THE MANHATTANS

Summertime In The City by THE MANHATTANS

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Biography by Steve Huey (amg)

The Manhattans were one of those classic R&B vocal groups who manage to achieve incredible career longevity by adapting their style to fit changing times. Formed in the '60s as a doo wop-influenced R&B quintet, the Manhattans reinvented themselves as sweet smooth soul balladeers during the '70s. In doing so, they somehow overcame the death of lead singer George Smith, and with new frontman Gerald Alston became more popular than they'd ever been, landing an across-the-board number one hit in 1976 with "Kiss and Say Goodbye." Under the leadership of Winfred "Blue" Lovett (who also composed some of the group's biggest hits), the Manhattans survived as a viable chart act well into the '80s, over two decades after their formation.

The Manhattans got together not in their namesake location, but in nearby Jersey City, NJ, in 1962. The group was centered around lead singer George "Smitty" Smith and bass (and sometime lead) vocalist Winfred "Blue" Lovett; the other original members were Kenny Kelley, Richard Taylor, and Edward "Sonny" Bivins, the latter of whom sometimes co-wrote material with accomplished songwriter Lovett. In 1964, the Manhattans signed with the Newark-based Carnival label and teamed up with producer Joe Evans; they scored their first hit in early 1965 with "I Wanna Be (Your Everything)," a number 12 R&B hit that established their way with a ballad right from the beginning. It was the first of eight singles for Carnival, a string that continued up through 1967. None were huge hits, but nearly all of them reached the Top 30 on the R&B charts, and are still prized by collectors of vocal-group soul for their aching harmonies, Smith's intense leads, and lack of concession to mainstream pop audiences.

In 1969, the Manhattans signed on with DeLuxe and issued several singles over the course of 1970. Unfortunately, Smith fell ill that year, and the group hired Phil Terrell as a temporary fill-in. Sadly, Smith passed away in 1971; he was replaced on lead vocals by Gerald Alston, who brought a smoother, more pop-friendly sound to the group. That quality soon became apparent when the Lovett-penned "One Life to Live" zoomed into the R&B Top Five in late 1972, giving the Manhattans their first major hit. The following year, they left DeLuxe for Columbia, where their debut single, "There's No Me Without You" (written by Sonny Bivins), equaled the R&B chart peak of "One Life to Live" by reaching number three. Initially working with producer Bobby Martin, the Manhattans' records now fell into line with the sweet, string-laden sound of contemporary '70s soul. The Manhattans hit the R&B Top Ten again in 1974 with "Don't Take Your Love" and 1975 with "Hurt," but their biggest success was still to come.

In early 1975, the Manhattans had recorded a Blue Lovett composition called "Kiss and Say Goodbye," which was released as a single almost a full year later. It became the second platinum single in history (after Johnnie Taylor's "Disco Lady") and their first number one hit in the spring of 1976, not just on the R&B charts, but the pop side as well -- a remarkable feat, considering that they'd never had a single peak higher than number 37 on that survey. While it proved difficult to match the crossover success of "Kiss and Say Goodbye," the Manhattans reeled off a string of Top Ten R&B hits -- "I Kinda Miss You," "It Feels So Good to Be Loved So Bad," "We Never Danced to a Love Song," and "Am I Losing You" -- that lasted into early 1978 and made them staples on the newly emerging quiet storm radio format. Their momentum slowed over the next couple of years, but they came back strong in 1980 with "Shining Star" -- not a cover of the Earth, Wind & Fire hit, but a co-write by their new producer Leo Graham. "Shining Star" reached the Top Five on both the pop and R&B charts, went gold, and won a Grammy -- overall, not a bad haul.

The Manhattans' last major hit came with 1983's "Crazy," which put them in the R&B Top Five for the final time; they bade farewell to the Top 40 in 1985 with a cover of Sam Cooke's "You Send Me." That year Richard Taylor left the group, which carried on as a quartet for a few years; Taylor passed away in December 1987. Gerald Alston signed with Motown as a solo artist in 1988, upon which point the group finally parted ways with Columbia and recorded an album for the small Valley Vue label before disbanding. Alston and Lovett reunited in 1993; with new members Troy May and David Tyson, they toured regularly into the new millennium, with the occasional recording appearing on a small label.

