Joyce Harris - I Cheated (1965)

Joyce Harris was born in Kentucky in 1939 and moved to New Orleans with her family when she was 13 years old. She learned to play guitar and write songs, and was soon performing duets with her younger sister Judy, as Joyce And Judy, releasing three singles – 'He's The One'/'Hey Pretty Baby', 'Washboard Sam'/'Nursery Rock (Beedle De Bop)' and 'Hey Little Baby'/'Rock And Roll Kittens' – all in 1958, until Judy got married and left the group. Joyce spent a year as part of a big band singing in restaurants in Mexico, and she released her first solo single 'It's You'/'The Boy In School' on New York’s U.T. Records at the end of 1959. A talent spotter saw her in Mexico and was impressed enough to secure her an audition with the Texas-based Domino label, and she was soon in the studio with Tommy Kaspar and Don Burch of Domino’s vocal quartet, The Slades. She wrote a lot of her own material, and her first single for the new label was an answer record to their local hit 'You Cheated', which she wrote overnight and recorded with The Slades. Her 'I Cheated'/'Do You Know What It's Like To Be Lonesome?' was released in October 1960, followed by 'No Way Out'/'Dreamer' in January 1961, which sold strongly enough to be licensed to Infinity Records. In 1963 Harris released the gospel-inspired 'Don't Knock It' under the pseudonym Sinner Strong (Strong was a family name, and the first name was a mis-hearing of her name Cina), and then a couple of years later she released her final single under her own name, with 'Baby, Baby, Baby' appearing in 1965. This was a more soulful recording and is now highly sought after on the Northern Soul circuit. In 1997 two previously unheard tracks recorded with the Daylighters surfaced on Ace Records' 'The Domino Records Story', and I can't leave those off as they are both prime slices of R&B, meaning that we now have everything that Joyce Harris recorded in her short career.   

Track listing

As Judy & Joyce
01 He's The One (single 1958)
02 Hey Pretty Baby (b-side of 'He's The One')
03 Washboard Sam (single 1958)
04 Nursery Rock (b-side of 'Washboard Sam')
05 Rock And Roll Kittens (b-side of 'Hey Pretty Baby' re-issue 1959)
As Joyce Harris
06 The Boy In School (single 1959)
07 It's You (b-side of 'The Boy In School')
08 I Cheated (single 1961, with The Slades)
09 Do You Know What It's Like To Be Lonesome (b-side of 'I Cheated')
10 No Way Out (single 1961)
11 Dreamer (b-side of 'No Way Out')
12 I Got My Mojo Working (previously unreleased, with The Daylighters)
13 Your Kind Of Woman (previously unreleased, with The Daylighters)
14 Baby, Baby, Baby (single 1965)
15 How Long (Can I Hold Back My Tears) (b-side of 'Baby, Baby, Baby')
As Sinner Strong
16 Don't Knock It (single 1963)
17 Nobody But Me (b-side of 'Don't Knock It')

Emy Jackson - Crying In A Storm (1966)

Emy Eaton (later Jackson) was born to Japanese parents in Langsford in Essex in July 1946, moving to Japan as a teenager to study at St Morris Convent School in Yokohama. A few years later in 1964, she started working as an assistant/disc jockey for the Good Hit Parade programme on Radio Kanto, now known as Radio Japan, as they were looking for a bi-lingual assistant who could speak both English and Japanese. Her talent as a singer was discovered by a female music critic called Reiko Yukawa, who had been writing about jazz since the late 50's, and who was a regular on the station. She heard Jackson singing while strumming her guitar and was so impressed that she immediately advised an A&R man from Columbia Records to give her a chance as a recording artist. Yukawa insisted that she should sing songs by Japanese songwriters, but in her native language of English, and she even wrote the lyrics to her first single 'Crying In A Storm'. Due to a process in place at the time in Japan called the exclusive writers system, artists could only record songs written by songwriter under exclusive contract to the same record label, and as Yukuma was not a Columbia staff writer, Columbia Japan had to release the single as a foreign recording by a British artist, even though Jackson could speak Japanese and it was recorded in japan. Despite being sold at a higher price than a Japanese single because of being a "foreign" release, it still went on to sell close to one million copies when it was released in April 1965. Many Japanese music historians consider this excellent track to be the first Japanese pop song, with it's raucous backing which was very much influenced by the biggest band in Japan at the time, The Ventures. From her second single onwards she was backed by The Smashmen, who were in fact the well-regarded Japanese band The Blue Comets under an alias, and their superb instrumental backing is a huge part of the appeal of these songs. Jackson went on to release another six singles and one EP during 1965 and 1966, and it has been said that she revolutionized the music industry in Japan. Once outside writers began to have their songs accepted by record companies that they were not under contract to, and released as "foreign" records, this eventually led to the collapse of the exclusive writers system in Japan. Her last single in 1966, the oddly-titled 'Love Is A Crazy Sports Car', was the only song that she sang in Japanese, and although she did not release any more records, she carried on singing until 1973, when she left the music business to open a restaurant in Yokohama. Although she returned to singing again in the 90's, her finest hour was undoubtedly those two years in the mid-60s, when she led the Japanese pop market into a new age.  

Track listing

01 Crying In A Storm (single 1965)
02 Suddenly I'm Alone (b-side of 'Crying In A Storm')
03 Say Yes, My Boy (single 1965)
04 Don't Break My Heart (b-side of 'Say Yes, My Boy')
05 Blue Christmas (single 1965)
06 I Saw Mammy Kissing Santa Claus (b-side of 'Blue Christmas')
07 You Don't Know Baby (single 1966)
08 Heart Full Of Tears (b-side of 'You Don't Know Baby')
09 Pretend (single 1966)
10 If I Give My Heart To You (b-side of 'Pretend')
11 Angel Fish (single 1966)
12 Don't Say Good-bye (b-side of 'Angel Fish')
13 Love Is Crazy Sports Car (single 1966)
14 One Way Kiss (b-side of 'Love Is A Crazy Sports Car')

Thanks to Paul for the suggestion

Patsy Ann Noble - I Did Nothing Wrong (1967)

Patricia Ann Ruth Noble was born on 3 February 1944 in Australia, and began her singing career as a teenager in the early 1960's under the name Patsy Ann Noble, appearing regularly on the Australian music and variety television series 'Bandstand'. Her singing career was encouraged by Brian Henderson, the compere of 'Bandstand', and she was signed to the Australian HMV Records and released her first single 'Like I'm In Love'/'I Love You So Much It Hurts' in November 1960, with the record being promoted as 'a Bandstand discovery'. She became good friends with a young Peter Allen, who had formed the successful Allen Brothers with Chris Bell, and released one of his compositions 'Busy Lips' in January 1961. However, it was not until Johnny Devlin, a New Zealand singer-songwriter, handed her the lyrics of 'Good Looking Boy' in November 1961 that she had her first Top 10 hit in Melbourne, and Top 20 hit in Sydney. This resulted in her winning the 'Best Female Singer of the Year' Logie Award for 1961, presented by TV Week. By December 1962 she had scored herself two No. 1 and four Top 10 singles in Australia, and so she travelled to London where she was given a two-year contract with Columbia Records. Between 1963 and 1964 she released eight singles, including 'Sour Grapes', 'I'm Nobody's Baby', and 'Accidents Will Happen', and while none of them received any commercial success in the UK, she did continue to score hits between 1963 and 1965 in her native Australia. In 1963, she appeared in the British musical film 'Live It Up!', although only in a singing role, and in June 1965 she released 'He Who Rides A Tiger', which peaked at No. 21 on the British Top 30, and No. 15 on Australia's Top 40.

During the 1960's, Noble released six albums in Australia and one in England, but by 1965 she was turning her hand to acting, and made her dramatic screen debut in a 1965 BBC television production entitled 'The Snowball'. She soon found herself appearing on other television series, including a 1966 'Danger Man' episode which featured her recording of 'He Who Rides A Tiger', an episode of 'Callan' in 1970, and the 1966 film 'Death Is A Woman', in which she had a lead role as the femme fatale. After 1967, she changed her name to Trisha Noble in order to distance herself from her years as a teen singer, and she re-located to the United States, appearing on a number of US TV shows, including 'Buck Rogers In The 25th Century', 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show', and 'Columbo'. She released one more single in 1967, this time as Trisha Noble, and she continued to work as an actress until her death on 23 January 2021, at the age of 76. She recorded a lot of music in her six years as a singer, and you can certainly hear her voice mature as she moves from those teen-pop singles of the early 60's to a more sophisticated sound in 1965 and 1966. In fact there are so many songs available that this is a two-disc set, and the only thing that lets it down is that, like 'Say Hello' from the Valerie Masters post, 'The Guy Who Can Mend A Broken Heart' had to be taken from a poorly recorded Youtube video. Despite trying to improve the sound quality it's still noticeably tinny compared to the rest of the album, so if anyone has a better quality copy that I can have then it would be much appreciated.  

