Soul Strutter

Showing posts with label Profle. Show all posts

Friday, 10 February 2023

Remembering Geraldine Hunt (10 Feb 1945 - 27 Oct 2022)

Geraldine Hunt died last year on 27 Oct 2022 but would have been celebrating her 78th birthday today.

Born Geraldine Milligan in St. Louis, MS, on 10 Feb 1945 she moved to southside Chicago when she was two years old. She attended Hyde Park High School where she was classmates and best friends with Minnie Riperton. Other school attendees included the three members of the group Coffee (Dee Dee Bryant, Elaine Sims, Gwen Hester) who had a hit with a disco cover of Ruby Andrews' Casanova in 1980.

Her first recording was made in 1962 when she was advised to shorten her name and changed it to Hunt. She recorded eleven singles, seven on different labels and four on Roulette between 1962-1973 before her 1980 club hit which she is probably best known for "Can't Fake The Feeling" which was reworked only last year by Carl Cox (available on Bandcamp).

One of her favourites on the UK rare soul scene is the mid paced "Never, Never Leave Me" on Roulette which was originally recorded in 1965 by Mary Wells on 20th Century Fox. The flip "Push, Sweep" sounds dated even for 1970 and is a Northern soul R&B/popcorn style tune. Another Roulette recording worth highlighting is the Ashford & Simpson penned "Now That There Is You" recorded earlier in 1970 as an album track by Diana Ross on her anonymous debut solo album.

She achieved R&B chart status five times with "You And I" with Charles Hodges (#45 1970), "Baby, I Need Your Loving" (a different take on the Holland Dozier Holland song) (#47 1972), "You Brought Joy" (#78 1973), "Can't Fake The Feeling" (#58 1980) and "Heart Heart" with Charles Marotta (#67 1981) but unfortunately none crossed over to the Hot 100.

In 1975 she relocated to Montreal and recorded her first album "Sweet Honesty" in 1978 for Canadian producer Tony Green's TGO label (Green also produced France Joli). She followed it in 1980 with "No Way" which contained "Can't Fake The Feeling". A 1993 reissue of the album included several tracks from her 1978 album and a couple that were 12" releases only i.e. "Undercover Lover".

A third album "Soultry, Jazzy And Sexy" was recorded in 1999 with two of her three children, son Freddie James and daughter Rosalind Hunt who was a member of duo Cheri (of "Murphy's Law" fame).

As a tribute a rather grainy, overdubbed, video of her performing "Can't Fake The Feeling" in 1983 on Solid Gold (hosted by Dionne Warwick) along with a playlist of all her chart hits along with some others that didn't fare so well commercially.

Friday, 13 January 2023

Melvin Davis - Help with medical bills

I came across a post on Rare Soul Talk facebook page yesterday highlighting a GoFundMe page for 60s Detroit soul artist Melvin Davis. Davis was diagnosed with Leukaemia before the pandemic and then got infected with two bouts of Covid along with pneumonia. The States being the states, there is no NHS so he needs $25k for pay his medical bills, which is not easy for anyone, never mind an 80 year old, so please help if you can.

Davis says "It’s been a very challenging past 18 or 19 months for me. I’ve lost about 60 or 70 pounds and am feeling very weak. Any assistance from my music family is more than appreciated. I just don’t have the words to tell you how appreciative I am of all my supporters."

Melvin is a songwriter, singer, drummer, producer, and bandleader who worked with Motown in the 60s as a staff drummer performing with Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Temptations, Martha Reeves, The Supremes and others. He has become a bit of a 'legend' in Northern Soul circles over the years for his songs and recordings. He has written songs played on the scene by artists such as Ann Perry, Edward Hamilton, Johnnie Mae Matthews, Steve Mancha, J.J. Barnes, E.J. & The Echoes, The Turbines, Darrel Banks and Johnnie Taylor.

