed on a blue Karen label, the label had been misprinted.
Needless to say these sell for bigger bucks than the Moira issues and none
have sold on Discogs and I could only find two listed on Popsike.
The A side was the next Moira release (107) leading with "That's When I'll Stop Loving You" (later recorded by Betty Wright on her "Danger High Voltage" album in
1974) paired with "You Do Your Thing And I'll Do Mine" written by Richard 'Popcorn' Wylie and Tony Hester which is quite a raw funky
number.
Belita Karen Woods was born on 23 Oct 1948 and released another single
"I Just Love You" / "Who's Fooling Who" on Epic in 1973, both songs arranged and produced by the
recently departed Barrett Strong (who was also signed to Epic at the time) with Strong writing the A side (a
lovely modern soul tune) and assisted by Motown Funk Brother Paul Riser
on arrangement. She released a couple of others in the 80s, one
with Ron Banks (The Dramatics) and another with Dennis Rowland, and
in 2003 cut "The Best Of Me" with Leroy Burgess.
In the late 70s she was a lead singer with Brainstorm. The group
consisted of nine males and two female members, Belita and Trenita
'Bongo Lady Way' Womack, the niece of Bobby Womack. After a minor hit
with "Wake Up and Be Somebody", they had a disco smash with "Lovin' Is
Really My Game" in 1977. They had three more R&B chart hits and
released three albums. A few other top Brainstorm tracks to listen to which feature Belita, if
you're not already familiar with them, are "This Must Be Heaven"
(backing Lamont Johnson), "We're On Our Way" and "If You Ever Need To
Cry".
Around 1989 she joined George Clinton in Parliament-Funkadelic and
toured with P-Funk All-Stars. She also sang with Enemy Squad which also
had Kyle Jason (who's just released a very good album "The Right Place") providing backing vocals.
In 1990 Ian Levine reformed The Undisputed Truth and drafted in Belita along with original members Joe Harris (The Fabulous Peps / Ohio Untouchables (later Ohio Players)) and Brenda Joyce Evans (The Delicates) to sing on a version of "Law of the Land" which was released on 12" on Levine's Motorcity label.
Sadly Belita died on 14 May 2012 of heart failure and only a day before an interview with on TV33 WHPR, Detroit, host Barry Ross was filmed and is available to watch on YouTube Part1 Part 2. A very sweet lady.
Available now from Paypal hitandrunsoul45@gmail.com
£15.00 each + £3.00 UK postage (good for 1-3 records) , US postage £6.00 per order.
Big thanks to Garry J. Cape (Hit And Run Records) for servicing us with this release.
Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.
Click icons below for further information or to connect with the
artist.
You Do Your Thing And I'll Do Mine
| Rating: | 8.8 |
| Explicit: | N |
| Genre/Style: | Crossover Soul |
| Format: | Single |
| Media: | 7" Vinyl |
| Label: | Hit And Run |
| Cat No: | HR 1546 |
| Date: | 10/02/2023 |
| Key/BPM: | N/A |
| Price: | £15 + postage |
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