Rebecca FERGUSON

⬇️ REBECCA FERGUSON ⬇️

DISCOGRAPHY 2012-2023 (9CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Rebecca Caroline Ferguson (born 21 July 1986) is an English soul singer and songwriter. In 2010, Ferguson finished as the runner-up in the seventh series of The X Factor. She later released her debut album titled Heaven in December 2011. The album peaked at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart. Since then, Ferguson has released 4 more albums: Freedom (2013), Lady Sings the Blues (2015) Superwoman, and Heaven Part.2 (2023). She cites Aretha Franklin, Kings of Leon, Christina Aguilera, and Amy Winehouse among her influences.

Rebecca Ferguson was born on 21 July 1986 at Mill Road Hospital in Liverpool to a father of Jamaican descent and a white British mother.[citation needed] She has a younger brother, Sam. She spent the first two years of her life in Huyton. Her family moved to a house on an estate in Woolton Village when her parents separated. Ferguson received her primary education at Woolton Primary School and her secondary and sixth form education at Gateacre Community Comprehensive School. As a teenager she later moved to Anfield, where she became pregnant with her first daughter.

Two years later she had her first son. Ferguson revealed that she always wanted to become a pop star when she was young and said that her family fully supported her passion of becoming a professional singer, helping her through two previous X Factor auditions. She also revealed that she was, "bullied as a kid because my family was poor, and I never had the right clothes or toys." Despite having a difficult start in life, Ferguson insisted that she wanted people to focus solely on her talent. She revealed on Loose Women that she was sexually abused in a care home when she was 8 years old.

Ferguson is a qualified legal secretary, having studied at Hugh Baird College, Bootle. She later commented, "There is only so long you can chase the dream when you are a mum. I wanted the kids to see me do well and be a better role model. They were always seeing their mummy fail. That was why I started college." ... (Wikipedia)

Johnnie TAYLOR

⬇️ JOHNNIE TAYLOR ⬇️

(Johnnie Harrison Taylor)

DISCOGRAPHY 1967-2024 (33CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Johnnie Harrison Taylor (May 5, 1934 – May 31, 2000) was an American recording artist and songwriter who performed a wide variety of genres, from blues, rhythm and blues, soul, and gospel to pop, doo-wop, and disco. He was initially successful at Stax Records with the number-one R&B hits "Who's Making Love" (1968), "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone" (1971) and "I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)" (1973), and reached number one on the US pop charts with "Disco Lady" in 1976.

In 2022, Taylor was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Johnnie Taylor was born in Crawfordsville, Arkansas, United States. He grew up in West Memphis, Arkansas, performing in gospel groups as a youngster. As an adult, he had one release, "Somewhere to Lay My Head", on Chicago's Vee Jay Records label in the 1950s, as part of the gospel group The Highway Q.C.'s, which included a young Sam Cooke.[5] Taylor's singing then was strikingly close to that of Cooke, and he was hired to take Cooke's place in the latter's gospel group, the Soul Stirrers, in 1957.

A few years later, after Cooke had established his independent SAR Records, Taylor signed on as one of the label's first acts and recorded "Rome Wasn't Built In A Day" in 1962.[5] However, SAR Records quickly became defunct after Cooke's death in 1964.

In 1966, Taylor moved to Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was dubbed "The Philosopher of Soul". He recorded with the label's house band, which included Booker T. & the M.G.'s. His hits included "I Had a Dream", "I've Got to Love Somebody's Baby" (both written by the team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter) and most notably "Who's Making Love",[5] which reached No.5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No.1 on the R&B chart in 1968. "Who's Making Love" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. In 1970 Taylor married Gerlean Rocket, with their divorce finalized on May 10, 2000, 21 days before his passing. His children from that marriage are Jon Harrison Taylor, and Tasha Taylor, both musicians.

