THE LAURA LEE STORY, PART 2: Down South (1965-1969)
Laura Lee. Photo courtesy of Laura Lee. Not to be reused or copied unless approved and authorized by Laura Lee.
The Phelps Cocktail Lounge at Oakland Avenue was a popular nightclub in Detroit
for close to twenty years. The building had existed since the 1910s and had
served as a movie theatre under several names and run by different owners, but
in the 1950s it was transformed into the Bizerte Jazz Bar. A renowned music
promoter Edward Calvin Phelps (1927 – 2012) bought the bar in 1960, refurnished
it completely and renamed it the Phelps Cocktail Lounge, and it became one of
the most well-known and reputable venues with leading soul music stars of the
day headlining evening after evening. In 1981 there was an arson attempt, after
which all activity practically stopped there and the remaining structure was
demolished in May-June 2024.
The Phelps Lounge. Photo courtesy of The Michigan Chronicle.
Edward Phelps hired the Meditation Singers to perform at his club in 1965, and
– according to Laura Lee – during that stint Edward encouraged her to go solo.
Although in her early days Laura had been a member of the Franklin Sisters
with Aretha and Erma, the Meditation Singers was Laura’s first real
stepping stone in music (see part 1 of the article). She had toured with them
for around ten years till the mid-1960s and had recorded with them since 1958.
Even after launching her solo career, Laura kept on working with them on and
off. Recording-wise, she went into the Ter Mar Studios in Chicago in June 1967
together with Ernestine Rundless, Donna Hammond, Verlene Rodgers, Marie
Waters, Patricia Lyles and the arranger and pianist Victoria Beasley,
and those sessions resulted into another joint album with the group. Produced
by Ralph Bass and Sonny Thompson, I Feel It was released
on Checker (LP 10029) in late 1967 (https://www.discogs.com/release/5910758-The-Meditation-Singers-I-Feel-It).
Then in 1971 Laura and the Meditation Singers with Ernestine joined forces on
an album recorded at the United Sound Studios in Detroit called Change Is
Gonna Come on Stan Lewis’s Jewel Records (LPS 0048), and this time
it was produced and all songs - with the exception of Sam Cooke’s title
tune – were composed by Andre Williams (https://www.discogs.com/release/2128438-Meditation-Singers-Change-Is-Gonna-Come)
TO WIN YOUR HEART
Besides cutting their own records, the Meditation Singers contributed
background vocals as well, especially on recordings by some of the Golden World
Records artists in Detroit. This was presumably the case also on Laura’s first
secular single, To Win Your Heart.
Edward Phelps had invited the Golden World owners, Ed Wingate and JoAnne
Bratton, to listen to Laura at the Phelps Lounge, where – after going solo
- she used to perform as an opening act for headliners. Ed and JoAnne were so
impressed that they promptly organized a recording session for Laura at Golden
World Studios on 3246 Davison West, and out of the four songs she cut there two
were released as her first solo single. On Golden World’s subsidiary called Ric
Tic, a dynamic dancer called To Win Your Heart (RT-111) was released in January
1966. It didn’t chart in the U.S., but in the U.K. about five years later it turned
into a big Northern favourite. There the single was released twice on
Tamla-Motown, first in 1971 and then re-released in September 1972 (TMG 831).
Laura herself, however, wasn’t too crazy about the record.
The song was composed by JoAnne Bratton and Linda Bunten, and it
actually is a vocal performance to the San Remo Strings’ instrumental
titled Festival Time, which was issued almost simultaneously (on Ric-Tic
112). Ed Wingate is credited as the producer, but most likely Andre Williams
was an equally creative party. At least he produced and co-wrote the flip
side, a deep soul & gospel wailer named So Will I. The other co-composer
of the song was a 1960s writer and producer called Bruce Scott, who had
his songs recorded also by Betty Everett, Kitty Love, Johnny Sayles and
Andre himself, of course.
There were no more singles from Laura on Ric Tic, but here we must remember
that in September 1966 Motown bought the assets of Golden World Records; not
only the estate and the catalog of master disks and tapes, but also the
publishing company - Myto Music, Inc. - and the contracts of Edwin Starr and
J.J. Barnes out of all the singing stars on the label. Laura wasn’t a
part of this buyout package.
On the advice of her big fan, Brian Holland, Laura next auditioned for
Motown, but reportedly Mickey Stevenson considered her singing style too
soulful and incompatible with the current Motown sound – probably too
gospel-inclined -, so she didn’t pass.
STOP GIVING YOUR MAN AWAY
After Motown fell through, allegedly Little Milton called Leonard
Chess and put in a good word for Laura. Little Milton had performed with
Laura at the Phelps Lounge and at that time he was enjoying a string of hits – We’re
Gonna Make It, Who’s Cheating Who?... - on Checker, a subsidiary of Chess
Records. Edward Phelps and Laura drove to Chicago to meet Edwards’s friend,
Roquel “Billy” Davis, a writer/producer/A&R at Chess, and as a
result this time the audition in front of Leonard and Phil Chess was
more successful. Laura signed with Chess Records.
