R.I.P. - Tony Troutman (8 Oct 2023)

We have received an 'anonymous' message this morning that: "Thomas 'Tony' Troutman passed away peacefully Sunday, October 8, 2023 at his Atlanta home". We are unable to confirm this as the sender left no contact details.

He may perhaps be best known to many for his modern soul rarity "What's The Use" which was reissued digitally this year as well as being reissued on 7" vinyl for Record Store Day. The record was bootlegged owing to its popularity. Original copies now sell for up to £1,000 with even the bootleg now approaching £100. Date-wise it is confusing as the RSD press has a date of 1975 on label, 45Cat lists it as 1976 and Discogs 1977 so take your pick but the Spotify digital reissue dates it 12 Dec 1975. The UK bootleg is easy to spot as it has writing around the label edge.

However, for us, his best recording was his 1975 single, the superb deep soul ballad "I Truly Love You" on Gram-o-phon which we have featured previously. He released a single on Swagger in 1968 prior to that and one after "What's The Use" on Note in 1976. 

In the 80s he released his solitary album "Your Man Is Home Tonight" in 1982 on his own T.Main label from which 6 sides were released over three singles.

His only charting records were "I Truly Love You" (#82 R&B May '75) and the title track from his album which peaked at #57 R&B in Jun '82.

An extended edit of "I Truly Love You" is available on a compilation "At The Juke Joint Volume 2" released in 2012 which extends the 45 issue from 3:12 to 5:52 (included below).

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Tony Troutman [2023] - What's the Use [MTI]

Very surprising to come across this  digital reissue of a modern soul classic "What's The Use" by Tony Troutman on Amazon yesterday. 

It was one of only six singles on the Atlanta, GA, based Jerri label which Discogs lists as 1977, 45Cat 1976 and Spotify 12 Dec 1975, so take your pick. The last single on the label was also embraced on the UK modern soul scene by Stevens & Foster "I Want To Be Loved". Three of the remaining four were by Roshell Anderson and the other was an instrumental cover of Johnnie Taylor's "Disco Lady" by Sil Austin.  Several of the releases were distributed by T.K. so there may have been a connection to Henry Stone's Miami setup, or they may have just distributed the releases on their behalf.

Troutman's first single has been posted previously, the excellent deep soul cut "I Truly Love You" on Gram O Phone in 1975. It has been suggested that Troutman is related to the Troutman family from Dayton, OH, who formed Zapp and the writer's credits on this single are to Thomas Troutman. There was a Tony (Thomas) Troutman who was a member of Zapp. However, all Tony Troutman's recordings were on Atlanta labels and predominantly in the 80s around the same time that Zapp were active so it seems somehow unlikely.

He released six singles and an album "Your Man Is Home Tonight" between 1982-85 on T-Main, which may have been his own label as only his releases and one other by Frankie Redmon ("Love Woke Me Up This Morning" an original song not the Ashford & Simpson penned song recorded by many) were released on it. He released just two more (undated) singles, one on Swagger and another on Coastal (which was a reissue of a 1982 single on T-Main of two songs from his album).

Only two of his singles reached the R&B chart, "I Truly Love You"  got to #82 in 1975 and the title track of his album "Your Man Is Home Tonight" #57 in 1982.

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

Click icons below for further information or to connect with the artist. 

Details

Rating:	8.6
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Modern Soul / Reissue
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	MTI (Jerri #J-102)
Cat No:	None
Date:	27/01/2023 /12/12/1975
Key/BPM:	10B/104
Price:	£1.98

Copyright © 2009-2023 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved

Tony Troutman [1975] - I Truly Love You [Gram O Phon Records #GRA-457118]

On an extraordinarily slow week for good quality new releases it's, time to dig out some rare soul gems that perhaps are not that commonly known.

One such record is this 1975 deep soul gem from Tony Troutman who is best known in rare soul circles for his modern soul classic "What's The Use" on Jerri.

His debut single "I Truly Love You" (Gram O Phon Records) reached #82 on the Billboard R&B chart in May 1975. His only other chart sortie was the title track of his 1982 album "Your Man Is Home Tonight" on his T.Main label which was reissued on CD by Good Time Records only last year.

The original vinyl version was split over two sides with a 3:12 vocal and a same length instrumental on B. However a 2012 compilation "At the Juke Joint Vol. 2" contained an extended 5:52 version of it, so I've included both versions as 3:12 simply isn't long enough to appreciate the true beauty of this superb tune. The compilation is still available digitally click album cover below.

Joel Whitburn's Top R&B Hit singles states that he was a brother of the Troutman brothers who formed Zapp but I'm not sure how accurate that is but a Thomas Troutman did feature as keyboards/vocals later with the group. However I think he may be confused with Tony (Thomas) Troutman here as the Zapp Troutmans were from Dayton, OH, and all Tony (Thomas) Troutman's recordings were on Atlanta based labels. 

THIS is what soul is! Never mind all this auto-tuned, rap ridden nonsense parading as 'soul' music which the uninitiated 'latch' onto! Music of this quality is timeless so why post/play/programme half-baked material when there are hundreds, if not thousands, of under-appreciated nuggets like this that could do with more exposure? 

Details

Rating:	9.5
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Deep Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	7"
Label:	Gram O Phon Records
Cat No:	GRA-457118
Date:	1975
Key/BPM:	N/A
Value:	£10 approx.