Track listing

Disc One 1960-1963
01 I Love You So Much It Hurts (single 1960)
02 Like I'm In Love (b-side of 'I Love You So Much It Hurts')
03 Once In A Lifetime (single 1961)
04 Busy Lips (single 1961)
05 It's Always The Way (b-side of 'Busy Lips')
06 I'm Not Supposed To Know (single 1962)
07 Oh, My Little Baby Darling (I Love You) (b-side of 'I'm Not Supposed To Know')
08 Good Looking Boy (single 1962)
09 The Guy Who Can Mend A Broken Heart (b-side of 'Good Looking Boy')
10 Don't You Ever Change Your Mind (single 1963)
11 Sour Grapes (b-side of 'Don't You Ever Change Your Mind')
12 Heartbreak Avenue (single 1963)
13 I'm Nobody's Baby (b-side of 'Heartbreak Avenue')
14 I Was Only Foolin' Myself (single 1963)
15 Ordinary Love (b-side of 'I Was Only Foolin' Myself')

Disc Two 1963-1967
01 Accidents Will Happen (single 1963)
02 He Tells Me With His Eyes (b-side of 'Accidents Will Happen')
03 It's Better To Cry Today (single 1963)
04 Don't Tell Him I Told You (b-side of 'It's Better To Cry Today')
05 I Did Nothing Wrong (single 1964)
06 Better Late Than Never (b-side of 'I Did Nothing Wrong')
07 Private Property (single 1964)
08 Crack In The Door (b-side of 'Private Property')
09 Tied Up With Mary (single 1964)
10 Green Eyed People (b-side of 'Tied Up With Mary')
11 Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye (single 1965)
12 This Is Love (UK entry in the Sopot International Song Festival 1965)
13 If You Wanna Be More Than Friends (b-side of 'Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye')
14 He Who Rides A Tiger (single 1966)
15 Live For Life (single as Trisha Noble 1967)

Valerie Masters - Say When (1966)

Valerie Masters was born on 24 April 1940 in Stepney Green, East London, and by the age of 17 she was working as a typist and personal secretary for the mayor of Stepney. It was while working there that she was introduced to band leader Ray Ellington, and shortly afterwards she joined his band as featured vocalist, replacing Marion Ryan. She remained with Ellington's band until 1959, while at the same time launching her career as a solo singer, with her first single 'Sharing'/'The Secret Of Happiness' appearing on the Fontana label in 1958. Three more singles quickly followed in 1958 and early 1959, before 'Jack O' Diamonds' was released in June 1959, followed by 'If There Are Stars In My Eyes' at the end of the year. As the 60's dawned, Fontana still had faith in her, releasing three singles in that year, and although none made the official UK Singles Chart, 'Banjo Boy' made the lower reaches of the New Musical Express's own chart. Between 1959 and 1961 she had her own show on Radio Luxembourg, Valerie and her Boyfriends, and in 1960 she represented Britain in the European Song Contest (unrelated to the Eurovision Song Contest), following which she became popular in Scandinavia, Germany and the Netherlands. In 1961, she failed in her attempt to represent the UK at Eurovision, finishing seventh in the 'A Song for Europe' competition with the song 'Too Late For Tears', but she did appear frequently on BBC radio and television. She also performed live in cabaret and clubs, often with Ellington's former pianist Dick Katz, who she married in 1961. In May 1960, she appeared on a short series of teen-oriented programmes, Young at Heart, for Tyne Tees Television, as well working for Border Television. Also in 1961 she sang the theme song for the film 'The Hellions', and also recorded commercials and worked as a backing singer. 1962 was a quiet year on the recording front, with just the one single, a cover of 'African Waltz', and the following year similarly yielded just the one single for the HMV label, while in 1964 she issued the single 'Christmas Calling', produced by Joe Meek and featuring session guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. After those two one-off deals she joined Polydor for two records in 1966, and then one last single in 1969 on the Columbia label rounded off her recording career. After leaving the music business, she stayed in entertainment, appearing in the role of a singer in the 1979 television drama series 'Secret Army', and in the early 1980's made appearances in 'Russ Abbot's Saturday Madhouse'. Some of her early singles are impossible to find now, but from late 1959 onwards they can be tracked down, and so here is a nice selection of some of her singles and b-sides from the early to mid-60's. I had to take 'Say Hello' from a poor quality TV appearance, and despite my best efforts at upgrading the sound, it does detract from the rest of the album, so if anyone has a better quality copy of it that I could have then it would finish off this album perfectly.  

Track listing

01 Jack O' Diamonds (single 1959)
02 Say When (b-side of 'Jack O' Diamonds')
03 Banjo Boy (single 1960)
04 Cow Cow Boogie (b-side of 'Banjo Boy')
05 Too Late For Tears (single 1961)
06 Birmingham Rag (single 1961)
07 African Waltz (single 1962)
08 All Night Long (b-side of 'African Waltz')
09 Christmas Calling (single 1964)
10 He Didn't Fool Me (b-side of 'Christmas Calling')
11 It's Up To You (single 1966)
12 The Next Train Out (b-side of 'It's Up To You')
13 Don't Ever Go (single 1966)
14 Say Hello (b-side of 'Don't Ever Go')

Donna Douglas - Memory Lane (1964)

Firstly, Donna Douglas the singer is NOT Donna Douglas the actress, who starred as Elly Mae Clampett in 'The Beverley Hillbillies' TV show in the 1960's. Our Donna Douglas was born in Bangor, Northern Ireland, and started her recording career in the late 1950's. Her first single was 'The Shepherd', released in November 1958, and although it didn't chart, her record company Fontana saw enough potential in her to keep trying, and so she recorded a further three singles for them in 1959 and 1960. When she left Fontana, Piccadilly felt she had the right look and chirpy voice for the times and debuted her with 'Tammy, Tell Me True' in 1961, but the following year they gave her a big push, as her 1962 single 'The Message In A Bottle' was nominated as the UK entry for the "Song For Europe" contest (before it became The Eurovision Song Contest). It lost to Ronnie Carroll's 'Ring-a-Ding Girl' which, obviously, did not bring a winner home to Great Britain, and so we'll never know if 'The Message In A Bottle' might have had more success. Three more singles followed for Piccadilly, with 'Matelot' appearing in 1962, and both 'It's A Pity To Say Goodnight' and 'He's So Near' being released in 1963. A final single, 'Java Jones' turned up on Pye in 1964, and then that was the end of her singing career. Although her biggest claim to fame appears to be being mistaken for someone else, she did leave behind some fine recordings, particularly those from the early sixties, and so here is a nice selection of them, which should help to emphasise the difference between the singer and the actress.     

Track listing

01 The Shepherd (single 1958)
02 I'm Dancing With Tears In My Eyes (b-side of 'The Shepherd')
03 Come Back To Loch Lomond (single 1959)
04 First Anniversary (b-side of 'Come Back To Loch Lomond')
05 Six Boys And Seven Girls (single 1959)
06 Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall (b-side of 'Six Boys And Seven Girls')
07 Teddy (single 1960)
08 Call Me Darling (b-side of 'Teddy')
09 Tammy, Tell Me True (single 1961) 
10 Memory Lane (b-side of 'Tammy, Tell Me True')
11 The Message In A Bottle (single 1962)
12 If This Is Love (b-side of 'The Message In A Bottle')
13 Matelot (single 1962)
14 All The Other Girls (b-side of 'Matelot')
15 It's A Pity To Say Goodnight (single 1963)
16 Do I Know? (b-side of 'It's A Pity To Say Goodnight')
17 He's So Near (single 1963)
18 Blue Star (b-side of 'Java Jones' 1964)

Lorne Lesley - Someone Like You (1967)

