Sam’s Soul-Stirring Gospel

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Last Sunday, I had the pleasure of appearing on Chicago radio station V-103 for the Battle of the Best with legendary broadcaster Herb Kent. The “Battle” is a competition featuring music by two artists, one selected by Kent and the other one chosen by the guest. Kent chose Jackie Wilson and, of course, Sam Cooke was my choice. Listeners voted for their favorite by phone or on Kent’s Facebook page. After an hour of record playing, fact sharing and trash talking, I was declared the winner! Now for part two of Cooke’s story…

Years before he became a soul music icon, Cooke was a member of the Soul Stirrers, a renowned gospel group based in Chicago in the early to mid-1950s. In the 80s, I was a teenager when I first heard Last Mile of the Way, one of the group’s best-known songs. Rev. Milton Brunson played it during his Saturday afternoon show on WXFM (105.9 FM). Devoted Chicago gospel fans will also remember Brunson as founder of the Thompson Community Singers as well as pastor of the Christ Tabernacle Baptist Church on the city’s West Side. I was stunned by the song’s beauty as well as Cooke’s vocals. I knew some of his R&B tunes, but was thrilled to hear him sing gospel.

Born in Clarksdale, Mississippi on January 22, 1931, Cooke was almost two years old when his family migrated to Chicago’s South Side, eventually settling at 3527 So. Cottage Grove. As a child, he sang with his siblings at a church pastored by his father in Chicago Heights, about 30 miles outside the city. Cooke was 19 when he joined the Soul Stirrers in 1950.

Sharing lead vocals with Paul Foster, Cooke and the group recorded a string of gospel gems on Specialty Records, including Just Another Day, Touch the Hem of His Garment and Be With Me, Jesus—many of them written or arranged by the handsome lead singer. If you listen to those recordings, you can hear the distinctive phrasing, the trademark yodel and other vocal acrobatics that would one day earn him the title, ‘The Man Who Invented Soul.’

Cooke’s ability to whip crowds into a spiritual frenzy only intensified as the Soul Stirrers toured the country. A July 1955 appearance at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles would place him on the path to becoming a secular artist. The group sang extended versions of their most popular recordings, including another Cooke composition, Nearer to Thee. During this performance, he added new verses that ensured an emotional response from the audience. Listen to how he, trading ad-libs with Foster, steadily builds the crowd’s excitement, singing about how “bad company will make a good child go astray” and finding his mother “with folded arms…looking up toward the sky” with tears streaming down her face.

It was the Shrine appearance that made Specialty’s A&R man Bumps Blackwell urge Cooke to consider pursuing a pop career. By December 1956, he had recorded Lovable, a secularized version of the group’s hit, Wonderful. Concerned about the possible backlash from the religious community, he used the pseudonym Dale Cook. Of course, no one was fooled. According to Peter Guralnick, in the book Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke, several gospel singers and fans tried to persuade the charismatic performer not to switch to popular music. Gospel deejays and concert promoters said he was making a huge mistake.

However, in April 1957, Cooke recorded his final session with the Soul Stirrers. Ironically, those songs which included, That’s Heaven to Me, Were You There and Lord, Remember Me could have easily been pop or doo-wop records. The next month, Cooke left Chicago and the group, and moved to Los Angeles. He signed a deal with Keen Records and four months later, You Send Me was on its way to the top of the pop and rhythm and blues charts.

Thanks for reading this; please join me in Sounding Off by sharing your favorite gospel song by Sam Cooke. I look forward to your response.

Kimberly Vann

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A Change Is Gonna Come: Dr. King, President Obama and Sam Cooke

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This is the first of a three-part series about the music of Sam Cooke. I have the pleasure of writing about this legendary entertainer one day before what would have been his 81st birthday. What makes this day even more special is that it is the national holiday commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday and President Barack Obama’s second inauguration day. One of Cooke’s most notable compositions ties these three men together in a remarkable thread of history—A Change Is Gonna Come. Cooke wrote the song in 1963, a pivotal year in the Civil Rights Movement.

