Saturday, April 21, 2012

Arthur Conley--Sweet Soul Music (1967)

     Conley had bounced around a bit, being the lead singer in the group, Arthur & the Comets in from 1959 to 1964 before going off on his own. He recorded, "I'm A Lonely Stranger" which caught the attention of Otis Redding. Redding re-recorded the song on his new label, Jotis Records, and did a lot in teaching Conley the finer points of performing and recording. Together they took the Sam Cooke song, "Yeah Man", and rewrote it into, "Sweet Soul Music'.
      It went to number 2 and became Conley's biggest hit. It began a streak of chart hits that lasted for a couple of years, including another top 20, "Funky Street" in 1968. In the mid-70's, he moved to Europe and changed his name to Lee Roberts where he continued to record, perform and dabble in one of his passions, furniture design.

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