Irene Spetti (aka Lorne Lesley) was born on 30 October 1938 in Tiger Bay, Cardiff in South Wales, and is an actress and singer, who featured in the 1962 film 'Marriage Bureau Aurora'. She also made appearances on the live Danish studio entertainment shows 'Sommer-weekend' in 1963/1964, and 'Vinterhaven' in 1963, made while she living in Copenhagen and making her name as a cabaret singer on the continent. Like other black female singers from the area, she hoped to follow in Shirley Bassey’s glittering footsteps, but she was keen to distance herself from the whole Tiger Bay mythology, so rather than adopting a 'sex kitten' persona she instead promoted her strong sense of humour, to such an extent that during the early part of her career she was promoted as a comedienne/singer. She started her recording career in 1958 with the 'My Yiddishe Mama' single on Ronnex Records, but this style wasn't really her forte, and her 1959 Parlophone record 'Some Of These Days' was a huge improvement, establishing the style that she'd keep for the rest of her career. Three more singles followed in the same year, one on the Polydor label, before returning to Ronnex Records for the cabaret-styled 'Bloodshot Eyes' in 1960. In an attempt to cash in on the rise of the Beatles, she joined up with Norwegian rockers The Beatniks for a rewrite of 'Ma He's Makin' Eyes At Me' as 'Ma, Let's Twist', before taking a break from the studio for a couple of years, returning in 1965 with a new label and new single in 'Where My Heart Has Never Wandered' on the Phillips label. She stayed with Phillips for a couple of years, releasing two more singles, before recording the Christmas single 'Little Snowflakes' on Parlophone in late 1966, which turned out to be her last record. She carried on with the live performances, and was an in-demand cabaret artist, as well as appearing on TV entertainment shows in the UK. It was at one of her appearances at a club in the late 60's that she met TV presenter and antiques dealer David Dickinson, although at the time he was working in the Manchester rag trade, and they married in 1968. They are still together and have two grown-up children. With the exception of that first, rather strident single, most of Lesley's records are fairly typical of the girl singers of the era, and this post collects together all the available records from her catalogue, showing her versatility with songs in a number of different styles. There was only a 37-second clip of 'So High, So Low' online, so with some careful editing I've managed to extend it to a one and half minute song (lucky that the lyrics were fairly repetitive), and I've rounded off the album with two TV performances which are still available to view on Youtube.   

Track listing

01 My Yiddishe Mama (single 1958)
02 Some Of These Days (single 1959)
03 So High So Low (single 1959)
04 I Don't Know (b-side of 'So High So Low')
05 Till The End Of Time (from Spanish EP 1960)
06 We're Gonna Dance (single 1960)
07 Bloodshot Eyes (b-side of 'We're Gonna Dance')
08 Ma, Let's Twist (single with The Beatniks 1962)
09 He's Got The Whole World In His Hands (b-side of 'We're Gonna Dance' re-issue 1964)
10 Someone Like You (b-side of 'Where My Heart Has Never Wandered')
11 Fire Down Below (b-side of 'Rainy Days Were Made For Lonely People')
12 Somebody's Gonna Be Sorry (single 1966)
13 Little Snowflakes (single 1966)
14 It's Alright With Me (TV appearance 1967)
15 Give Me A Man (TV appearance 1967)

McKinlay Sisters - That Lonely Feeling (1972)

Sheila and Jeanette McKinlay were born and brought up in the Little France district of Edinburgh, and first began performing in their early teens, touring the clubs around the city and the Lothians. In 1963, they embarked on a Scottish tour with Glasgow band The Fabulous Falcons, and they were signed to Iver Music in London as a duo called The McKinleys (note the change in spelling of their name) in 1964, which led to a contract with EMI Columbia. Although they toured with the Beatles, appeared on Ready Steady Go!, and had a number one hit in Germany, none of their four single releases were a hit in the UK. Listening to them now you do wonder why, and their first single, 'Someone Cares For Me', has a Phil Spector-ish wall of sound, but with hard-to-disguise Scots inflection, and was written by the hit machine of John Carter and Ken Lewis. The follow-up was 'When He Comes Along', written by another prolific songwriter – and founder of the New Vaudeville Band – Geoff Stephens, with Carter/Lewis making another appearance on the b-side with their 'Then I'll Know It's Love'. The first two singles were released on the Swan label in the US where they performed better in some regional charts than they did in the UK, possibly because the label's name was known in North America from the fact that Brian Epstein had leased The Beatles' 'She Loves You' to them in 1964. Their third single was yet another Carter/Lewis song, but this time their band Carter-Lewis And the Southerners had released their own version of it in 1963, so The KcKinlays was a cover of 'Sweet And Tender Romance', and was released a year later. It was a fine record, with its deep murky sound and the vocals soaring over the fast backbeat, and it includes a lacerating guitar solo from Jimmy Page. 

'That Lonely Feeling' on the flip is Carter/Lewis again, but this time it's a slower track, with gentle, sometimes harsh, harmonies, and it was later covered by Dean Ford and The Gaylords in 1965, before they morphed into The Marmalade. Their final single is possibly their best, with 'Give Him My Love' being a Donovan co-write, and the sisters move into folk-rock territory for this record, which has a more mature sound. With success in the UK continuing to elude them they left Columbia and finally found some success in Europe, particularly in Germany, as the McKinlay Sisters. They released a number of singles in Europe in 1967 and 1968, some in English and some in German, and continued to be successful there until 1968, when they went their separate ways. Sheila joined The Les Humphries Singers, and Jeanette paired up with Peter Petrel to form the duo Windows, who were put together by Golden 12 Records in Germany purely to release a version of 'How Do You Do' in 1972 before the Dutch group Mouth & MacNeal could release their own version of it. They did record an album 'Meet The Windows' in 1972, but Jeanette left in 1974, and was replaced by Tina Wulff. Sheila, on the other hand, embarked on a solo career in 1971 with a couple of Les Humphries-penned singles, followed by a German-language version of 'If Not For You', before recording her final single 'Ringel Rangel Rosen' in 1972, backed with a German-language cover of Middle Of The Road's 'Sacramento'. Sheila, who was married to Howie Casey, saxophonist and band leader of Howie Casey and the Seniors, died from cancer on 16 December 2012, aged 71, and is survived by Jeanette. I hope that this collection of the sister's work is a fitting tribute to both girls, who really should have had more success than they did with those first four singles. 

Track listing

The McKinleys
01 Someone Cares For Me (single 1964)
02 A Million Miles Away (b-side of 'Someone Cares For Me')
03 When He Comes Along (single 1964)
04 Then I'll Know It's Love (b-side of 'When He Comes Along')
05 Sweet And Tender Romance (single 1964)
06 That Lonely Feeling (b-side of 'Sweet And Tender Romance')
07 Give Him My Love (single 1965)
08 Once More (b-side of 'Give Him My Love')
The McKinlay Sisters
09 I Want You (German single 1966)
10 Was Kann Ich Dafür (How Can I Explain) (b-side of 'Bye Bye Bye' German single 1967)
11 Wer Nicht Hören Will Muß Fühlen (German single 1967)
12 All Night Girl (b-side of 'Wer Nicht Hören Will Muß Fühlen')

Windows, featuring Jeanette McKinlay

13 How Do You Do (single 1972 - English version)

14 Nobody's Baby (b-side of 'How Do You Do')

15 Jeder Tag (b-side of the German issue of 'How Do You Do')
Sheila McKinlay
16 And When The War Is Over (Australian single 1971)
17 Listen To Little Children (b-side of 'And When The War Is Over')
18 I Remember (German single 1971)
19 Sunday Night School Girl (b-side of 'I Remember')
20 Ich Geh Mit Dir (If Not For You) (German single 1971)
21 Ringel Rangel Rosen (Ring A Ring Of Roses) (Dutch single 1972)
22 Sacramento (b-side of 'Ringel Rangel Rosen')  

Marva Whitney - I've Lived The Life (1977)

At the end of an article about Marva Whiney in this month's Record Collector, the writer noted that 'a compilation of her 60's and 70's singles is long overdue'. Well, your wish is my command, and so here is a companion album to her sole 60's long-playing release, 1969's 'It's My Thing', which contained a lot of her early singles and their b-sides. This post collects every other song that she recorded in her decade long career, including the extremely rare 1968 single 'All My Love Belongs To You', which I've had to subtly edit to remove some talking at the beginning. It also features both the Federal Records and King Records versions of 'Your Love Was Good For Me', plus an unreleased 1969 duet with James Brown. 
Marva Ann Manning (a.k.a. Marva Whitney) was born on 1 May 1944 in Kansas City, and her performing career started as early as three years old while touring with her family's gospel group, the Manning Gospel Singers. At the age of 16 she joined the Alma Whitney Singers and two years later she married Harry Olander Whitney with whom she had a daughter Sherrie Whitney. She began singing R&B music for the first time in 1963 at a Kansas City venue, while studying music at college, and when she left she continued performing in nightclubs and at local talent competitions while working in a garment factory. By the mid-1960's she'd joined local group Tommy (Gadson) & The Derbys as their lead singer, and they opened for many leading performers passing through Kansas City, but in 1967 she left the group, and turned down offers to tour with Bobby Bland and Little Richard before joining the James Brown Revue as a featured vocalist. Her first solo single, 'Your Love Was Good To Me', was recorded for Federal Records in mid-1967, but was unsuccessful, as were her two follow-up singles for new label King Records. She toured Europe, Asia and Africa with James Brown, with whom she was in a relationship, and in early 1968 he produced her fourth solo single, 'Unwind Yourself', in a more funky style. Although the record was not a chart hit, it was later sampled numerous times, and her first chart hit came with 'It's My Thing (You Can't Tell Me Who to Sock It To)', which was an answer record to The Isley Brothers' hit 'It's Your Thing', and which reached number 19 on the Billboard R&B in 1969. She followed up with two smaller hits, 'Things Got To Get Better (Get Together)' and 'I Made A Mistake Because It's Only You (Part 1)', as well as releasing her sole album 'It's My Thing' the same year. Later that year, after about 13 singles with James Brown as producer and writer or co-writer, an exhausted Whitney left the Brown stable in 1969/1970 and returned to Kansas City. 