January 1 marked the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, ending slavery for millions of African Americans. In April, Dr. King began demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, where non-violent protestors—men, women and children—were beaten by police officers, bitten by attack dogs and soaked by firemen wielding fire hoses. On June 11, weeks after the Birmingham campaign ended, President John F. Kennedy announced on national television his plan to propose a bill to Congress addressing civil rights issues including voting rights, public accommodations, school desegregation and nondiscrimination in federally supported programs. Hours following the announcement, Medgar Evers was assassinated in Jackson, Mississippi. Evers was the NAACP’s first field secretary in Mississippi. He recruited members and organized voter registration drives and economic boycotts throughout the state. His widow, Myrlie Evers-Williams, delivered the invocation at the presidential inauguration earlier today.

The March on Washington on August 28 drew more than 200,000 people to the nation’s capital for a political rally which culminated in Dr. King’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. Sadly, once again, tragedy would follow triumph. Nearly three weeks after the historic march, on September 15, a Birmingham church bombing claimed the lives of Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Denise McNair. The four girls were attending Sunday school at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, the starting point for many of the protests launched by Dr. King. He performed their eulogies. As the nation grieved the girls’ deaths, an assassin’s bullet would soon end another life in Dallas, and America’s sadness would only intensify.

President Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza on November 22. His successor, former vice president Lyndon B. Johnson, would eventually sign into law the legislation he introduced which became the Civil Rights Act of 1964. These events and a popular song written by Bob Dylan set the stage for Cooke to compose A Change Is Gonna Come.

Dylan wrote Blowin’ in the Wind performed by folk music trio Peter, Paul and Mary and released in August of 1963. According to Daniel Wolff in You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke, the soul singer was impressed by Dylan’s ability to address civil rights issues in a song that was also a hit record. He was compelled to do the same and in December of that year, he did! It’s the lyrics that make Change one of the anthems of the civil rights era. Cooke wrote about being refused entry in public places, “I go to the movie and I go downtown, somebody keep telling me don’t hang around” and rejection from those who should help, perhaps the members of the clergy Dr. King addressed months earlier in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, “Then I go to my brother and I say ‘brother, help me please.’ But he winds up knockin’ me back down on my knees.” The song ends in a majestic climax, a testament to the strength of those who never gave up, “There were times that I thought I wouldn’t last for long. But now I think I’m able to carry on.”

Released in 1964, the song has been covered by several artists including Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin and Terence Trent D’Arby. Many will recall hearing it throughout Mr. Obama’s first presidential run. Others may remember hearing him use one of the lyrics during his 2008 victory speech in Chicago, “It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.” Bettye LaVette and Jon Bon Jovi performed Change at the 2009 inaugural concert. I am certain that when Cooke wrote this song 50 years ago, he never envisioned a national holiday for Dr. King or the reelection of the country’s first African-American president whose inaugural event included an invocation by Medgar Evers’ widow.

A Change Has Come.

Thanks for reading this. Please join me in Sounding Off by sharing your favorite rendition of Cooke’s classic song. I look forward to your response.

Kimberly Vann

The Spinners’ Sophisticated Soul

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When I think of the best musical groups of the 70s, the Spinners easily come to mind. From 1972 until 1977, the group consisting of Henry Fambrough, Billy Henderson, Pervis Jackson, Bobby Smith and Philippe Wynne were mainstays on R&B as well as pop radio stations. I believe this quintet impacted 70s music, as much as the Temptations dominated the mid to late 60s.

Like the Tempts, they recorded at Motown. Two of my favorite songs from the group’s Motown era are Truly Yours and It’s a Shame. The first song features Bobby Smith’s sweet and easy vocals. The latter one was co-written and produced by Stevie Wonder with G.C. Cameron singing lead. (Cooley High fans will remember his tearjerker, It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday.)