During his tenure at Stax, he became an R&B star, with over a dozen chart successes, such as "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone", which reached No.23 on the Hot 100 chart, "Cheaper to Keep Her" (Mack Rice) and record producer Don Davis's penned "I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)", which reached No.11 on the Hot 100 chart. "I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)" also sold more than one million copies, and was awarded gold disc status by the R.I.A.A. in October 1973. Taylor, along with Isaac Hayes and The Staple Singers, was one of the label's flagship artists, who were credited for keeping the company afloat in the late 1960s and early 1970s after the death of its biggest star, Otis Redding, in an aviation accident. He appeared in the documentary film, Wattstax, which was released in 1973.... (Wikipedia)

Gladys KNIGHT

⬇️ GLADYS KNIGHT ⬇️

(Shirley Valerie Horn)
DISCOGRAPHY 1967-2014 (59CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

       

Shirley Valerie Horn (born May 28, 1944), known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American recording artist, songwriter, businesswoman, humanitarian and author.

A seven-time Grammy Award-winner, she is best known for the hits she recorded during the 60's & 70's, for both the Motown and Buddah Records labels, with her group Gladys Knight & the Pips, the most famous incarnation of which also included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and her cousins Edward Patten and William Guest.

Knight was born in Oglethorpe, Georgia, the daughter of Sarah Elizabeth (née Woods) & Merald Woodlow Knight, Sr, a postal worker.

She first achieved minor fame by winning Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour TV show contest at the age of 7 in 1952. The following year, she, her brother Merald, sister Brenda, and cousins William and Elenor Guest formed a musical group called The Pips (named after another cousin, James "Pip" Woods).......

Ben E. KING

 BEN E. KING 
DISCOGRAPHY 1960-2010 (25CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Benjamin Earl Nelson (born September 28, 1938), better known as Ben E. King, is an American soul singer. He is perhaps best known as the singer and co-composer of "Stand by Me," a U.S. Top 10 hit in both 1961 and later in 1986 (when it was used as the theme to the film of the same name) and a #1 hit in the UK in 1987, and as one of the principal lead singers of the R&B vocal group The Drifters.

King was born Benjamin Earl Nelson on September 28, 1938 in Henderson, North Carolina, and moved to Harlem, New York, at age 9.

In 1958, King (still using his birth name) joined a doo wop group called The Five Crowns. Later in 1958, The Drifters' manager George Treadwell fired the members of the original Drifters, and replaced them with The Five Crowns.

King had a string of R&B hits with the group on Atlantic Records. He co-wrote and sang lead on the first Atlantic hit by the new version of the Drifters, "There Goes My Baby" (1959). He also sang lead on a succession of hits by the team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, including "Save the Last Dance for Me," "This Magic Moment," and "I Count the Tears." King only recorded thirteen songs with The Drifters— two backing other lead singers and eleven lead vocal performances —including a non-single called "Temptation" (later redone by Drifters vocalist Johnny Moore).

Due to a contract dispute with Treadwell in which King and his manager, Lover Patterson, demanded that King be given a salary increase and a fair share of royalties, King never again performed with the Drifters on tour or on television; he would only record with the group until a suitable replacement could be found. On television, fellow Drifters member Charlie Thomas usually lip synched the songs that King had recorded with the Drifters. This end gave rise to a new beginning.

In May 1960, King left the Drifters, assuming the more memorable stage name Ben E. King in preparation for a successful solo career. Remaining on Atlantic Records on its Atco imprint, King scored his first solo hit with the ballad "Spanish Harlem" (1961).

His next single, "Stand by Me," written with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, ultimately would be voted as one of the Songs of the Century by the Recording Industry Association of America. "Stand by Me," "There Goes My Baby," and "Spanish Harlem" were named as three of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll and were all given a Grammy Hall of Fame Award, as well as "Save The Last Dance For Me."