Clarence Cooper and Allan Bell took over her management, and initially struggled to get Whitney into major venues, but a trip to Chicago in 1970, and a visit to producer Floyd Smith, resulted in a contract with the Isley Brothers' T-Neck label for one single, after which she married Ellis Taylor, who ran Forte Records. She recorded further singles for his label, including 'Daddy Don't Know About Sugar Bear', her most successful post Brown single that was picked up for national distribution by Nashville's Excello records. She retired from recording for several years, making only local appearances in Kansas City, returning to the studio in 1977 for a Forte single with her brother Melvin Manning, as Marva & Melvin, and after another short break she briefly joined the group, Coffee, Cream & Sugar. In 2006, she collaborated with German born DJ/collector/manager DJ Pari and Japanese funk orchestra Osaka Monaurail to produce a new single, 'I Am What I Am', which was very much in the James Brown style, and the single was produced to sound like an authentic release of the type that she produced with Brown in 1969. Two successful tours of Japan and a full-length album release followed, and between 2007 and 2009 the tour was also brought to Europe where she maintained a cult following. In December 2009, she suffered a stroke on stage during a concert in Lorne, Australia, after which the remaining dates of her tour were cancelled, but after a partial recovery she was able to perform again in 2010. In December 2012, Whitney died from complications of pneumonia at her home. She was 68. I hope that this collection is a fitting tribute to an artist who was known during her early days as Soul Sister #1. 

Track listing

01 Your Love Was Good For Me (Federal single 1967)
02 Saving My Love For My Baby (b-side of 'Your Love Was Good For Me')
03 All My Love Belongs To You (b-side of 'I'll Work It Out' 1968)
04 What Do I Have To Do To Prove My Love To You (single 1968)
05 Your Love Was Good For Me (b-side of 'What Do I Have To Do To Prove My Love To You')
06 Tit For Tat (Ain’t No Taking Back) (b-side of 'In The Middle (Part 2)' 1968)
07 Ball Of Fire (b-side of 'It's My Thing (You Can't Tell Me Who To Sock It To)' 1969)
08 Sunny (unreleased single with James Brown 1969)
09 I Made A Mistake Because It's Only You (Parts 1 & 2) (single 1969) 
10 This Girls In Love With You (single 1969)
11 He's The One (b-side of 'This Girl's In Love With You')
12 This Is My Quest (single 1970)
13 Giving Up On Love (b-side of 'This Is My Quest')
14 Daddy Don't Know About Sugar Bear (single 1972)  
15 We Need More (But Somebody Gotta Sacrifice) (b-side of 'Daddy Don't Know About 

                                                                                         Sugar Bear' with Ellis (Gripey) Taylor)
16 Live And Let Live (single 1972)
17 Don't Let Our Love Fade Away (b-side of 'Live And Let Live')
18 (Hey, You And You And You And You) I've Lived The Life (single 1975)
19 Nothing I'd Rather Be Than Your Weakness (b-side of '(Hey, You And You And You 

                                                                                                      And You) I've Lived The Life') 
20 (Get Ready For) The Changes (single as Marva & Melvin 1977)
21 All Alone I've Loved You (b-side of '(Get Ready For) The Changes')

The Sherry Sisters - Only Time Will Tell (1972)

The Sherry Sisters were a vocal pop duo from Brooklyn, New York, formed by sisters Lois and Karen Klein, who adopted the name Sherry for their singing career. Their first single 'Stay Away From Bobby' was an answer record to Marcie Blane's original 1962 recording of 'Bobby's Girl', and was issued on the Okeh Record label. After signing to Epic Records they released 'Sailor Boy', backed with their own composition 'He's Just Another Guy', and for 1965's 'Not Tonight'/'Only Time Will Tell' they wrote both sides of the single. This would continue for the rest of their career, with the girls writing or co-writing nearly all of the songs which appeared on their records. They also sang and recorded songs in many languages, such as Spanish, Japanese, Hebrew, French, Italian, Greek and Russian, and issued singles in most of these countries, including a rare Portuguese EP in 1965. The same year saw 'I'd Like To See You Again' come out in Japan, followed by 'Pity Please' in both French and Italian, and in 1966 they issued the German only single 'Wenn Wir Heut' Nacht Nach Hause Geh'n'. For 1968's 'Army Bound' they changed their name to Lois & Karen, after which they took a break for a few years before reviving The Sherry Sisters name in 1972, with their 'If You Have The Love' single on Jamie Records. After one more single on Jamie the same year, the sisters stopped recording, leaving behind an eclectic collection of songs, showing their determination to try to conquer the world market by aiming their songs to many different countries. However, this did not result in the success that they hoped for, and so they are now yet another unfairly forgotten pop group, which I hope this post will go some way to bringing to the attention of fans of well-produced 60's pop music. 

Track listing

01 Stay Away From Bobby (single 1963)
02 Dancing With Tears In My Eyes (b-side of 'Stay Away From Bobby)
03 Sailor Boy (single 1964)
04 He's Just Another Guy (b-side of 'Sailor Boy')
05 Not Tonight (from Portuguese 'Not Tonight' EP 1965)
06 Only Time Will Tell (from Portuguese 'Not Tonight' EP 1965)
07 I'd Like To See You Again (Japanese single 1965)
08 Mist (b-side of 'I'd Like To See You Again')
09 Pity Please (unreleased English version of French single 'Réfléchis' 1966)        
10 Wenn Wir Heut' Nacht Nach Hause Geh'n (Let's Take The Long Way Home) (German single 1966)
11 Alors Pourquoi Rester (No Reason To Stay) (from the French 'Réfléchis' EP 1966)
12 Two Flights Up (promo single 1966)
13 Army Bound (single as Lois & Karen 1968) 
14 Go On! Go On! (b-side of 'Army Bound')
15 I've Got A Whole Lot Of Music In My Soul (single 1972)
16 And Then I Think Of You (b-side of 'If You Have The Love' promo single 1972)
17 Tu' Das Nie (Italian version of 'Pity Please')

Sandra Barry - Stop! Thief (1979)

British pop singer Sandra Barry began her performing career in infant talent shows before attending stage school, followed by her debut as an actress on film in an uncredited role in 'The Belles of St Trinian's' in 1954. She went on to small roles in other British films and television shows, and then in 1957 she latched on to the early British rock and roll scene and released 'Rocket And Roll' b/w 'Six Day Rock' under her real name of Sandra Alfred on Oriole Records. At the same time she was starring on comedian Dave King's television series, and also appearing on radio in the long-running comedy show 'Educating Archie', but in 1963 she re-emerged on the music scene under the name Mandy Mason, and released 'A Tear In The Eye', written and produced by Barry Mason (no relation), on the Parlophone label. The following year she took on the stage name Sandra Barry and was signed to Decca Records, releasing 'Really Gonna Shake', backed by guitar band The Boys, who would later go on to become cult mod band The Action, and then even later Mighty Baby. They would sometimes be credited as Sandra Barry And The Boyfriends, before they decided to make a go of it on their own, and so she embarked on a solo career, starting with 'The End Of The Line' single for new label Pye, and this time she was backed by Jet Harris' backing band The Jet Blacks, which included future Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. Despite that pedigree, she failed to score any hits with that song, or the follow-ups, 'Question' or 'Stop! Thief', and so she spent the remainder of the decade out of the spotlight. In 1973 she resurfaced with yet another new stage name, Alice Spring, as the frontwoman of pub-rock combo Slack Alice, who released a self-titled album and a few singles before disbanding. This allowed Barry to join the UK's version of Blondie, as the leggy brunette fronting indie-popsters Darling, a new wave group that was far removed from Slack Alice. I've included a single each from Slack Alice and Darling, as well as one album track from Slack Alice, which shows the gentler side of her voice. Oddly enough, the A-sides of her early singles are much harder to track down that their flips, so we only have the b-sides of the singles by Sandra Alfred and Mandy Mason, but they're all good stuff and so well worth hearing. 