Review by Richie Unterberger (amg)

The Manhattans' second Columbia album was a somewhat poorly conceived affair, combining one LP side of new recordings and a second LP side of released and unissued tracks they'd cut for DeLuxe before signing with Columbia. As those Deluxe tracks were several years old (some perhaps having been recorded even four or five years earlier), the record spanned too wide of a time frame to qualify as a wholly new (or wholly realized) effort. Certainly it's not as consistent, either in style or quality, as their 1973 Columbia debut There's No Me Without You. It was decent (though not brilliant) period early- to mid-'70s soul, however, including the Top Ten R&B (and pop Top 40) hit "Don't Take Your Love," as well as the much smaller chart single "Summertime in the City." The latter song was certainly reminiscent of the early-'70s Temptations' funk, while the former was very much a lush Philly soul-style ballad. The Philly soul path, in both its ballad and funk modes, was also followed by some of the "new" tracks, such as "Save Our Goodbyes" and the title song. While the older selections on side two have a less Philly-fied vibe, really they don't sound that out of place; "Blackbird" is much in line with the O'Jays' early-'70s recordings and both "Strange Old World" and "Nursery Rhymes" again recall the funked-out Temptations, though the covers of "Fever" and "A Change Is Gonna Come" were a little more old-school. The album was combined with its predecessor, There's No Me Without You, on a single-disc Kent CD reissue in 2004.

My comment: I love The Manhattans - no matter what the reviews are!

THE NEW BIRTH

Your Love Is by The New Birth

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Biography by Craig Lytle (amg)

Formed by Tony Churchill and music-industry veteran Harvey Fuqua, New Birth was originally named the Nite-Liters. As the Nite-Liters, they enjoyed chart action with three R&B hits: "K-Jee," "Afro-Strut," and "Pull Together." Of the three, "K-Jee" was the most successful, peaking at number 17 during a 13-week run.

The roots of the band lie with Leslie and Melvin Wilson, who were gospel singers living in Muskegon, MI. After moving on to Detroit in the late '60s, their interest remained centered in gospel. Melvin Wilson eventually met the Nite-Liters, who at the time were backing Motown artists, and expressed the possibility that he and his brother Leslie could perform with them. As fate would have it, the two brothers became acquainted with former Marvelette Anne Bogan, who introduced them to Fuqua. He had three groups under his tutelage: Love Peace & Happiness (of which Leslie and Melvin became members), the Nite-Liters, and New Birth. All but two members of New Birth had left the group around this time, leaving just Londee Loren and Bobby Downs. The three groups toured, backed each other up, and ultimately merged into one, with New Birth the name of the new group.

Leslie, with his feisty vocals, and Melvin, with his more serene appeal, emerged as the primary lead singers. New Birth's first release was the R&B Top Ten single "I Can Understand It." Led by Leslie Wilson's intense vocals and reminiscent of Bobby Womack, the single zoomed up the charts, peaking at number four after only 12 weeks. In January of 1974 they released "It's Been a Long Time," one of their celebrated hits and another Top Ten entry. That single was followed by the classic, soulful ballad "Wildflower." During this time, the group was living in California, which presented problems; from egotism associated with the lights of Tinseltown to group-management problems, the band's best interests began to suffer. Consequently, New Birth terminated its affiliation with their founder and producer Fuqua, manager Jerry Weintraub, and RCA Records. In mid-1975 they signed with Buddah Records and immediately recorded their first and only number R&B one, "Dream Merchant." They recorded just one album for Buddah, however, before signing with Warner Bros. and later Ariola. In 1977, Leslie and Melvin Wilson left the group, and by 1979 the rest of the group had disbanded. However, in 1994, Leslie and Melvin re-formed the group and began performing at venues around the nation.