In 2018 he recorded "Politicians in My Eyes" with Detroit proto-punk band Death and the crowdfunding campaign was started by fellow musician Drew Schultz, who worked with him on the recording.

Melvin Lincoln Davis was born on 29 Aug 1942 in Georgia but moved to Detroit with his family when he was 3. He was inspired by hearing Little Richard perform at a juke joint on one of his regular visits to his grandparent's farm in Georgia and also by gospel in his family’s Baptist church that brought in groups like the Soul Stirrers which featured Sam Cooke, and Nashville radio station WLAC radio which transmitted the latest R&B hits.

When 17 he joined the Navy where, after having near drowning experience in swimming lessons opted out and instead, learned to play the piano. Upon discharge he set about writing and recoding his first song "I Don’t Want You" / "About Love" (which has a garage come R&B sound) and was released by the Jack Pot label in 1961. He was assisted on the recording by Joe Peal, a guitar player he grew up with. Peal had connections in Detroit’s music scene and began introducing Davis to various names, including Richard 'Popcorn' Wylie of Popcorn and the Mohawks. Wylie was a well-connected piano player and producer who, in turn, shared his expertise and knowledge of the music industry.

After the single on Jack Pot his next single was "I Won’t Be Your Fool" / "Playboy" on Fortune where he was also a member of The Nite Sounds who released three singles for the label in 1962-63. He released another six singles in the 60s on Ke Ke, Wheel City, Groovesville, two on Mala and one on Golden State.

In the early 70s he was a member of 100 Proof (Aged In Soul) / The 8th Day (who's members included Clyde Wilson aka Steve Mancha) who recorded for Holland, Dozier, Holland's new Invictus label were he also released two solo singles ("I'm Worried" / "Just As Long" and "You Made Me Over" / "I'm Worried"). 100 Proof (Aged In Soul) had a hit with "Somebody's Been Sleeping in My Bed" and radio stations began playing another song by them "She's Not Just Another Woman". HDH didn't want the new song hindering the success of the previous single so released it as The 8th Day, so they were in fact the same group. They hit with a follow up single "You've Got to Crawl (Before You Walk)" so HDH formed a new group using the name.

Davis set up his own label Rock Mill Record in 1976 where he released further singles through the 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s. All but two were his own singles, but there was one by a group called Charisma which was formed out of former members of The Contours and one by Liz Taylor.

In 2010 Davis released a compilation of many of his 60s songs titled "The Detroit Soul Ambassador" which includes "I Must Love You", "Find A Quiet Place", "Chains Of Love" (recorded by J.J. Barnes on Groovesville), "Still In My Heart" and "I Need My Baby" amongst several others (included below).

Here's a clip of him from April 2018 after receiving a lifetime achievement award and performing his song "I Must Love You" released on Don Davis' Groovesville label in 1966.

Tuesday, 6 December 2022

Willie Hutch - A Profile

Willie Hutch (6 Dec 1944 - 19 Sep 2005), the artist who gave birth to the name of this blog which was inspired by his album track "Soul Strut" from his 1977 Motown album "Havin' A House Party", would be celebrating his 78th birthday today.

An comprehensive five part article was posted last year for his birthday so rather than regurgitating it, here are links to it.

Part 1 - The Singles

Part 2 - Pre- Motown Albums i.e. RCA,

Part 3 - Motown Albums

Part 4 - Whitfield Albums

Part 5 - Later Years

Sunday, 12 December 2021

Willie Hutch - A Profile Of... Part 1: The Singles

I've had this post in the pipeline for some time and realised this week (6 Dec 2021) that Willie Hutch would have been 77 ( 6 Dec 1944 - 19 Sep 2005) so what better time to post.

