Madeline Bell was born on July 23, 1942 in Newark, New Jersey, and enjoyed singing from an early age, touring the US as part of a gospel troupe The Glovertones by her late teens. While on the road, she was spotted by gospel singer Alex Bradford and invited to become part of his backing group, who were invited to go to London to sing in the musical 'Black Nativity'. It was there that she was spotted by EMI songwriter and producer Norman Newell, who took her under his wing and suggested that she remain in Britain. Signing to EMI, she released one single on their HMV label before moving to the Columbia Records arm of the company for her next two singles, 'You Don’t Love Me No More' in 1964, and 'Daytime' the following year. When none of her releases registered with the record-buying public, she switched to the Philips label, where she remained for most of the rest of her career. With the songs of Bacharach and David in the ascendant in the mid 60's it was no surprise that 'What The World Needs Now Is Love' was issued as a single in 1965, with a b-side of 'I Can’t Wait Until I See My Baby’s Face', which label mate Dusty Springfield later recorded for her 'Where Am I Going' album. This was the beginning of a relationship which carried on for some years, and also brought in singer Lesley Duncan, where they would all sing backing on each others recordings, and even write songs together. A couple of great singles followed in 1966 – first a version of US singer Jean Wells' 'Don’t Come Running To Me', then one of Maxine Brown's with 'One Step At A Time' – before the unlikely decision was taken to have Bell record 'Climb Ev'ry Mountain', from the Julie Andrews film 'The Sound Of Music'. She did her best with the song, but it was not the style that she was associated with, and so it was up to her next two singles to re-establish her credibility, with 'Picture Me Gone' being one of her personal favourites, and featuring a b-side that she wrote with Dusty Springfield. The second single was 'I’m Gonna Make You Love Me', which reached number 26 in America’s Billboard charts in the spring of 1968, and was her biggest hit single. With this achievement under her belt, she released her first album 'Bell’s A Poppin'' that year, and from this point on had a very productive and successful career. Despite her new-found success Stateside, she continued her bread-and-butter work as a backing singer in the UK while she searched for a follow up to the US hit, although 'Thinkin'' failed to repeat the success of its predecessor. A second album 'Doin' Things' appeared later that year, with future Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones playing on the sessions, as well writing a number of songs for the album. 'We're So Much In Love', which hadn’t been included on the album, became her final solo release of the decade in the UK before she was invited to help form Blue Mink, with whom she stayed for the next half decade, releasing many hit singles and albums with them, as well as slotting in solo releases at the same time. She is still working to this day, with performances ranging from appearances at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club in London to tours of Europe singing jazz and popular songs, but this is where it all started, with a collection of fine soul and pop from the mid-to-late 60's.
01 You Don't Love Me No More (single 1964)
02 Don't Cross Over To My Side Of The Street (b-side of 'You Don't Love Me No More')
03 Daytime (single 1965)
04 What The World Needs Now Is Love (single 1965)
05 I Can't Wait Until I See My Baby's Face (b-side of 'What The World Needs Now')
06 One Step At A Time (single 1966
07 You Won't See Me (b-side of 'One Step At A Time')
08 Don't Come Running To Me (single 1966)
09 I Really Got Carried Away (b-side of 'Don't Come Running To Me')
10 Go Ahead On (b-side of 'Picture Me Gone' 1967)
11 Climb Ev'ry Mountain (single 1967)
12 It Makes No Difference Now (b-side of 'Climb Ev'ry Mountain')
13 Thinkin' (single 1968)
14 Don't Give Your Love Away (b-side of 'Thinkin'')
15 What'm I Supposed To Do (b-side of 'Hold It')
16 We're So Much In Love (single 1969)
17 How Much Do I Love You (b-side of 'We're So Much In Love')
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