Review by Amy Hanson (amg)

Their second album for Warner Bros. and the last before the band called it quits two years later, New Birth's late-1977 Behold the Mighty Army LP may have sounded their death knell, but it still managed to shimmy up the R&B charts, scoring the band their sixth Top 30 hit in four years. Packed with brass and bass and funk guitar riffs, New Birth attempted to revitalize themselves one last time -- and, true to form, they succeeded, with a fierce set that brought two more singles to the charts. Both the opening "The Mighty Army," which wraps the groove around a near-seven-minute jam, and the resonating "Deeper" can be counted among some of the band's finest moments. Elsewhere, "Ain't It Something" combines a slick, brassed-up vibe with rough vocals to stunning effect, while New Birth takes the energy down a notch across a handful of slower songs, including the dirty funk of "Squeezing Too Much Living" and "Your Love Is," a wonderful ballad that has so many golden moments that it's a surprise that it was lost in the band's hit machine. Although there's no doubt that the band had a heyday across their Nite-Liters incarnation, it's important to note that as New Birth, they still had some feisty tricks up their sleeve. Ultimately, Behold the Mighty Army is proof of that pudding, for even teetering on the brink of destruction, the band pulled together a remarkable set.

THE MARVELETTES

Someway, Somehow by The Marvelettes

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Biography by Richie Unterberger (AMG)

Probably the most pop-oriented of Motown's major female acts, the Marvelettes didn't project as strong an identity as the Supremes, Mary Wells, or Martha Reeves, but recorded quite a few hits, including Motown's first number one single, "Please Mr. Postman" (1961). "Postman," as well as other chirpy early-'60s hits like "Playboy," "Twistin' Postman," and "Beechwood 4-5789," were the label's purest girl group efforts. Featuring two strong lead singers, Gladys Horton and Wanda Young, the Marvelettes went through five different lineups, but maintained a high standard on their recordings. After a few years, they moved from girl group sounds to up-tempo and mid-tempo numbers that were more characteristic of Motown's production line. They received no small help from Smokey Robinson, who produced and wrote many of their singles; Holland-Dozier-Holland, Berry Gordy, Mickey Stevenson, Marvin Gaye, and Ashford-Simpson also got involved with the songwriting and production at various points. After the mid-'60s Wanda Young assumed most of the lead vocal duties; Gladys Horton departed from the group in the late '60s. While the Marvelettes didn't cut as many monster smashes as most of their Motown peers after the early '60s, they did periodically surface with classic hits like "Too Many Fish in the Sea," "Don't Mess With Bill," and "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game." There were also plenty of fine minor hits and misses, like 1965's "I'll Keep Holding On," which is just as memorable as the well-known Motown chart-toppers of the era. The group quietly disbanded in the early '70s after several years without a major hit.


Review by John Lowe (amg)
By this time Gladys Horton left the group and was replaced by the talented but eccentric singer/songwriter Anne Bogan. Young took control of the group and moved them more into a softer pop sound, closer to the frothy Supremes than Martha and the Vandellas. Although the material was a bit weaker, there are plenty of good songs, most notably Smokey Robinson's amusing "My Baby Must Be a Magician" and the haunting "Destination: Anywhere," in which Young performs a tremendous vocal.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I WISH YOU ALL - SEASON'S BLESSINGS - AND A JOYOUS HOLIDAY SEASON!!

GLADYS KNIGHT

BODY & SOUL - SENSUAL CHRISTMAS

Willie B

by Willie B

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Can't find any information on him - BUT he is definitely chitlin circuit soul - for those of you who enjoy my southern soul posts!!

ULTIMATE CHRISTMAS SOUL

Dear Santa Claus by bOBBY womack

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THE SUPREMES (1965) - Remastered

Silver Bells by The Supremes

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Odetta, Voice of Civil Rights Movement, Dies at 77

Odetta, a titan of American folk music, demonstrated time and again that her talent transcended any one style. She died Dec. 2, 2008, at 77.