Track listing

01 Six Day Rock (b-side of 'Rocket And Roll' by Sandra Alfred 1958)
02 A Sweet Love (b-side of 'A Tear In My Eye' by Mandy Mason 1963)
03 Really Gonna Shake (single by Sandra Barry & The Boys 1964)
04 When We Get Married (b-side of 'Really Gonna Shake')
05 The End Of The Line (single 1965) 
06 We Were Lovers (When the Party Began) (b-side of 'The End Of The Line')
07 Question (single 1965) 
08 You Can Take It From Me (b-side of 'Question')
09 Stop! Thief (single 1966) 
10 I Won't Try And Change Your Mind (b-side of 'Stop! Thief')
11 Motorcycle Dream (single by Slack Alice 1974)
12 Gravelstone Cottage (from the album 'Slack Alice' 1974)
13 Lookin' Kinda Rock 'N' Rolled (single by Darling 1978)

Diane Renay - I Had A Dream (1969)

Renee Diane Kushner was born on 13 July 1945 in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and started singing at an early age, taking voice lessons from Artie Singer, a voice teacher who also managed Danny and the Juniors, and had co-written their classic single 'At The Hop'. Singer encouraged her to pursue a recording career, and as record producer/songwriter Pete DeAngelis was a frequent customer at the Kushners' family jewellery store, her parents arranged for her to audition for him. DeAngelis was impressed with her talents and got her signed to the Atco Records label under the new stage name Diane Renay. Her first single for the label was 'Little White Lies', which was released in 1962, but it failed to chart nationally, as did the follow-up 'A Dime A Dozen', and Atco dropped her from the label. However, Bob Crewe, who had written and produced material for Renay's second recording session, then signed her to a new recording contract whereby he would write and produce records for her. Crewe arranged for her to be signed to the 20th Century Records label, and under his guidance the then 17 year old singer released her biggest hit 'Navy Blue' in late 1963, backed with another Crewe co-write,  'Unbelievable Guy', which came alive as an energetic, assertive production, and which featured a tougher, more confident vocal than the sweet, longing tone of 'Navy Blue'. The song told the story of a girl, lonely for her steady boyfriend away from home in the U.S. Navy and anxious to see him again, and it reached No. 6 on the Hot 100 in March 1964, soaring to No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary singles chart, and the song was followed by her debut album of the same name. Renay's only other single release to crack the national Billboard chart was another 'nautical-based' song, with 'Kiss Me Sailor' reaching number 29 later in 1964. After leaving High School she was able to concentrate on her recording career, and time was made for studio sessions with Bob Crewe in control, using top-notch backing singers including Ellie Greenwich and 14-year-old Patti Austin. 

'Growin' Up Too Fast' was a co-write by Crewe and The 4 Season's Bob Gaudio, and tapped into a timeless dilemma facing teenage girls ('Mama said we can't get married!'), while 'It's In Your Hands' took an older, more adult-sounding approach in an attempt to sustain her middle-of-the-road persona, but ultimately this was an area which didn't really suit her. For a moment it appeared the 20th Century-Fox connection might lead to an acting career, with the studio giving her a screen test, although nothing came of it. The next single, 'Watch Out, Sally!' ranks among her best efforts, with Renay involved in a tough-girl tug-of-war over a guy named Tony, and it was a one-off release on the MGM label. Her next few singles were released on Crewe's own New Voice label, but they varied in dynamic approach and her brassier post-'maritime' hits showed unfulfilled promise. Some of her subsequent singles were hits in certain local markets such as Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Miami, but failed to break nationally. There was a one-off single for United Artists, 'Dynamite', and a dance version of the Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein Showboat tune 'Can't Help Loving That Man', but then in 1969 she emerged again under Philly soul producer Thom Bell with a large-scale pop production of Harry Noble's 'Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me', backed with a cover of 'Yesterday', and although it received a smattering of radio play from disc jockeys previously entangled in her nautical spell, it wasn't a success. She left the business soon afterwards to get married and she gave birth to a daughter, but after a time she wanted to record again, and she made a few records for small labels during the 1980's, though she no longer performs in public.

Track listing

Disc One: 1962-1964
01 Little White Lies (single 1962)
02 Falling Star (b-side of 'Little White Lies')
03 A Dime A Dozen (single 1963)
04 Tender (b-side of 'A Dime A Dozen')
05 Navy Blue (single 1963)
06 Unbelievable Guy (b-side of 'Navy Blue')
07 Kiss Me Sailor (single 1964)
08 Soft-Spoken Guy (b-side of 'Kiss Me Sailor')
09 Growin' Up Too Fast (single 1964)
10 Waitin' For Joey (b-side of 'Growin' Up Too Fast')
11 It's In Your Hands (single 1964)
12 A Present From Eddie (b-side of 'It's In Your Hands')
13 Watch Out, Sally! (single 1964)
14 Billy Blue Eyes (b-side of 'Watch Out, Sally!')

Disc Two: 1965-1969
01 I Had A Dream (single 1965)
02 Troublemaker (b-side of 'I Had A Dream')

03 LIve Abd Learn (previously unreleased demo)
04 The Company You Keep (single 1965)
05 Words (b-side of 'The Company You Keep')
06 See How They Run (previously unreleased demo)

07 Happy Birthday Broken Heart (single 1965)
08 Cross My Heart, Hope To Die (b-side of 'Happy Birthday Broken Heart')
09 Soldier Boy (single 1966)
10 Please Gypsy (single 1966)
11 Dynamite (b-side of 'Please Gypsy')
12 Can't Help Loving That Man (single 1968)
13 It's A Good Day For A Parade (b-side of 'Can't Help Loving That Man')
14 Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me (single 1969)
15 Yesterday (b-side of 'Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me')

Jean Thomas - Too Young To Be Yours (1966)

If you have listened to 60's music at all you will have  heard Jean Thomas, either as a girl group member, or as a backing vocalist, appearing on many hundreds of tracks, and backing such well known singers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Connie Francis, Lesley Gore, Neil Diamond, Barbara Streisand, Sarah Vaughn, Eydie Gorme and many others. She is also the writer of over 80 songs, and is perhaps most famous as the lead singer of The Rag Dolls, which were Bob Crewe's creation of a female Four Seasons. In the early 60's her brother Don learned to play guitar, and together they harboured ambitions of a career in the music industry, so they wrote some songs together and took them to Paul Anka's publishing company, who signed the pair to an exclusive song-writing contract. In October of 1961 her vocals at an audition were noticed by Archie Bleyer of Cadence Records, who offered to record her, and in January 1962 she recorded what for some is the definitive version of 'Moon River'. Her second single was a Jean and Don original, with 'He's So Near' being more in the 'girl group' style than the ballad of 'Moon River'. In tandem with her burgeoning career as a solo singer she was still writing songs and recording demos with her brother, as well as finding plenty of work as a session singer providing backing vocals. Her session work at MGM led to them offering her two original Chip Taylor originals for release as a single, with 'I Don't Miss You At All'/'Don't Make Me (Fall In Love With You)' appearing in 1964. By early 1964 Thomas had teamed up with fellow songwriter/backing vocalist Ellie Greenwich and an old friend from Sarasota Mikie Harris, to provide a 'girl group' backing to many hit singles from 1964 to 1967. Quite often record producers put together an ad hoc group which included Thomas, to record a one-off single, and so she was a member of such obscure groups as The Angels, Angie And The Chicklettes (with a novelty record commenting on Ringo Starr's recent marriage, included here as an example of these one-offs), The Surfer Girls, The Tomboys, The Ramblers, The Telltales, and when her voice was heard by Bob Crewe, as part of The Rag Dolls. The group was named after the Four Seasons hit of the same name, and Thomas's sweet vocal was felt to be the female equivalent of Frankie Valli's distinctive falsetto. The Rag Dolls released three singles in 1964 and 1965, but at the same time Thomas was still writing and recording demos for other artists, as well as issuing singles under her own name of Jeannie Thomas, such as 'Life Of The Party'/'Too Good To Be Bad' on the New Voice label in 1965. This collection focusses on a very small part of her career, and features just the songs issued as singles under her own name, along with the odd demo, plus that Ringo novelty single, and it shows that Thomas could handle just about any genre of music, as well as penning some great songs, both for herself and for other artists. 