The genius of Willie Hutch (William McKinley Hutchinson) (who seems to be much undervalued by the general record buying public) first came to my attention, probably like many others, via his Northern Soul favourite released in 1965 on Dunhill, a great double-sider which featured "The Duck" c/w "Love Runs Out". "The Duck" appeared on one of the early Northern Soul compilations "Out On The Streets Again" in 1976 on ABC which was the only way to hear it back then as the original 45 is still extremely rare, the last one to sell sold in Sep 2020 for nearly £1,200! The style of what was traditionally labelled Northern Soul has changed considerably since the heyday of the 70s, but these two tracks epitomise the 'original' sound. "The Duck" was bootlegged by the infamous Simon Soussan in 1974 as Richard Temple "Let's Do The Duck" on a counterfeit Stephanye label (I think this bootleg version was even speeded up a bit). I'm not exactly sure when or where this record was originally broken but given it was bootlegged in 1974 it would suggest that it would have been pressed to 'meet demand' so probably a Wigan Casino tune but may have already been played before the Casino opened it's doors? The flip side "Love Runs Out" was reissued in the UK as a double A side with Bobby Hutton's album only track "Lend A Hand" by ABC in 1978.

Another big track played from him was "Lucky To Be Loved By You" which Casino DJ, Richard Searling, played from his 1969 "Soul Portrait" album on RCA, as it has never had an official 45 release. His next release on Modern also has two good Northern Soul tunes "I Can't Get Enough" c/w "Your Love Has Made Me A Man". Another stomper followed in 1967 on Soul City with "I Can't fight The Power".

As is often the case with Wiki, I think their facts are incorrect as it states that he debuted with a single "Love Has Put Me Down" on Soul City in 1964. Firstly I can find no trace of said recording and secondly Soul City didn't come into existence until 1966. However it is partially correct as he was a member of The Phonetics who recorded the song on H-E-D which could have been in 1964. It appears to be the only release (listed) on the label and is as rare as hen's teeth as it was only listed on Discogs a year ago (not listed on 45Cat) and none have sold there nor are there any listed sales on Popsike. The Phonetics released a further four singles on Trudel between 1964-65, with "Just A Boy's Dream" being the most 'in-demand' which sells for over £4k. The flip "Don't Let Love Get You Down" was released on three of the four Trudel 45s. The Phonetics account for four of the seven (listed) releases on Trudel between 1963-65.

Hutch was born in L.A. in 1944 before moving to Dallas with his mother. He was part of a doo-wop group called The Ambassadors at Booker T. Washington high school in Dallas. After serving in the marines he moved back to L.A. to begin his music career where her joined Soul City and wrote and produced for The Fifth Dimension (he wrote their debut single "I'll Be Loving You Forever") before moving to RCA where he recorded two albums. He was approached by Hal Davis to write the lyrics for "I'll Be There" for The Jackson Five which, at the time (1970), became Motown's biggest ever selling single. On the strength of that he was promptly signed to Motown by Berry Gordy as writer, arranger, producer and musician for many Motown artists.

His first Motown album "Fully Exposed" arrived in 1973. His next two Motown albums were soundtracks for "The Mack" (1973) and "Foxy Brown" (1974). He released a further five albums in his first stint at Motown before recording two for Norman Whitfield's label in 1978 and 1979. In 1982 he re-joined Motown and released a few singles and one album but they also released a compilation on him. It was another nine years before his next recording appeared, an album on Omni / GG.it, followed by two more in 1996 and 2002 before he sadly died in 2005 aged only 60.

He was predominantly an album artist, releasing sixteen studio albums between 1969-2002. Only fifteen of his singles dented the US R&B chart, with only three of them reaching the Billboard Hot 100, the biggest (and only top 10 entry) being "Love Power" in 1975 (#8 R&B #41 Hot 100).

In the UK only two of his recordings made any impact on the chart "In And Out" #51 1982 and "Keep On Jammin'" #72 1985.

I was going to put everything he's done in a singe post but it would be huge so I'll split it into several parts. This part will cover just his singles. Other parts will cover his albums Part 2 Pre- Motown i.e. RCA, Part 3 Motown, Part 4 Whitfield and Part 5 Later Years