Odetta was a folk icon, but her music included blues, jazz, spirituals, Appalachian songs and English folk songs. Her 27th solo album, ''Blues Everywhere I Go'' (2000), paid homage to the great blueswomen of the ‘20s and ‘30s: Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Victoria Spivey, Sippie Wallace and Memphis Minnie.

''One of the many reasons I wanted to do the blues album is that I get pretty fed up with stereotyping of our black community as being represented by prurient sex or 'I'm gonna shoot you or I'm gonna cut you','' she said in a phone conversation from her home in New York in July 2000. ''There was blues in the '20s and '30s that dealt with society's foot stepping on our throats.''

Social protest was evident in Odetta's vast repertory. The seeds of social conscience were planted during her childhood in Los Angeles. ''They didn't have signs for black and whites, but you knew where you could and couldn't go,'' she said. ''There were no signs, but there was attitude.''

Odetta Holmes was born in 1930 in Birmingham, Ala., but grew up in Los Angeles. “A teacher told my mother that I had a voice, that maybe I should study,” she said. She later found her own voice by listening to blues, jazz, and folk music from the African-American and Anglo-American traditions. She earned a music degree from Los Angeles City College. Her training in classical music and musical theater work was “a nice exercise, but it had nothing to do with my life,” she said. “The folk songs were -- the anger.”

She left home at 18 to perform in the chorus of a national tour of ''Finian's Rainbow,'' a musical, appropriately enough, about prejudice. She settled in San Francisco where she learned to play the guitar and began performing in the folk clubs.

Her first solo album, "Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues," resonated with an audience hearing old songs made new in a voice that plunged deep and soared high. “The first thing that turned me on to folk singing was Odetta,” Bob Dylan said, referring to that record, in a 1978 interview with Playboy. He said he heard “something vital and personal. I learned all the songs on that record." The 1956 album included “Mule Skinner,” “Jack of Diamonds,” “Water Boy,” and “ ‘Buked and Scorned.” ’’

Odetta’s reputation was that of a singer of uncompromising integrity as a result of performances at the Newport Festival, at Carnegie Hall and for President John F. Kennedy on the nationally televised program, ''Dinner With the President.'' She marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma and she sang at the 1963 March on Washington. Odetta was an influence on Joan Baez and Janis Joplin and younger singer-songwriters like Tracy Chapman.

Her acting credits included Tony Richardson's ''Sanctuary'' (1960) with Yves Montand and Lee Remick. And on television she appeared with Cicely Tyson in ''The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.'' She also appeared with the Stratford Shakespeare Company in Ontario and at the Neptune Theater in Halifax.

Glory Glory by Odetta

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BILL CODAY

TIME to give you all a break from Christmas music - LOL

Bring Your Lunch by Bill Coday

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Leave the Light On by Bill Coday

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Daddy B. Nice's #51 ranked Southern Soul Artist
Author's Forward: June 29, 2008.

He was Southern Soul's "Everyman." He wasn't a musical genius, nor an innovator. He was very much in the shadow of the "greats"--O. V. Wright, Johnnie Taylor, Tyrone Davis and others whose material he so frequently championed. And yet, at his passing on June 7, 2008, the loss hurts with unexpected force.

Bill Coday knew Southern Soul so well, he lived and breathed the genre. And with his passing went a store of knowledge about Southern Soul in ever-shorter supply in this day of young artists eager to break into Southern Soul but woefully unaware of its essential sound.

Bill Coday knew that "sound." Every record he made was unmistakably Southern Soul rhythm and blues. And now that he is gone, one wishes to be sitting at a little table a couple steps from a little dance area in a hole-in-the-wall with Bill Coday in front of the microphone.

Like a little child wanting nothing more than to to be picked up and hugged by a big, warm, understanding adult, one mourns his death as one mourns the loss of a family-member.