In 1971, three things happened that would change the group’s fortunes. First, Philippe Wynne joined the group, replacing Cameron who departed for a solo career. Next, they signed with Atlantic Records. Finally, upon their arrival, Thom Bell asked to work with them. A successful producer, arranger and songwriter, Bell had co-written and produced several compositions for the Delfonics (La, La Means I Love You and Didn’t I Blow Your Mind This Time) the Stylistics (Betcha By Golly, Wow and You Are Everything) and other acts.

He had some ambitious ideas for the group. According to John A. Jackson in A House on Fire: The Rise and Fall of Philadelphia Soul, in the summer of 1972, the Spinners recorded four songs Bell produced. The first single, How Could I Let You Get Away, was a silky ballad that reminded many of the Stylistics. However, more radio deejays played the up-tempo “B” side, I’ll Be Around, resulting in the quintet’s first number one hit. The next release, Could It Be I’m Falling in Love was another million-selling R&B smash. The fourth song, One of a Kind (Love Affair), was included on the group’s self-titled album released in 1973, and became their third consecutive top R&B record.

Their second album, Mighty Love, released the following year, not only featured the unforgettable title track, it also contained other favorites: Since I Been Gone, He’ll Never Love You Like I Do and Love Don’t Love Nobody. Although the Spinners were from Detroit, their Atlantic recordings exemplified the Sound of Philadelphia created primarily by Bell and his partners, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, founders of Philadelphia International Records. Meaningful lyrics backed by tight horn and rhythm sections, sumptuous string arrangements and stunning background vocals were all part of the Spinners’ trademark style. It was sophisticated soul.

Wynne was another reason for the group’s popularity. Whether he traded vocals with Smith or performed solo, Wynne was one of the best ad-libbers who ever touched a microphone. Check out the last two minutes of Mighty Love. He whoops, stutters, wails and yodels without missing a beat. Sadie is one of the best tributes to mothers ever recorded and his delivery still tugs at my heart, especially around Mother’s Day. Listen to the live, extended version of How Could I Let You Get Away and you’ll hear Wynne do some incredible impersonations of Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and Al Green. After he left the group to go solo, things were never quite the same.

Thanks for reading this; please join me in Sounding Off by sharing your favorite Spinners song. I look forward to your response. I’d also like to wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2013!

Kimberly Vann

Before Tammi Terrell, There Was Kim Weston

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When most Marvin Gaye fans think about his singing partners, Tammi Terrell usually comes to mind. From 1967 until 1969, the duo recorded timeless performances—several of them written and produced by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson—including, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Your Precious Love, You’re All I Need to Get By, If I Could Build My Whole World Around You, and Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing.

However, prior to being paired with Terrell, one of Gaye’s other musical partners was Kim Weston. Born December 30, 1939, Weston, a Detroit native, had been performing around the Motor City when a local songwriter named Johnny Thornton asked her to record some demo tapes. Thornton played them for his cousin, Eddie Holland, one of Motown’s producer/songwriters who would eventually become part of the label’s legendary songwriting team Holland-Dozier-Holland. She signed with Motown in 1961.

According to the AMG AllMusic Guide in 1963, Weston scored a minor R&B hit with Love Me All the Way, and, during the following year, recorded her first duet with Gaye, What Good Am I Without You. Unfortunately, Weston turned down a song that later became a smash hit for another Motown act. Gaye and producer William “Mickey” Stevenson wrote Dancing in the Street and offered her a chance to record the song. She said no. Martha Reeves, lead singer of Martha and the Vandellas, said yes and the rest is history. During the summer of 1964, Dancing claimed the number 2 position on Billboard’s Top 100 Chart and is described by the publication as one of the “most potent and enduring dance records of the era.”

It would be another year before Weston would have a top 10 hit as a solo artist–Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While) recorded in 1965. Her 1966 follow-up release, Helpless, was also popular among fans. That same year, she and Gaye recorded the album Take Two which featured It Takes Two and It’s Got to Be a Miracle (This Thing Called Love). I was happy to find the LP on one of my bookcases and was even happier to discover it contains What Good Am I Without You. I heard it for the first time on the Internet last night and liked the song so much that I unpacked my record player so I could hear it again. It reminds me of Brook Benton and Dinah Washington’s Baby (You Got What It Takes). You listen and decide.