Track listing

01 Moon River (single 1962)
02 My Ideal (b-side of 'Moon River')
03 He's So Near (Yet So Far Away) (single 1963)
04 Seven Roses (To Pledge My Love For You) (b-side of 'He's So Near (Yet So Far Away)')
05 The Boy That I Want Doesn't Want Me (single 1963)
06 Too Young To Be Yours (previously unreleased)
07 I Don't Miss You At All (single 1964)
08 Don't Make Me (Fall In Love With You) (b-side of 'I Don't Miss You At All')
09 Treat Him Tender, Maureen (Now That Ringo Belongs To You) (single 1965)
10 Tommy (b-side of 'Treat Him Tender, Maureen (Now That Ringo Belongs To You)')
11 Life Of The Party (single 1965)
12 Too Good To Be Bad (b-side of 'Life Of The Party')
13 If You Could Only Be Me (demo)
14 Don't Tell Me Not To Love You (demo)
15 You're The Root Of My Evil (single 1966)

Christine Holmes - From Your Window (1971)

Christine Anne Authors (aka Christine Holmes) was born in 1949, and her musical career started when she studied violin and piano in Manchester, and was a member of the Manchester Youth Orchestra at just 11 years old. She moved to Solihull at 14 where she sang one night a week with The Applejacks pop group, after previously singing with the Downbeats, who were one of a very few bands to have a female singer, enabling them to widen their repertoire to include covers by Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield, and The Supremes. She was spotted by The Applejacks manager and taken to London at 16 years of age, chaperoned to the Embassy Club nightly, and performed in a BBC Pop Club show called Gadzooks as a regular host and singer. Her career took off when she won the part of Charlie Girl in the West End production of the same name, which ran for five years at the Adelphi Theatre London, and she also hosted three series of the children's TV series 'Crackerjack', all before she was 21. In 1969 she joined The Family Dogg, replacing departing vocalists Doreen De Veuve and Pam Quinn, and she stayed with them until 1972, when they released their final album 'The View From Rowland's Head', scoring a hit single along the way in the Netherlands with a cover of Rare Bird's 'Sympathy'. In the early 70's glam rock was the place to be, and so with a little reinvention, Christine Holmes became Kristine Sparkle, and with the addition of Glitter Band-style drums, fuzz-guitars, and hand-claps, she released a number of singles in 1974, including glammed-up takes of 'It's In His Kiss', 'Hokey Cokey', and 'Eight Days A Week', as well as her album 'Image' the same year. She then embarked on a pop/country career in 1976, and enjoyed hit records in Canada as a singer/songwriter. One of her songs was recorded by Cliff Richard in 1976, with 'Devil Woman' giving him his first American hit, and she also wrote 'No Charge', which was a big hit for J J Barrie, with both of these singles being in the UK top 5 at the same time in 1976. There was a compilation of Kristine Sparkle's music released in 2008, but no-one has ever compiled her singles as Christine Holmes, and so here are all the tracks she recorded between 1964 and 1971, included some unreleased acetates, and a cringe-inducing flexi-disc which tried to get 'the kids' to start saving their money at the Post Office.  

Track listing

01 This Is My Prayer (single 1964)
02 My Dream (b-side of 'This Is My Prayer') 
03 Play Me A Sad Song (Please Mr. Dee Jay) (single 1964)
04 Doesn't He Know (b-side of 'Play Me A Sad Song (Please Mr. Dee Jay)') 
05 Goodbye Boys Goodbye (Ciao, Ragazzi, Ciao) (single 1964)
06 Many Things From Your Window (single 1965)
07 You'd Better Believe It (b-side of 'Many Things From Your Window') 
08 Goin' Where The Lovin' Is (single 1965)
09 Where There's Smoke There's Fire (b-side of 'Goin' Where The Lovin' Is') 
10 Every Little Kiss (acetate 1965)
11 Here Comes My Baby (acetate 1965)
12 The Pop Way To Save (Post Office Savings Bank flexi-disc 1969)
13 A Shoulder To Cry On (previously unreleased)
14 The Drum (single 1971)
15 I Wanna Be The Star Of The Show (b-side of 'The Drum') 

Val McKenna - Mixed Up Shook Up Girl (1970)

Val McKenna was one of the better white female pop soul-style singers to come out of early to mid-'60s England, with her career being managed by John Carter and Ken Lewis, who were both members of the UK pop group The Ivy League. Apart from a convincing delivery on numbers like 'Mixed Up Shook Up Girl', she also benefited from the presence of Jimmy Page on lead guitar on her records, which included 'Baby Do It' and 'Now That You've Made Up Your Mind', the latter being her own composition. In 1966 she joined up with the afore-mentioned John Carter, plus Mickey Keen, Robin Shaw and Russ Alquist for some recording sessions with their band The Ministry of Sound, and on one of them they were also joined by singer Lesley Duncan, although none of the recordings ever saw the light of day as singles. With her bleached blond hair, sunglasses and PVC cap, 16-year-old McKenna embodied mid-60s youth, and once her own singles dried up she enjoyed a long career in the music business as a singer/songwriter, and sometime backing vocalist. Despite her run of singles in the mid-60's, there's very little information about her online, and in fact only two grainy black and white photos of her seem to exist, so I'll be the first to admit that the cover is not one of my best. The music, however, more than makes up for it. 

Track listing

01 Baby Do It (single 1965)
02 I Believe In Love (b-side of 'Baby Do It')
03 Mixed Up Shook Up Girl (single 1965)
04 Now That You've Made Up Your Mind (b-side of 'Mixed Up Shook Up Girl')
05 I Can't Believe What You Say (single 1965)
06 Don't Hesitate (b-side of 'I Can't Believe What You Say')
07 Hey Girl (No Need To Push) (demo with The Ministry Of Sound 1966)
08 You've Gotta Tell Me (demo with The Ministry Of Sound 1966)
09 Something's Coming Along (demo with Lesley Duncan & The Ministry Of Sound 1967)
10 (Your Mama Said) Roll On (demo with The Ministry Of Sound 1967)
11 House For Sale (single 1968)
12 I'll Be Satisfied (b-side of 'House For Sale') 
13 It's All In My Imagination (single 1969)
14 Sweet Sweet Lovin' (b-side of 'It's All In My Imagination')
15 Love Feeling (single 1970)

Lynn Cornell - The Sweet Life (1963)

Lyn Cornell, sometimes billed as Lynn Cornell, was born in Liverpool, and as she worked for the Vernons Pools company in her hometown, she was recruited to become a member of The Vernons Girls, who appeared on the ITV show 'Oh Boy!' with the house band between 1958 and 1959, as well as making a series of relatively successful singles for Parlophone between 1958 and 1961. In April 1960 Cornell launched her solo career with the release of her first single 'Demon Lover' for Decca, and she is perhaps best known for her recording of the title theme for the film 'Never On Sunday', which reached No. 30 in the UK Singles Chart. At the end of a very productive year for her, she released a Christmas single, 'The Angel And The Stranger', and in the summer of the following year she performed at the North Pier Pavilion in Blackpool, on a bill including Matt Monro and Bert Weedon. In April 1962 she married the session musician Andy White, who had been drafted in by George Martin to drum on versions of The Beatles' 'Love Me Do' and 'P.S. I Love You', which temporarily relegated Ringo Starr to maracas. The same year, Decca released Cornell's version of 'African Waltz', which failed to make inroads compared to John Dankworth's instrumental chart hit, but the flip was an arrangement of the Jon Hendricks penned jazz standard 'Moanin'', which showed her expanding well beyond traditional pop music boundaries. This was followed by Jack Good's eccentric production work on her 1962 cover of The Blue Belles' US hit 'I Sold My Heart To The Junkman', but despite gaining airplay on the BBC Light Programme, it failed to match the chart appearance of 'Never On Sunday'. In 1963 Decca released her working of the folk standard 'Sally Go 'Round The Roses', but when that too failed to hit the charts she joined The Carefrees in 1964, who became best known for their song 'We Love You Beatles', being their first and only charting single, reaching No. 39 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and staying on the Billboard chart for five weeks. After a lengthy break from a solo career in the music industry, she joined up with former Vernons Girls member Ann Simmons, and with assistance from the record producer, Phil Swern, they formed the vocal duo The Pearls, going on to release 12 singles, the most successful of which was 'Guilty', which reached No. 10 in the UK Singles Chart in June 1974. To see how she finally achieved the chart success that she deserved, here are all the singles that she recorded for Decca in the early 60's, showing her vocal versatility in attempting to have hits in a variety of different styles, including pop, rock, jazz and folk. 