King's other well-known songs include "Don't Play That Song (You Lied)," "Amor," "Seven Letters," "How Can I Forget," "On the Horizon," "Young Boy Blues," "First Taste of Love," "Here Comes the Night," "Ecstasy," and "That's When It Hurts." In the summer of 1963, King had a Top 30 hit with "I (Who Have Nothing)," which reached the Top 10 on New York's radio station, WMCA.

King's records continued to place well on the Billboard Hot 100 chart until 1965. British pop bands began to dominate the pop music scene, but King still continued to make R&B hits, including "What is Soul?" (1966), "Tears, Tears, Tears" (1967), and "Supernatural Thing" (1975). A 1986 re-issue of "Stand by Me" followed the song's use as the theme song to the movie Stand By Me and re-entered the Billboard Top Ten after a 25-year absence.

In 1990, King and Bo Diddley, along with Doug Lazy, recorded a revamped Hip Hop version of The Monotones' 1958 hit song "Book of Love" for the soundtrack of the movie Book of Love. He also recorded a children's album, I Have Songs In My Pocket, written and produced by children's music artist Bobby Susser in 1998, which won the "Early Childhood News' Directors' Choice Award" and "Dr. Toy's/The Institute For Childhood Resources Award." King performed "Stand by Me" on the Late Show with David Letterman in 2007. Ahmet Ertegun said, "King is one of the greatest singers in the history of rock and roll and rhythm and blues."

As a Drifter and as a solo artist, King had achieved five No.1 hits: "There Goes My Baby," "Save The Last Dance For Me," "Stand By Me," "Supernatural Thing," and the 1986 re-issue of "Stand By Me." He also earned 12 Top 10 hits and 25 Top 40 hits from 1959 to 1986. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Drifter; he has also been nominated as a solo artist.

King's "I (Who Have Nothing)" was selected for the The Sopranos' Peppers and Eggs Soundtrack CD (2001).

King was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009.

On March 27, 2012, the Songwriters Hall of Fame announced that "Stand By Me" would receive its 2012 Towering Song Award and that King would be honored with the 2012 Towering Performance Award for his recording of the song.

Natalie COLE

 NATALIE COLE 
DISCOGRAPHY 1975-2009 (42CD/DVD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

       

Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, and performer.

The daughter of Nat King Cole, Natalie rose to musical success in the mid–1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be", "Inseparable", and "Our Love". After a period of failing sales and performances due to a heavy drug addiction, Cole re-emerged as a pop artist with the 1987 album Everlasting and her cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac".

In the 1990s, she re-recorded standards by her father, resulting in her biggest success, Unforgettable... with Love, which sold over seven million copies and also won Cole numerous Grammy Awards. She sold over 30 million records worldwide.

On December 31, 2015, Cole died at the age of 65 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, due to congestive heart failure.....

Solomon BURKE

 SOLOMON BURKE 
DISCOGRAPHY 1957-2010 (40CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Solomon Burke (March 21, 1940 – October 10, 2010) was an American singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, mortician, and an archbishop of the United House of Prayer For All People. Burke was known as "King Solomon," the "King of Rock 'n' Soul," and as the "Bishop of Soul," and described as "the Muhammad Ali of soul," and as "the most unfairly overlooked singer of soul's golden age."

Burke was "the founding father of what was defined as soul music in America in the 1960s," and "a major architect of 1960s soul, infusing post-World War II R'n'B with [his] gospel roots." and "a key transitional figure bridging R'n'B and soul,"

Burke's "sound was a bold merger of orchestrated sophistication and countryish, down-home grit, and his best singles built a Gothic sense of drama and heartbreak. These tracks bridged the gap between the more mannered mainstream rhythm and blues of the Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller songwriting team of the 1950s, as exemplified by the Coasters and Drifters, and the gruffer Southern styles of the later '60s, as heard on the Stax Records sides of Otis Redding and Sam & Dave.

