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Friday, 24 March 2023

Frederick Knight [2023] - You've Never Really Lived / How, When Or Where [Soul4Real #S4R28]


The second 7" vinyl release from Soul4Real is from Birmingham, AL, singer/songwriter Frederick Knight.  As a recording artist, Knight had a modest career and will be best known, or perhaps only known, for "Ive Been Lonely For So Long" on Stax which peaked at #8 R&B and crossed over to #27 Hot 100 and also made it to #22 UK pop chart in 1972. The song, written by Knight's wife, Posie,  and Jerry Weaver, was actually recorded a year before his hit version by Rita & The Soulettes which was a reggae version which isn't surprising when you learn that Rita is Rita Marley, the wife of Bob. 

Only two more of Knight's solo efforts made it into the R&B chart, the excellent "I Betcha Didn't Know That" (also recorded by Ben E. King)  in 1975 and his version of "The Old Songs" which was a pop hit for Barry Manilow in 1981. He did of course release much more material, around 20 plus singles and four albums.

He is more celebrated as a songwriter and wrote Anita Ward's #1 worldwide disco hit "Ring My Bell" in 1979. When  Stax folded in 1975, Knight set up his own label, Juana, whose main artists were The Controllers, Anita Ward, Tommy Tate, CL Blast and Knight himself.

Curiously, we mentioned Mary Gresham in the previous post for the other Soul4Real release by Annette Snell as she co-wrote "Promises Should Never Be Broken" recorded by Snell with her brother Jimmy Gresham. She also recorded a song with the same title i.e. "You've Never Really Lived" but it's a different song. The song was previously issued on a CD compilation "Birmingham Sound: The Soul Of Neal Hemphill, Vol. 1" in 2006

The flip side is "How, When Or Where" a previously unreleased song until released on the second volume of "Birmingham Sound: The Soul Of Neal Hemphill, Vol. 2" also in 2006.

Thanks for the corrections left in comment by s13. 

The single is available to pre-order via Paypal for release on 14 Apr '23
€15 + postage (1-5 copies) €3 Spain, €6.90 UK & Europe €10.45 USA & rest of the world 
soul4realrecordlabel@gmail.com

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

Details
Rating: 8.4
Explicit: N
Genre/Style: Southern Soul
Format: Single
Media: 7" Vinyl
Label: Soul4Real
Cat No: S4R28
Date: 14/04/2023
Key/BPM: N/A
Price: €15
Copyright © 2009-2023 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved


3 comments:

USMAN47 said...

And what about these recordings: 2 nuggets!!!
Soul as I love.
Thanks to our Spanish friends.

Yves

s13 said...

re: I've Been Lonely For So Long

Fred's wife, Posie Knight, co-wrote the song with Weaver actually.

and ...

the flip was already released on Volume 2 of Birmingham Sound.

SoulStrutter said...

Thanks for the corrections ... now updated.