The first session in Chicago in August 1966 produced Laura’s first Chess
single. Released in January 1967, a rousing “soul shouter” called Stop
Giving Your Man Away was written by Laura and James Cleveland,
arranged by Charles Stepney and Gene Barge and produced by Billy
Davis and Leonard Caston Jr. of the Radiants fame. Actually the
song is based on Little Richard’s number called You’d Better Stop.
On the flip there’s a smooth and soulful ballad titled You Need Me (as Much
as I Need You), written by Lloyd Webber and Leonard Caston.
Incidentally, one Maurice White plays drums in this session. Other
regular musicians, who played at Chess’ Ter Mar Studios those days, included Phil
Upchurch on guitar, Leonard Caston on piano and Louis Satterfield on
bass. Occasionally Donny Hathaway played organ.
A fast and driving dancer named Meet Love Halfway and a slow, almost
easy listening and rather jazzy song titled I Don’t Need You Around are
among those Billy Davis & Leonard Caston produced recordings in Chicago that
were left in the can but which appeared on later compilations, such as on a double-vinyl
called Up Tight Good Woman on P-Vine (PLP-6017-8) in Japan in 1984, and
later on That’s How It Is on the U.K. Charly Records (CD RED 27) in
1991, as well as on an Italian vinyl release by the same name a year earlier
(Chess/MCA/Greenline, GCH 8103).
DIRTY MAN
Laura’s first-ever charted record was called Dirty Man. Released in July
1967, in the fall it climbed up to # 13 on Billboard’s Hot Rhythm & Blues
charts, and on the pop side more modestly to # 68. This excellent and highly
memorable soul ballad was written by Bobby Miller – remember his work
with the Dells on Cadet/Chess in Chicago? – and according to Laura the
song tells about her dating partner at that time, Mr. Phelps himself.
During her one-week recording stint at Ter-Mar Studios in Chicago, an earlier
version of Dirty Man had been one of the first songs that Laura cut, but
they couldn’t quite capture the sound they wanted, so Billy Davis came up with
the idea to send Laura down to Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Not long after that, such
Chess recording ladies as Irma Thomas, Mitty Collier and Etta James would
also follow the path to Rick Hall’s Fame Studios to record.
In an interview for “In the Basement” magazine, Laura told Colin Dilnot that
“the kids in Chicago, they were not as warm and soulful. They had pre-eminence
and they walked around in their suits and ties – they just didn’t have it.”
During her first, two-week stay in Muscle Shoals, Laura recorded the definite version
of Dirty Man, and that take ended up on the single, now with that down-to-earth
and soulful sound that they were looking for in the first place. Laura: “They
captured that sound. It was originally called Dirty Old Man, and Rick
just cut the ‘old’ out. It was so effective to me, much more effective as Dirty
Man.” Some of those preceding and canned Chicago versions are available on
the above P-Vine compilation. On the flip of Dirty Man,Chess
released another deep soul ballad called It’s Mighty Hard, which makes
this single a fine double-sider. The song was written by James Cleveland,
and produced in Chicago by Billy Davis and Leonard Caston.
At Fame Laura was mainly backed by Spooner Oldham on keyboards, Jimmy
Johnson on guitar, Roger Hawkins on drums, David Hood on bass
and Gene Miller on trumpet and Charlie Chalmers on saxophone. Charlie
Chalmers (http://www.charliechalmers.com/): “I did the horn
arrangements on the recordings. Laura came prepared and she knew the material.
She was very easy to work with in the studio, so that’s the reason it all came
together as well as it did. Fame had a reputation of a certain sound that we
would produce that the labels wanted for their artists. Record labels send the
artists to us, and it just got to the point, where it was on a regular basis.
We had so many artists coming to us to record.”
Spooner Oldham.
Spooner Oldham: “I met Laura Lee for the first time – and the last time
-, when I was at the Fame recording studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. I was
playing piano and organ on her recordings, and I remember playing on Dirty
Man, and I think she did one of my and Dan Penn’s song, Up Tight,
Good Man.
UP TIGHT, GOOD MAN
Laura returned to Fame three more times: 1) September 30 to October 2, 1967; 2)
January 24-25, 1968; 3) and October 9-10, 1968.
Similarly to Dirty Man, the follow-up single called Up Tight, Good
Man was produced by Rick Hall and “arranged by Rick Hall & Staff” (as
it reads on the label), and it was recorded on October the 2nd in
1967. This magnificent deep soul ballad was first cut by Dan Penn in 1965, next
Wilson Pickett recorded it in 1966 and then Spencer Wiggins in
1967… and Solomon Burke two years later - and obviously all these
gentlemen recorded it under the title of Up Tight, Good Woman.
Laura’s intense interpretation charted nicely and rightly again - # 16 on rhythm
& blues and # 93 on pop – and the flip, a stomper named Wanted: Lover,
No Experience Necessary paid a short visit on the pop charts at # 84, as
well. The song derives from Chicago, from the pens of Caston and Webber again,
but was of course another of her Fame-cut tracks.