In 1967, Weston left Motown for MGM Records and recorded an album which included a stirring version of Lift Every Voice and Sing. In 1972, she performed the Black National Anthem at Wattstax, a daylong concert produced by Stax Records featuring many of the artists from the Memphis-based label. The event was held at the Los Angeles Coliseum to commemorate the Watts riots that occurred seven years earlier.

Thanks for reading this; please join me in Sounding Off by sharing your favorite Kim Weston song. I look forward to your response. I’d also like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a joyous holiday season!

Kimberly Vann

The Temptations: My Quintessential Quintet

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My all-time favorite musical group is the Temptations. Although the lineup has changed over the decades, Eddie Kendricks, Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin, David Ruffin and Paul Williams (no relation to Otis) are the men that first come to mind.

At an early age, I learned how to play 45s on my parents’ Curtis Mathes console–the large floor model in the living room that contained a television, an am/fm radio and a record player. After going through everyone’s records, I compiled my own stack. The Way You Do the Things You Do, I Wish It Would Rain and I’ll Be in Trouble stayed on the turntable. My Girl came later. It was not unusual for my mother to find me on the floor with my head next to one of the speakers. I was hooked on the harmonies; the lyrics were easy to learn and I was mesmerized by the melodies.

As a high school student, my R&B tastes shifted to the Gap Band, the Jacksons, Parliament/Funkadelic, plus thanks to two FM stations, WDAI and WFYR, I was exposed to bands like Genesis, Foreigner and the Police. My musical horizons expanded, but the Temptations were never left behind. Listening to Richard Pegue’s “Best Music of Your Life,” first on WGCI-AM, then WVON, and Herb Kent’s weekend shows on V-103 introduced me to b-sides, album cuts and other gems: You’ve Got to Earn It , Born to Love You, All I Need and I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You). I loved their five-part harmony as Eddie, Paul and David traded lead vocals on various selections. Remember the four-headed microphone?

As a grown woman, I savored the sight of five handsome, impeccably dressed men—all six feet tall—who danced flawlessly. I still do. Each member possessed his own distinctive style. Eddie had a soothing falsetto and a smile that could melt ice. David could ‘beg and plead for sympathy’ better than anyone else on vinyl. Melvin’s booming bass was authoritative, yet comforting. Otis was a strong and steady baritone/second tenor. And then there was Paul, my favorite Temptation.

Why Paul? I’ll give you three reasons: Don’t Look Back, Just Another Lonely Night and For Once in My Life. In the first two songs, Paul’s slightly hoarse vocals were cool, calm and confident. Yet, it was his emotional, show-stopping rendition of For Once in My Life on TCB, a 1968 television special with Diana Ross and the Supremes, that is considered by many, including myself, as Paul’s definitive performance. What made this ballad so powerful to me was his vulnerability, perhaps caused by the weight of the personal demons he battled. A couple years ago, I watched the video on YouTube and was moved to tears. Reading viewer comments, I realized I was not the only one who cried at the computer.

Thanks for reading this; please join me in Sounding Off by sharing your favorite Temptations song and which Temptation you liked the most. I look forward to your response.

Kimberly Vann

Natalie, Chuck and Marvin: A Musical Match Made in Chicago

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When I think of successful songwriter/singer partnerships, Dionne Warwick, Burt Bacharach and Hal David come to mind. Brothers Brian and Eddie Holland, joined by Lamont Dozier, who penned countless hits for the Supremes and the Four Tops, also make the list. Future blog posts will focus on these and other remarkable collaborations.