At one time considered by Jerry Wexler to be "the greatest male soul singer of all time," Burke was "a singer whose smooth, powerful articulation and mingling of sacred and profane themes helped define soul music in the early 1960s." Burke drew from his roots: gospel, soul, and blues, as well as developing his own style at a time when R&B, and rock were both still in their infancy.

Artistically, Burke was influenced by the music of the church, as well as by Little Richard. Described as both "Rabelaisian" and also as a "spiritual enigma," "Perhaps more than any other artist, the ample figure of Solomon Burke symbolized the ways that spirituality and commerce, ecstasy and entertainment, sex and salvation, individualism and brotherhood, could blend in the world of 1960s soul music."

During the 55 years that he performed professionally, Burke released 38 studio albums on more than 17 record labels and had 35 songs that charted, including 26 songs that made the Billboard R'n'B charts, including "Got to Get You Off My Mind" that was #1 in the summer of the 1965, and an additional 9 songs that were only listed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including 1964's seminal “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love”.

Burke had over 30 songs make the Cash Box R'n'B charts, with "Got to Get You Off My Mind" reaching #1, and 23 that charted on their pop chart hits, with seven making Cash Box's Top 40.

In 2001, Burke was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a performer. His album Don't Give Up on Me won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 45th Grammy Awards in 2003. By 2005 Burke was credited with selling 17 million albums. Rolling Stone ranked Burke as #89 on its 2008 list of "100 Greatest Singers of All Time."

On February 13, 2011, in his first live appearance at the Grammy Awards, Mick Jagger, who had been influenced by Burke, paid tribute to Burke in the Grammy Awards "In Memoriam' segment by singing "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love," backed by Raphael Saadiq and his band.

Merry CLAYTON

 MERRY CLAYTON 

(2CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Merry Clayton (born December 25, 1948, Gert Town, New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American soul and gospel singer (both solo and back-up), and an actress. She has provided a number of back-up vocal tracks to songs recorded by major performing artists during the 1960s, most notably with her duet with Mick Jagger on The Rolling Stones song "Gimme Shelter".

Clayton began her recording career in 1962 at the age of fourteen, singing "Who Can I Count On? (When I Can't Count On You)" as a duet with Bobby Darin on his album "You're The Reason I'm Living". A year later, she recorded the first version of "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)", although it was Betty Everett's version of the same year that reached the top 10 in the Billboard Hot 100.

Her early career included performances with artists including Ray Charles (as one of The Raelettes), Pearl Bailey, Elvis Presley, Phil Ochs, and Burt Bacharach. In 1971 she co-wrote the song "Sho' Nuff", which is about her mother. She contributed vocals to Nicholas Roeg's 1968 film Performance.

Clayton also sang backup on several tracks from Neil Young's debut album Neil Young, originally released in 1968.

She is best known for her 1969 performance in a duet with Mick Jagger on the Rolling Stones song "Gimme Shelter". (Originally, the Stones had intended to have Bonnie Bramlett sing, but Bramlett was not available, possibly due to illness.) Clayton also sang backing vocals on Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama". Also, early in her career, Clayton sang backup vocals for Tom Jones, Joe Cocker ("Feelin' Alright") and Carole King.

She also originated the role of the Acid Queen in the original 1972 London production of The Who's Tommy. More recently, Clayton has provided background vocals for Sparta's latest album Threes on the songs "Atlas" and "Translation". As an actress, she co-starred with Ally Sheedy in the 1987 film Maid to Order, and played Verna Dee Jordan in the final season of Cagney and Lacey.

In 1970, Clayton recorded her own version of "Gimme Shelter," and it became the title track of her debut solo album, released that year. Her version would be the first of five singles under her name to crack the Billboard Hot 100, reaching #73. She continued to release solo albums throughout the next decade, notching several minor R'n'B singles. Clayton performs a live version of what has been deemed the Black National Anthem Lift Every Voice and Sing, on the soundtrack for the 1970 Robert Altman film Brewster McCloud.