Track listing

01 Demon Lover (single 1960)
02 Like Love (b-side of 'Demon Lover')
03 What A Feeling (b-side of 'Teaser' 1960)
04 Never On A Sunday (single 1960)
05 Swain Kelly (b-side of 'Never On A Sunday')
06 The Angel And The Stranger (single 1960)
07 Xmas Stocking (b-side of 'The Angel And The Stranger')
08 The Sweet Life (La Dolce Vita) (single 1961) 
09 When Is Someday (b-side of 'The Sweet Life')
10 Adios My Love (single 1961)
11 African Waltz (single 1962)
12 Moanin' (b-side of 'African Waltz')
13 I Sold My Heart To The Junk Man (single 1962)
14 Step Up And Rescue Me (b-side of 'I Sold My Heart To The Junk Man')
15 Sally Go Round The Roses (single 1963)
16 You Can Kiss Me If You Like (b-side of 'Sally Go Round The Roses')
17 Kisses Can Lie (from the film 'Just For Fun' 1963)

Linda Laurie - Stay With Me (1973)

Linda Gertz was born on 26 May 1941, and made her first record 'Sun Glasses' with her friend Susan Yellin when she was just 17 years old and still attending Abraham Lincoln High School in Bokklyn. It was released as by The Shades Featuring The Knott Sisters in 1958, with the b-side 'Undivided Attention' being simply credited to The Knott Sisters. Her ability to create trick voices caught the attention of indie label Glory Records, which rightfully saw in her the potential for a hit novelty record, and her next release was the one for which she is most famous, and which propelled her into the US charts in 1958. 'Ambrose (Part 5)' was personally shopped around by Glory Records to radio various stations, and it got a lot of airplay on the East Coast, particularly in the New York City and Philadelphia areas. To say this disc was strange would be an understatement, as it's a spoken-word piece with heavy Brooklyn accents, and features Linda Laurie (as she was by then known) as a girl walking through a dark subway tunnel with her boyfriend, Ambrose, who was an almost perverted-sounding older guy whose deep voice was also done by Laurie using primitive vocal effects. Although it was called 'Ambrose (Part Five)' there were never any earlier versions, making the title as weird as the actual record. The song's success helped to land her a spot on rock and roll package shows, including Alan Freed's stage shows at the Brooklyn Paramount, and Lee Gordon's 'Big Show' tours in Australia, as well as some television show appearances. She found the travel strenuous and eventually settled back in New York, and in the 60's she co-owned a boutique dress shop in Manhattan, while continuing to perform music on her own terms. She made several more teen and novelty records for various labels, such as her answer record to Dion's 'Runaround Sue', 'Stay-At-Home Sue', plus two follow-ups to her hit, with 'Forever Ambrose' and 'Return Of Ambrose', and although she never hit the charts again with her own material, her records have become very popular with collectors. She also recorded a number of regular pop songs which showed that she wasn't just a novelty act, and after relocating to the West Coast she started writing for other artists such as Bobby Vinton, Sonny And Cher, Frank and Nancy Sinatra, and Love Unlimited. Her biggest claim to fame came when a song she wrote and recorded herself was covered by Helen Reddy, and 'Leave Me Alone' (Ruby Red Dress)' became a No.3 chart hit in 1973. She also wrote the theme music for the Saturday morning show 'Land Of The Lost', which was later used in the 2009 movie version starring Will Farrell, and the disco song that she wrote for Love Unlimited in 1977, 'I Did It For Love', was sampled on several hip hop songs in the 1990's, including 'It's All About The Benjamins' by Puff Daddy, 'Money In The Bank' by Swizz Beats, 'Miss You' by Mariah Carey, and 'The Gang' by Shyne. She was diagnosed with cancer and passed away at the age of 68 on 20 November 2009 in Santa Barbara, California, but leaves behind some of the oddest music to come out of the late 50's and early 60's, alongside some great tracks that she wrote for other singers, including 'I'm Comin' Home Girl' for Bobby Vinton, 'Crystal Clear, Muddy Waters' and 'I Love What You Did With The Love I Gave You' for Sonny And Cher, and 'When You Find Out Where You're Going, Let Me Know' for Cher on her own. This album collects together most of her solo work, and shows a singer with a quirky sense of humour who could also deliver a belter of a pop song if she wanted to.    

Track listing

01 Sun Glasses (single by The Shades Featuring The Knott Sisters 1958)
02 Undivided Attention (b-side of 'Sun Glasses', as by The Knott Sisters)
03 Ambrose (Part Five) (single 1958)
04 Ooh, What A Lover! (b-side of 'Ambrose (Part Five)')
05 Forever Ambrose (single 1959)

06 Wherever He Goes, I Go (b-side of 'Forever Ambrose')
07 All Winter Long (single 1959)
08 Stay With Me (b-side of 'All Winter Long')
09 Prince Charming (single 1960)
10 Soupin' Up Your Motor (b-side of 'Prince Charming')
11 Stay-At-Home Sue (single 1961)
12 Lazy Love (b-side of 'Stay-At-Home Sue', by The Glen Stuart Orchestra)
13 Return Of Ambrose (single 1963)
14 Chicken Little (b-side of 'Return Of Ambrose')
15 Where Do You Go (single 1963) 
16 Lucky (b-side of 'Where Do You Go')

17 Chico (single 1964)
18 Jose He Say (b-side of 'Chico')
19 One Day (b-side of 'Baby Hold On To Me (I Can't Help Being Yours)' 1968)
20 Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress) (single 1973)

Marva Josie - Birthday Fella (1967)

Marva Josie was born in Clairton, Pittsburgh, and has an impressive 5 and a half octave range to her voice. It's no surprise then that she was picked up by Time Records in the early 60's, and the label issued her first single 'Later For You Baby'/'You Lied' in 1962. Moving to Sahara Records, she released 'I Don't Care' in 1963, and after that two more singles followed for United Artists in 1964 and 1965. Signing to Julmar Records in 1967, she released her final two solo singles, 'Oohbiskubido' and 'I'm Satisfied', after which she met the great jazz band leader Earl 'Fatha' Hines in 1968. Impressed by her range, style and appearance she became the latest in a long line of important vocalists who had worked with the master pianist, following in the footsteps of Herb Jeffries, Billy Eckstine, Sarah Vaughan, Johnny Hartman and Etta Jones, all of whom owed some part of their career to Hines. Her first album as vocalist with Hines was her own 'This Is Marva Josie' in 1973, where she traded the soul sound of her 60's singles for the jazz that Hines was known for, and in 1977 they issued 'Jazz Is His Old Lady...And My Old Man', credited to Earl 'Fatha' Hines with Marva Josie. In 1976 they both played at the White House for President Gerald Ford, and later for President Jimmy Carter, and Josie is still currently performing jazz in New York. However, this album collects together her fine soul recordings from the 60's for a variety of labels, and hearing the power of her voice you can understand why Hines was impressed when he met her.   

Track listing

01 Later For You Baby (single 1962)
02 You Lied (b-side of 'Later For You Baby')
03 I Don't Care (single 1963)
04 Heartbreak City (b-side of 'I Don't Care')
05 Birthday Fella (single 1964)
06 Did You Ever Love Someone (b-side of 'Birthday Fella')
07 How Do You Say Goodbye (unreleased acetate 1964)
08 Joey's Kisses (b-side of 'How Do You Say Goodbye')
09 I Love New York (single 1965)
10 Don't (b-side of 'I Love New York')
11 Crazy Stockings (single 1966)
12 I'll Get By (b-side of 'Crazy Stockings')
13 Oohbiskubido (single 1967)
14 Now Is The Time (To Love Me) (b-side of 'Oohbiskubido')
15 I'm Satisfied (single 1967)
16 Love's Burning Fire (b-side of 'I'm Satisfied')

Ruby Winters - Try Me (1969)

