Two songs by Lorraine Ellison have been chosen for release
by Soul4Real as one of their next two 7" vinyl reissues. The single leads with "Haven't I Been Good To You", an unreleased recording from 1967 until it appeared on a 2006
compilation "Lorraine Ellison - Sister Love: The Warner Bros. Recordings". The flip is from her 1969 "Stay With Me" album and is a cover of Irma Thomas' 1965 Imperial single "I'm Gonna Cry Till My Tears Run Dry".
We can't mention the name Lorraine Ellison without mentioning her
iconic deep soul ballad "Stay With Me" which initially was a #11 R&B hit getting to #64 on the Hot 100
in the US in 1966. The song has seen several reissues in the UK (around seven
to my reckoning) and it finally charted in the UK in 1995 but only
reached #82.
Ellison was born in Philadelphia in 1931 and began singing with
gospel groups. Her first single being two self-written songs "Open Up Your Heart" / "This Is The Day" as Lorraine Ellison And The Ellison Singers in May
1963. She hit with her first solo single "I Dig You Baby" on Mercury (1965) which she co-wrote with Dennis Lambert and her
manger/husband Sam Bell of The Enchanters (and would later be covered
by Kiki Dee, Jerry Butler and The Ambassadors). A follow up single on
Mercury didn't sell, and then came "Stay With Me" almost by chance as Frank Sinatra cancelled a studio session for
which a 46 piece orchestra had been hired and at short notice
Warner Bros. offered the session to Jerry Ragovoy at no cost who
called in Ellison to record the song in July 1966. The song has been
covered by multiple artists, first by The Walker Brothers in Feb 1967
and perhaps most notably by Lea Roberts (1970), Shirley Brown (1970) ,
Kiki Dee (1978), Ruby Turner (1993) and Natalie Cole (1999) and a
male version by Rockie Robins in 1985.
Her music career was relatively short, running from 1963-1974,
releasing around a dozen singles and three albums. She
achieved only one further chart success with "Heart Be Still" in 1967 and left the music business to take care of her mother in the early/mid 70s.
Ellison died of cancer in 1983 aged 51.
The single is available to pre-order for release on 27 Feb
2023.
€15 + postage (€3 Spain / €6.90 UK & Europe / €10.45 US &
rest of world)
Paypal (Friends & Family) to:
soul4realrecordlabel@gmail.com
Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.