Clayton sang "You're Always There When I Need You," the main title for 1980's The Nude Bomb, the first Get Smart movie, which starred Don Adams. She also sang the song "Yes" that was in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing, and featured on the soundtrack album. This tune became her biggest hit to date to crack the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #45 in 1988. She also recorded backing vocals for and sang the infamous 'Man with the Golden Gun' bridge on Tori Amos's 1994 hit, "Cornflake Girl".

Aretha FRANKLIN

⬇️ ARETHA FRANKLIN ⬇️
(Aretha Louise Franklin)
DISCOGRAPHY 1956-2022 (223CD/DVD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

       

Aretha Louise Franklin (born March 25, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R'n'B, gospel music, and rock.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All Time as well as the ninth greatest artist of all time. She has won 18 competitive Grammys and two honorary Grammys. She has 20 No.1 singles on the Billboard R'n'B Singles Chart and two No.1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: "Respect" (1967) and "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (1987), a duet with George Michael.

Since 1961, she has scored a total of 45 Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. She also has the most million-selling singles of any female artist.

Between 1967 and 1982 she had 10 No.1 R'n'B albums -more than any other female artist. In 1987, Franklin became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

She was the only featured singer at the 2009 presidential inauguration of Barack Obama.

Irma THOMAS

 IRMA THOMAS 

(Irma Lee)

DISCOGRAPHY 1964-2015 (43CD/DVD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Irma Thomas (born February 18, 1941) is an American singer from New Orleans. She is known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans".

Thomas is a contemporary of Aretha Franklin and Etta James, but never experienced their level of commercial success. In 2007, she won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album for After the Rain, her first Grammy in a career spanning over 50 years.

Born Irma Lee, in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, United States, as a teenager she sang with a Baptist church choir. She auditioned for Specialty Records at the age of 13. By the time she was 19, she had been married twice and had four children. Keeping her second ex-husband's surname, she worked as a waitress in New Orleans, occasionally singing with bandleader Tommy Ridgley, who helped her land a record deal with the local Ron label. Her first single, "Don't Mess with My Man", was released in late 1959, and reached number 22 on the US Billboard R&B chart.

She then began recording on the Minit label, working with songwriter and producer Allen Toussaint on songs including "It's Raining" and "Ruler of My Heart", which was later reinterpreted by Otis Redding as "Pain in My Heart". Imperial Records acquired Minit in 1963, and a string of successful releases followed. These included "Wish Someone Would Care", her biggest national hit; its B-side "Breakaway", written by Jackie DeShannon and Sharon Sheely (later covered by Tracey Ullman, among others).

"Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)" was co-written by a young Randy Newman and future country star Jeannie Seely. This song has gained renewed appreciation as a result of its inclusion in numerous episodes of the science fiction anthology television series Black Mirror, stretching back to the first season. On its B-side is "Time Is on My Side", a song previously recorded by Kai Winding and later by the Rolling Stones.

Her first four Imperial singles all charted on Billboard's pop chart, but her later releases were less successful. Unlike her contemporaries Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight and Dionne Warwick, she never managed to cross over into mainstream commercial success. She recorded for Chess Records in 1967–1968 with some success; her version of the Otis Redding song "Good to Me" reached the R&B chart. She then relocated to California, releasing records on various small labels, before returning to Louisiana, and in the early 1980s opened the Lion's Den Club.

Down by Law, the 1986 independent film by Jim Jarmusch featured "It's Raining" in the soundtrack. The film's actors Roberto Benigni and Nicoletta Braschi, whose characters fell in love in the movie, danced to the song.

After several years' break from recording, she was signed by Rounder Records, and in 1991 earned her first Grammy Award nomination for Live! Simply the Best, recorded in San Francisco. She subsequently released a number of traditional gospel albums, together with more secular recordings. The album Sing It! (1998) was nominated for a Grammy in 1999..... (Wikipedia)