In the mid 70s, a musical alliance was formed in Chicago that launched singer Natalie Cole into R&B superstardom. She began working with the songwriting/production team of Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancy. According to Robert Pruter in the book, Chicago Soul, Jackson, a commercial art major who minored in music while attending college, moved to Chicago in 1968 to work as an art director for Playboy magazine. However, music remained his first love. Two years later, Jackson, who is also a half-brother of civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson, left Playboy to join a songwriters workshop founded by Jerry “the Iceman” Butler.

Yancy was a gifted musician who eventually succeeded his father as pastor of Fountain of Life Baptist Church on Chicago’s South Side. A graduate of Cooley High School who later attended Moody Bible Institute and the Chicago Bible Institute, Yancy played keyboards for gospel legends including Rev. James Cleveland, Jessy Dixon, Inez Andrews and Albertina Walker during the late 60s.

The two men met in 1971 at Operation PUSH’s Black Expo, while Yancy accompanied Albertina Walker on piano. They became fast friends and ultimately formed a production company that resulted in some of Cole’s most memorable songs. This Will Be , a Jackson/Yancy composition, was the first hit released in 1975 from her debut album, Inseparable, on Capitol Records. The title track was the album’s second #1 single.

I remember hearing This Will Be as a child, thinking it was an Aretha Franklin record—so did many others. Cole often cited the Queen of Soul’s influence and frequently performed her songs while playing the lounge circuit. Ironically, it was this recording which earned Cole a 1976 Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance–Female, ending Franklin’s eight-year winning streak in that category. Cole also received the Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

My two favorite Yancy/Jackson/Cole songs are I’ve Got Love on My Mind (Unpredictable LP, 1977, Capitol) and Our Love (Thankful LP, 1977, Capitol). When either song comes on the radio, whether I’m among a group of friends or strangers, a flash mob karaoke experience happens. Everyone sings the lead and the chorus; some of us even imitate the instruments and ad-libs. That’s when you know a song is great!

Please join me in Sounding Off by sharing your favorite Natalie Cole songs and why you like them. Thanks for reading this!

Kimberly Vann

Welcome to Sounding Off: Musical Reflections and Recollections

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This is the first entry of my new blog, Sounding Off: Musical Reflections and Recollections. I regularly read about music, own countless CDs, 45s and albums ( yes, albums) and watch whatever videos I can find on YouTube. I’m excited about the chance to share my passion with others. While my love for classic R&B (aka “dusties”) is unapologetic and undeniable, I also look forward to writing about other genres –blues, gospel, jazz, pop and rock.

I grew up on Chicago’s South Side during the 1970s. The Jackson Five’s “Rockin’ Robin” was the first record I remember hearing on WVON Radio. I immediately became a devoted fan of Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael. On Saturdays, must-see TV meant watching the Jacksons’ morning cartoon, American Bandstand, then Soul Train in the afternoon. My mother bought a box of Alpha-Bits cereal, at my request, because it contained stickers of the handsome brothers from Gary. A subscription to Right On! magazine was inevitable, but still several years away.

In those days, my dad and I purchased 45s from Joe’s Records near 35th and Giles and Metro Music at 87th and Harper. Many of my selections were influenced by WVON’s playlist and included The Hues Corporation’s “Rock the Boat,” the Jackson Five’s “Dancing Machine,” and Sly and the Family Stone’s “If You Want Me to Stay.” The radio station was a powerhouse in the black community, where Herb Kent, Richard Pegue, Joe Cobb, Bill “Butterball” Crane, Ed “Nassau Daddy” Cook and other on-air personalities worked their magic behind the microphone.

By the time I began high school in 1979, I was buying albums at a store on 63rd and Halsted. I don’t remember the name of the shop, but it was across the street from Delicious Donuts which was under the “L” station. I also shopped downtown at Rose Records on Adams and Wabash. For house music and 12-inch singles of club favorites, a visit to Imports Etc. on South Plymouth Court was essential. After all these years, hearing “Situation” by Yaz still makes me shake my head, pop my fingers and wiggle my hips.

Please join me in Sounding Off by sharing memories about the records you bought and where you bought them. Thanks for reading this!

Kimberly Vann