His music was never brilliant enough to garner the accolades given the aforementioned mentors, whom he's now joined. And yet, with his death Bill Coday's music has been transformed into an incredible comfort zone, a musical legacy to bask in, a warm, nurturing reserve of material the value of which suddenly surpasses any value accorded it during his lifetime.

If the music as a whole is temporarily weaker for his passing, Bill Coday now looms as a larger and livelier character on the unfolding, historical tapesty of Southern Soul R&B. Coday joins Taylor, Davis, Ronnie Lovejoy, Little Milton, Quinn Golden, Ollie Nightingale and others, and stands among them as would a band of brothers.

--Daddy B. Nice


— Ed Hogan , All Music Guide
Soul singer Bill Coday first came to fame with the hit single "Get Your Lies Straight" during the early spring of 1971. Signed to Crajon Productions, owned by the husband and wife team of Bill and Denise Jones (who recorded under the name Denise LaSalle and scored a 1971 gold single, "Trapped by a Thing Called Love"), Coday was the perfect vehicle for LaSalle's blues-oriented R&B songs. Born May 10, 1942, in Coldwater, MS, Coday began his singing career as a teenager, performing in juke joints around Blytheville, AK, with a band that included Son Seals. In 1961, he relocated to Chicago, IL, donning the name Chicago Willie. LaSalle spotted the singer while he was performing at the Black Orchid club. She teamed him with Memphis, TN, soul music producer Willie Mitchell whom she often worked with on her releases for Detroit, MI's Westbound label and for those of other Crajon artists (the Sequins' hits "Hey Romeo" and "The Third Degree"). Mitchell went on to have hits with another Chicago singer, Syl Johnson, and gold and platinum-laced success with Al Green on Hi Records. Coday's first Crajon singles, "Sixty Minute Teaser" and "I Get High on Your Love," were regional hits. The third single, "Get Your Lies Straight," proved to be the breakthrough, going to number 14 R&B on Billboard's charts in early 1971. On the flipside was "You're Gonna Want Me." As was the custom on a fast-selling national record, the independently-distributed Crajon leased Coday's single to the much larger Galaxy label, a subsidiary of Berkeley, CA's Fantasy Records, for wider distribution. The follow-up, issued on Galaxy, the Denise LaSalle song "When You Find a Fool, Bump His Head," made it to number 48 R&B in summer 1971. There were other Galaxy singles, but none charted nationally. Coday enjoyed a regional hit on Crajon with "I'm Back to Collect" in the first half of 1973. Some of his Galaxy/Crajon releases can be found on the compilations All Night Long They Played the Blues (1992), Bad Bad Whiskey (1993) -- both from U.K. label Ace Records -- and an '80s collection of Coday's Crajon singles on Japanese label Vivid Sounds. In 1973, he signed with Epic Records and the single "I Don't Want to Play This Game" was issued. It was later included on the 1975 Epic compilation Lost Soul, reissued as a 1994 CD by Sony Legacy. In 1984, Coday began to tour with Denise LaSalle as her opening act. He began recording again after several years away from the studio. Signing with Memphis-based label Ecko Records, his first release was the appropriately titled Sneakin' Back album. The tracks "Her Love Is Good Enough to Put in Collard Greens," "I Can Move the Hoochie Coochie Man," "Doctor Thrill Good," and a remake of "Get Your Lies Straight" became favorites with blues lovers and blues-formatted radio stations. His second Ecko CD, Can't Get Enough, included "In the Room Next to the Room" and "Not a Word" with labelmate Barbara Carr. Coday's third Ecko CD, 1999's Put Me in the Mood, gave his fans more of his tasty blend of spicy, bluesy Southern soul.

ARETHA FRANKLIN (2008)

T'was The Night Before Chr by Aretha Franklin

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AL GREEN

O Holy Night by Al Green

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AL GREEN

I'll Be Home For Christmas by Al Green

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20 MOTOWN CHRISTMAS CLASSICS

HAPPY CHRISTMAS FROM MOTOWN