Tag: R&B

#MusicMonday – Summertime – Billy Stewart

Cold Cream 'n' Roses

Billy Stewart was an R&B singer active in the 1960s.

He met Marvin Gaye through the Rainbows, a Washington, DC vocal group. Bo Diddley has been credited with discovering Stewart in Washington, DC. This led to a recording with Bo Diddley’s label Chess Records.

Amazing: I didn’t know that Marvin Gaye and Bo Diddley had ties to Washington DC.

Here’s Billy Stewart singing what Wikipedia calls his “radical interpretation” of Summertime from George Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess. Forgive the blurriness of this video.

Not sure about the 10-gallon hat and the folks sitting around on hay bales. 🤔

Billy Stewart died in an automobile accident in 1970. He was 32.

Shout-out to the Sunday Kind of Love program on WPFW 89.3 FM for introducing me to Billy Stewart.

Sources:Read More »

#MusicMonday Fontella Bass “Rescue Me”

Cold Cream 'n' Roses

I’ve been thinking a lot about Aretha. Previously I posted a video of her sister Erma singing Piece of My Heart. Today I feature Fontella Bass. Many people wrongly associate the song “Rescue Me” with Aretha, but Fontella Bass sang the song.

“Rescue Me” was released in 1965, two years before Aretha joined Atlantic Records and cut loose from the artistic constraints that Columbia Records put upon her. Fontella Bass recorded the song at Chess Studios in Chicago. Backing musicians on the track included drummer Maurice White (later leader of Earth, Wind, & Fire) and Minnie Riperton as a background singer.

This video captures Fontella Bass’s appearance on Shindig!

“Rescue Me” gave Chess its first million-selling single in 10 years. Bass recalled:

I had the first million seller for Chess since Chuck Berry about 10 years before. Things were riding high for them, but when it came time to collect my first royalty check, I looked at it, saw how little it was, tore it up and threw it back across the desk.

The original versions of the record and BMI credited Raynard Miner and Carl William Smith. Bass approached her manager Billy Davis about securing her writing credit, but when the record came out, her name was still not on it.

Sources:
Fontella Bass. (2018, August 17). Retrieved September 9, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fontella_Bass
Fontella Bass – Rescue Me (Shindig – 1965). (2015, January 27). Retrieved September 9, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4__kPN77DAU

#MusicMonday Baby (You got what it takes)

Cold Cream 'n' Roses

The Dinah Washington Facebook Page drew attention to Brook and Dinah’s Dream Duet on uDiscover:

It was 25 January 1960 that a dream duet took flight. ‘Baby (You’ve Got What It Takes)’ made its debut on both the Billboard pop and R&B charts on on this date for one of the hot new male singers of the era, Brook Benton, and a female vocalist who had been popular since World War II, Dinah Washington.

Here is Baby (You’ve Got What It Takes) for your Monday listening pleasure:

I “discovered” Dinah Washington through The Ultimate Diva Collection album.  It was a revelatory experience: where had she been all my life?