Ruby Forehand was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and from the age of five she was raised in Cincinnati by her grandmother following her mother's death. Her grandmother encouraged her singing, first expressed in church at age four, and by the age of 16 - by then a wife and mother - she was singing professionally. By 1966 she was singing in the Charlie Daniels band, as both she and Daniels were managed by Bill Sizemore, who also managed singer Ronnie Dove. and was able to interest Dove's label Diamond Records in offering Winters a record deal. Her debut single as Ruby Winters, 'In The Middle Of A Heartache' was a Charlie Daniels composition, and was released in July 1966, reaching the Top 30 on the hit parade for WAKY 790-Louisville. The regional interest in Winters' debut single led Diamond Records A&R head Phil Kahl to oversee Winters' next recording session himself, and before he left New York to join the sessions in Nashville early in 1967, label president Joe Kolsky suggested that Kahl record Winters and another Diamond artist Johnny Thunder as a duo. Kahl recorded Winters and Thunder as a duet remaking the 1950's pop hits 'Teach Me Tonight' and 'Make Love to Me', and the latter was released as the A-side of their February 1967 single, reaching #96 on the Billboard Hot 100. After Winters reached the national R&B chart in autumn 1967 with her third solo release 'I Want Action', Diamond Records brought her to New York City to work with George Kerr, who had recently produced R&B hits for the O'Jays and Linda Jones. With his regular collaborator/arranger Richard Tee, Kerr re-teamed Winters with Johnny Thunder for 'We Have Only One Life', which was released in February 1968. Kerr also had Winters record 'A Last Minute Miracle', which he'd recorded with the Shirelles, and also with Linda Jones, and all three versions apparently share a common backing track, although Winters' version remains unreleased. In 1969 she made a strong comeback with four R&B hits, beginning with her highest ranking U.S. solo hit, a remake of the 1961 Chuck Jackson hit 'I Don't Want to Cry', and then following that with two more remakes, of Jimmy Clanton's 'Just A Dream' and Jesse Belvin's 'Guess Who', plus the original 'Always David'. After this flurry of singles her recording schedule slowed, with no releases until January 1971 when her take on the hymn 'Great Speckled Bird' was issued by Certron, who had purchased Diamond Records in early 1970. Winters then had her first single release in almost three years in October 1973 when Polydor Records issued her version of 'I Will', which proved to be her most significant recording, reaching the R&B Top 40. She had one further single release on Polydor with 'Love Me Now', and she also issued a one-off Playboy Records version of the #1 1972 Nilsson hit 'Without You'. In the mid-1970's Winters in effect withdrew from recording, relocating in 1973 from Tennessee to Brevard County in Florida, and establishing herself as a top-rated Space Coast nightclub performer. However in 1977 the London-based independent label Creole Records re-released Winters' recording of 'I Will', which reached #4 on the UK Singles Chart in December 1977, prompting a reunion with producer Stan Shulman. This resulted in Winters recording and releasing the 'I Will' album, from which a follow-up single 'Come to Me' reached #11 on the UK chart. The 'Baby Lay Down' album followed in 1979 on Creole, and she was now enjoying the biggest success of her career, after releasing her music to little commercial success during the 60's. Winters died on 7 August 2016, as the age of 74, and this collection of those fine soul tracks that she recorded during the first half-decade of her career is a fitting tribute.

Track listing

01 In The Middle Of A Heartache (single 1966)
02 Act Three (b-side of 'In The Middle Of A Heartache')
03 Make Love To Me (single 1967, with Johnny Thunder)
04 Teach Me Tonight (b-side of 'Make Love To Me', with Johnny Thunder)
05 The Bells Of St. Mary's (single 1967)
06 Try Me (b-side of 'The Bells Of St. Mary's')
07 I Want Action (single 1967)
08 Better (b-side of 'I Want Action')
09 We Only Have One Life (Let's Live It Together) (single 1968, with Johnny Thunder)

10 A Last Minute Miracle (unreleased acetate 1968)
11 I Don't Want To Cry (single 1969)
12 Just Like A Yo Yo (b-side of 'I Don't Want To Cry')
13 Just A Dream (single 1969)
14 I Don't Want To Hurt Nobody (b-side of 'Just A Dream')
15 Always David (single 1969)
16 We're Living To Give (To Give To Each Other) (b-side of 'Always David')
17 Guess Who (single 1969)
18 Sweetheart Things (b-side of 'Guess Who')

Barbara Kay - Yes I'm Ready (1971)

Barbara Kay started her musical career as a band singer, before joining Embassy Records in the early 60's under the name of Kay Barry, with the label specialising in releasing budget covers of chart hits on 7" singles, sometime with different artists on each side of the record. They managed to keep this enterprise going right into the 70's, when Embassy albums of sound-alike recordings were big sellers. She stayed with the label until 1965, but the year before she left them she joined up with former Vernon's Girls singers Betty Prescott and Lyn Cornell to form The Carefrees, and they had a novelty hit single with 'We Love You Beatles' in 1964. They followed this with 'The Paddy Whack' a few months later but then broke up, with Kay embarking on a solo career under her real name. She released 'That's What Angels Are For' in 1965 to little success, and then followed that with the novelty song 'Chips With Everything', although the b-side 'A Lot About Love' was taken more seriously. Her next single was a commendable take on Barbara Mason's 1965 U.S. hit 'Yes, I'm Ready', with the more up-tempo 'Someone Has To Cry' gracing the flip. In 1966 she issued the Cook/Greenaway song 'The Power And The Glory', delivering this peppy tune with zest, to a slick rhythmic arrangement, and the flip side is a quasi-novelty number on which Kay sings in falsetto and is joined on the track by an un-named male vocalist, who is believed to be Roger Cook. With this last flop single she gave up on a solo career and became much in demand as a session singer. In 1968 she provided a version of 'Hello Heartaches' for a tribute album to Rod McKuen, and then in 1971 she topped the charts with the novelty song 'Johnny Reggae', on which she was the un-credited lead vocalist of The Piglets. Following this she joined Mike Morton in the Mike Morton Congregation, which was a group that released albums of their own versions of chart hits, taking her right back to her beginnings with Embassy Records. For this overview of her career I've included recordings from her Embassy period where both sides of the single were her songs, the hit record with The Carefrees, all of her solo singles from 1965 and 1966, the Rod McKuen cover, and an example of her work with Mike Morton. I've included 'Johnny Reggae' as a bonus track at the end, as it doesn't really fit with the more mainstream pop of most of the rest of the main album, but it was her biggest chart success, even if no-one knew it was her vocals, so it deserves to be here.   

Track listing

01 It Might As Well Rain Until September (Embassy single 1962)
02 It Started All Over Again (b-side of 'It Might As Well Rain Until September')
03 Bobby's Girl (Embassy single 1962)
04 James (Hold The Ladder Steady) (b-side of 'Bobby's Girl')
05 We Love You Beatles (single with The Carefrees 1964)
06 Terry (Embassy single 1965)
07 Girl Don't Come (b-side of 'Terry') 
08 That's What Angels Are For (single 1965)
09 What's The Good Of Loving (b-side of 'That's What Angels Are For')
10 Chips With Everything (single 1965)
11 A Lot About Love (b-side of 'Chips With Everything')
12 Yes I'm Ready (single 1965)
13 Someone Has To Cry (b-side of 'Yes I'm Ready')
14 The Power And The Glory (single 1966)
15 I Wanna Walk In Your Sun (b-side of 'The Power And The Glory')
16 Hello Heartaches (from 'Love's Been Good To Me - The Songs Of Rod McKuen' 1968)
17 These Things Will Keep Me Loving You (with The Mike Morton Congregation 1971)

Bonus track
18 Johnny Reggae (single with The Piglets 1971)

Norma Jenkins - One Girl Too Many (1973)

Norma Jenkins began her recording career in 1965 on the Maltese label as lead vocalist with a girl group billed as Norma Jenkins And The Dolls. The group released two singles for Maltese, 'This Is Our Day' and 'A Lover's Stand', before Jenkins left to start a solo career. Her first solo single was for Carnival Records, with 'Need Someone To Love' b/w 'Me Myself And I' coming out in 1967, and the Joe Evans-produced record earned her a mention in the May 1967 issue of Billboard magazine, in the R&B Spotlight column. Later that same year she recorded a duet with Troy Keyes for the ABC label, which was to be her last recording for five years. 1973 saw the release of a string of 45's on George Kerr-owned labels Jean Records and Kerr Records, including 'Go Home To Your Wife', which was written by George Clinton, and in 1976 she recorded her first full length album, the aptly titled 'Patience Is A Virtue'. This was a fine collection of soulful songs, and the vinyl has become highly coveted among collectors of rare soul music, especially in the UK where Jenkins still gets a lot of play on the Northern Soul scene. Nearly all the tracks from the album were released a singles and b-sides, and they are all worth checking out, but this post collects together all her 60's recordings, plus a couple of tracks from 1973 which were not released at the time, and a rare acetate of a song that was later recorded by The Sparkels in 1964.   

Track listing

01 This Is Our Day (single 1965, with The Dolls)
02 What's Next (b-side of 'This Is Our Day')
03 Try Love (One More Time) (unreleased acetate 1963)
04 A Lover's Stand (single 1966, with The Dolls)
05 The Airplane Song (b-side of 'A Lover's Stand')

06 His Love Is Amazing (unreleased acetate 1966?)
07 Need Someone To Love (single 1967)
08 Me Myself And I (b-side of 'Need Someone To Love')
09 I Can Wait My Turn (Single 1968, with Troy Keyes)
10 A Good Love Gone Bad (b-side of 'I Can Wait My Turn', with Troy Keyes)
11 One Girl Too Many (single 1973)
12 Go Home To Your Wife (b-side of 'One Girl Too Many')
13 Coward's Way Out (previously unreleased 1973)
14 Where Does The Love Go (previously unreleased 1973)
15 Puzzle Man (Figure Me Out If You Can) (single 1973)