Betty Harris--Cry to Me (1963)

      Music fans love the promising pull of things "lost". It could be a lost recording (as in The Beach Boys' Smile album), or lost 45 gems (if you believe those who research such things...there are hundreds of them), or even the latest artist who you think isn't getting the proper pub and getting lost in the  (if your asking, check out The Explorers Club, or Nathan Angelo).
     For decades, lovers of deep soul music had pondered the whereabouts of Betty Harris. She hit the charts with a slow, cooking cover of Solomon Burke's "Cry to Me", but subsequent singles went nowhere and she found herself without a record label. In 1965, she traveled to New Orleans to work with producer Alan Toussaint. The next four years saw twenty releases, many of them classic recordings which brought her no closer to success.
     Finally, she chose in the early 70's to totally walk away from the business. She spent the better part of three decades raising a family, her only singing being done in her church. During that time, as new fans of deep soul began to discover her for the first time, and those who did remember her rediscovered her immense talent, there was much speculation on what had happened to her. To hear her tell the story, she had no idea this fan base was building.  By 2000, Betty was living in Hartford CT and doing some work as a vocal teacher when her daughter found several fan sites in her honor and for the first time Betty had discovered a very devoted fan base. It inspired her to begin reaching out to the fans, and record her first (and only) proper album. The album, "Intuition" released in 2007 proved she still has the chops.  It's a great ending to a story of a woman who deserves all of the accolades she has received. 

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Gerri Hall--It's Not As Easy As That (1964)

     Just a little New Orleans music for you this evening. Gerri Hall was the lead singer for Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns in the late 50's and spent most of her career singing in and around the area. She never had a hit outside the Crescent City, but within the 9th Ward, she is a legend....

 

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Otis Redding/Aretha Franklin--Respect (1965/1967)

    Musical covers can be a bit of an art form in itself. Just because someone records a song for the first time doesn't make it the definitive version of that song, although because it's first, it often is recognized as such.  The following is a song where the original were amazing, but the cover far surpassed it. Many may not realize that Franklin's version of 'Respect' WAS the cover. It's reaching those heights had as much to do with time and place as it did singer.
      Otis Redding wrote the song for Speedo Sims and his group, the Singing Demons. At this point it was essentially a ballad, but as the group went into the Muscle Shoals studio, they had difficulty creating the vision that Redding had hoped, so he asked for permission from Sims to record the song himself, which Sims did. It was included on his 1965 album, "Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul" and the single went to #4 on the R&B charts, and #35 on the Hot 100.
     On hearing this version of the song, one hears a man who will give anything to his woman. Even if she is unfaithful, it will be fine as long as he gets his 'respect' when he gets home. Of course, 'respect' here is a euphemism, but you get the drift.....

     It was producer Jerry Wexler who brought the song to Aretha Franklin's attention. He thought that it would be a great showcase for her vocal talents. Franklin had just signed with Atlantic Records, and her association with Wexler had already netted the singer her first top 10 hit, "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)".  What happened with her recording of "Respect" however, is one of those wonderful musical stories that could never have been predicted.
     In Aretha's hands, the lyrics became a strident, declaration of liberation not only as a person of color, but more importantly (at least from a cultural standpoint) as a woman. She has everything that her man could ever want, so she wants 'respect" in the most real sense of the word. The woman's liberation movement was beginning to come out from the shadows, and the song summed up the feeling of many who felt their lives were being directed without permission by their men, and in this context, by society as a whole.  
     The song from a musical standpoint was a tour de force. Franklin sounded as liberated musically as the lyrics demanded she must be socially. What sealed the deal with the addition of a musical bridge provided by King Curtis' tenor sax. It became her first number one, and thrust her into the limelight once and for all, but more importantly the song became the social and cultural touchstone of that decade. For that alone, it deserves "respect" for one of the great songs of the modern musical era.

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The Fondations--Baby, Now That I Found You (1967)/Build Me Up Buttercup (1968)

     The Foundations had an all too brief run on the charts between 1967 and 69, but their influence went beyond what would be expect of a 60's singles band. Part of this was due to the background of the band. The members were from the West Indies, Britain, and Sri Lanka and the instrumental make up of the group were informed much more by Motown than anything on the UK scene.
     The band came together in early 1967 as they practiced, performed, and lived (for a while) at the Butterfly Club in London. After being signed to a contract, the single, "Baby, Now That I Found You" was released and went nowhere. Fortunately for the band, BBC had just started BBC 1 radio which was to play more modern hits. The station was attempting to avoid playing the same songs that was being played on pirate radio offshore, and would look over station playlists to find records that might have been missed. "Baby, Now That I Found You" was one of those, so with the song going into heavy rotation on the BBC, it pushed the single to the number 1 spot in the UK and number 11 in the US top 40.
     The band released a couple of other hits that did reasonably well in the UK, but in 1968, their lead singer, Clem Curtis left for a solo career. He stuck around long enough to help find his replacement, Colin Young, also from the West Indies. With Young singing lead, the group recorded, "Build Me Up Buttercup" later that year which reach the #2 spot in Britain and became their biggest hit in American, soaring up to #3.
     After "Buttercup", the band had a couple more minor offerings before breaking up in 1970. Curtis returned to the UK in 71 and put together a reformed version of the band up to the end of that decade. Today guitarist Alan Warner has a version of The Foundations which can be found here: http://thefoundationsband.com/ Clem Curtis and his version of the band can be found here:http://www.clemcurtis.com/

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