Brook BENTON

 BROOK BENTON 

(Benjamin Franklin Peay)
DISCOGRAPHY 1959-2022 (56CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Benjamin Franklin Peay (September 19, 1931 – April 9, 1988), better known as Brook Benton, was an American singer and songwriter who was popular with rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and pop music audiences during the late 1950s and early 1960s, with hits such as "It's Just a Matter of Time" and "Endlessly", many of which he co-wrote.

He made a comeback in 1970 with the ballad "Rainy Night in Georgia." Benton scored over 50 Billboard chart hits as an artist, and also wrote hits for other performers.

When Benton was young, he enjoyed gospel music, wrote songs and sang in a Methodist church choir in Lugoff, South Carolina, where his father, Willie Peay, was choir master.[2] In 1948, he went to New York to pursue his music career, going in and out of gospel groups, such as The Langfordaires, The Jerusalem Stars and The Golden Gate Quartet. Returning to his home state, he joined an R&B singing group, The Sandmen, and went back to New York to get a big break with his group.

The Sandmen had limited success and their label, Okeh Records, decided to push Peay as a solo artist, changing his name to Brook Benton, apparently at the suggestion of label executive Marv Halsman.

Brook earned a good living by writing songs and co-producing albums. He wrote songs for artists such as Nat King Cole, Clyde McPhatter (for whom he co-wrote the hit "A Lover's Question") and Roy Hamilton. He eventually released his first minor hit, "A Million Miles from Nowhere", before switching to the Mercury label, which would eventually bring him major success. He also appeared in the 1957 film Mister Rock And Roll, with Alan Freed. (Wikipedia)

NEW!

ESSENTIAL CLASSICS

Vol. 021-Brook Benton (2CD) @FLAC

Ann COLE

 ANN COLE 

(Cynthia Coleman)

(4CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Ann Cole (born Cynthia Coleman; Jan. 24 or 29, 1934 – Nov. 1986) was an American R&B and gospel singer who has been described as "a genuinely great soul singer who had the misfortune to be too far ahead of her time". She had several minor hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but is now most noted as the original performer of "Got My Mojo Working", later popularised by Muddy Waters.

She was born in Newark, New Jersey; her father Wallace and her uncles were members of a spiritual vocal group, the Coleman Brothers. In 1949, she formed her own singing group, the Colemanaires, with Joe Walker, Sam Walker, and Wesley Johnson. They toured throughout the US, with Cynthia as lead singer, and released several gospel records in 1953–54 on the Timely and Apollo labels. She released her first secular recordings on the Timely label in 1954, using the pseudonym "Ann Cole", and performed as a singer and pianist in bars around New York City and New Jersey.

There, she was discovered by Sol Rabinowitz who was establishing a new company, Baton Records. Her first recording for Baton, a cover version of Sheb Wooley's country song "Are You Satisfied?", featuring guitar work by Mickey Baker, reached no. 10 on the Billboard R&B chart in early 1956. Later that year, she was voted the Most Promising Female R&B Vocals by Cash Box magazine. Her fourth single for Baton, "In The Chapel", on which she was backed by vocal group the Suburbans, also reached the R&B chart, in 1957.

Late in 1956, she went on a short tour through the Southern states with Muddy Waters, during which she regularly performed a new song written by Preston Foster, "Got My Mo-Jo Working". The song impressed Muddy Waters, who recorded it when he returned to Chess Records, adding some of his own words and allocating himself the songwriting credit. Ann Cole also recorded the song for Baton Records in January 1957, as a follow-up to "In The Chapel". Both versions of the song were released in the same week, but neither made the charts. A later court case resolved a dispute over the song's writing credit in favour of Foster.

Ann Cole continued to record for Baton, with little success, until 1958, and is also believed to be the uncredited female singer on Fats Domino's record "When I See You". She later recorded for the Sir, MGM and Roulette labels. Her only record for Roulette was "Have Fun", which reached no.21 on the R&B chart at the end of 1962; its B-side, "Don't Stop The Wedding", an answer song to Etta James' "Stop The Wedding", reached no.99 on the pop chart. Soon afterwards, she was involved in a serious car accident, which ended her musical career and confined her to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

She died of a heart failure in her sleep in November 1986, aged 52. A compilation of her recordings, In the Chapel – 30 Of Her Greatest Hits!, was issued on CD in 2001. (Wikipedia)

Wynona CARR

⬇️ WYNONA CARR ⬇️

(Wynona Merceris Carr / Sister Wynona Carr)

(4CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Wynona Merceris Carr (August 23, 1923 - May 11, 1976) was an American gospel, R&B and rock and roll singer-songwriter, who recorded as Sister Wynona Carr when performing gospel material.

Carr was born in Cleveland, Ohio, where she started out as a gospel singer, forming her own five-piece group The Carr Singers around 1945 and touring the Cleveland/Detroit area. Being tipped by the Pilgrim Travelers, who shared a bill with Carr in the late 1940s, Art Rupe signed her to his Specialty label, giving Carr her new stage name "Sister" Wynona Carr (modelled after pioneering gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe) and cutting some twenty sides with her from 1949 to 1954, including a couple of duets with Specialty's biggest gospel star at the time, Brother Joe May.

Not having too much success on the charts (except for "The Ball Game" [1952], which became one of Specialty's best selling gospel records and most recently featured in the movie 42), Carr grew increasingly unhappy with the straight gospel direction of her career and pleaded with Rupe to let her record "pops, jumps, ballads, and semi-blues". Rupe relented and from 1955 to 1959 Carr recorded two dozen rock and roll and R&B sides for Specialty, which, like her gospel songs, she mostly wrote herself.

Despite scoring an R&B hit with "Should I Ever Love Again?" in 1957, overall the change from spiritual to secular music did not help Carr in terms of sales or recognition. She also contracted tuberculosis around this time, which kept her from doing the necessary promotional work and touring for two years, effectively ending her tenure with Specialty in mid 1959.

In 1961, Carr signed with Frank Sinatra's Reprise Records and released an unsuccessful pop album. She moved back to Cleveland, sinking into obscurity and suffering from declining health and depression; she died there in 1976..... (Wikipedia)

Tammi SAVOY

 TAMMI SAVOY 

(3CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Tammi Savoy is an Award winning Chicago-based International Retro / Vintage vocalist. Singing Soul, Jazz, Blues, Jump Blues, and more.

Imagine a woman with a powerful, soulful voice that nails the classic 40s, 50s and early 60s R&B and rock’n’roll sounds. Match that with a great stage presence accompanying a perfect visual adherence to mid-century vintage style.

"Sangin" from her heart and soul is what classic soul and vintage R&B singing Miss Tammi Savoy loves to do. Born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, Miss Tammi Savoy now calls Chicago, Illinois home. Although she has been singing since the age of 3 in her church choir, Tammi Savoy started singing professionally in 2014 and took the leap to follow her dreams and sing full time in 2018.

Tammi performs her own Rockin’ Rhythm & Blues show: “The Tammi Show” around the world. She has also toured with several elite bands and continues to provide vocals for various tribute artists including many highly acclaimed Elvis Tribute Artists, and Bobby Wilson, son of the legendary Jackie Wilson. She has also performed her very own tribute to Diana Ross and is absolutely honored to be the 2019 Ameripolitan Music Award Rockabilly Female of the Year.