A document from the Fame sessions. Photo courtesy of Rodney Hall.
Laura’s third Fame single was recorded in Muscle Shoals in late-January 1968.
On the plug side there’s Gene Barge’s and Laura’s powerful and dynamic dancer
called As Long as I Got You (# 31 – rhythm & blues / # 123 – pop)
backed with an emotional soul ballad titled A Man with Some Backbone,
written by Clarence Carter and Marcus Lewis Daniel.
Laura told Colin Dilnot that “Rick (Hall) was very fond of me and he’d
come up to me and he’d say ‘if you want to do that, then let’s try that’. I was
crazy about Jerry Butler. I just loved his sound and I wanted to do it.
I chose the songs. Rick let me do what I wanted to do.” Indeed, Laura’s fifth
Chess single offered two Jerry Butler covers, a beautifully flowing Need to
Belong, which Jerry originally released on Vee-Jay in 1963, and a perky
cover of a Jerry Butler & Curtis Mayfield & Calvin Carter song
named He Will Break Your Heart, which Jerry took to number one on the
rhythm &blues charts in 1960. Laura cut her first versions in
Muscle Shoals on October the 2nd in 1967, but presumably they were
redone in late-January 1968 and those were the ones that ended up on the
single. Jerry Butler lifted Curtis Mayfield’s Need to Belong up to
# 31 – Hot (pop), and almost five years later Laura carried it to # 44 on the
Rhythm & Blues charts.
Bobby Miller’s passionate soul ballad Hang It Up was recorded at Fame in
October 1968 (# 48 – rhythm & blues), and it was backed with the funky It’s
How You Make It Good, another Gene Barge and Lloyd Webber number from
Chicago, but brought to life in Muscle Shoals. The seventh and final Chess
single was cut in Chicago in February 1969 and released two months later,
albeit with no show on the charts anymore. Ellington Jordan and Billy
Foster are credited as writers of a rousing up-tempo beater named Mama’s
Got a Good Thing. Those two are also remembered as co-writers with Etta
James of I’d Rather Go Blind, although in her book “Rage to Survive”
Etta tells that the actual writers were Ellington, who was an inmate at Chino
Prison and Etta herself: “Because I was still having tax problems, once again I
put down my man as the writer. It bugs me to this day that he still receives
royalties.” The man in question was Billy Foster, and interestingly in my
interview with Billy he says: “I co-wrote the song I’d Rather Go
Blind. We ended up going to Chicago. Then I started using
cocaine and drinking, and we ended up breaking up eventually in the late 60s.”
Now we got lost on side paths. Back to Mama’s Got a Good Thing. Produced
by Gene Barge and Cash McCall, on the flip they put a melodic and
soulful power ballad titled Love More than Pride, written by Gene and Maurice
Dollison, aka Cash McCall, and this marvellous piece of soul music is simply
one of Laura’s best performances coming out of Chicago.
LOVE MORE THAN PRIDE
Love More than Pride was also chosen as the title of Laura’s lone Chess
album, which was released as late as three years after she had left the
company. One reason for this strange delay could be the fact that Leonard Chess
passed in October 1969 at the age of 52, and Laura didn’t resign with the
company. She has mentioned that after the death of her good friend Leonard,
Chess started going downhill, which to a degree is true. On the other hand,
Laura had switched companies while Leonard was still alive and heading Chess. The
11-track album was released in 1972, which makes one assume that they were
cashing in on Laura’s later success on Hot Wax Records, especially with her Women’s
Love Rights album, which became an almost top-ten soul LP in the spring of
1972.
On Laura’s Chess album there were five non-single tracks. Another Man’s
Woman is a country song turned into an impressive soul delivery. The song
is miscredited to Gene Barge and Luther Jordan, as it was first recorded
by Margie Singleton and Faron Young in 1964 and written by Marlin
Greene and Dan Penn(ington). The songwriter/engineer/guitarist/singer
Marlin Greene was active in the early Muscle Shoals days, especially with Quin
Ivy. Spooner Oldham: “Marlin is still living and healthy. I saw him
last year in Alabama. He was just passing through. He lives in Seattle,
Washington now. He does a little bit of everything like computer stuff and he’s
a photographer, does nature shots.” On Candi Staton’s version of the
song – also cut at Fame – George Jackson is credited as the third
composer. Marjorie Ingram cut it at Fame as well.
In October 1968 at Fame, Laura recorded not only the above Another Man’s
Woman, but also her funky version of Jimmy Hughes’ It Ain’t What
You Do (But How You Do It), which Jimmy had recorded with Rick Hall
and released on Atlantic in 1967, and it gave him another charted single (# 43
– Rhythm & Blues).
In the late-January 1968 session Laura recorded another beautiful Marlin
Greene’s country-soul ballad called It’s All Wrong, But It’s Alright.
This time Marlin’s co-writer is Eddie Hinton, and the song first
appeared as the B-side to Percy Sledge’s early 1968 single, Take Time
to Know Her.
The two remaining tracks were recorded in Chicago in February 1969. The
mid-tempo, pop-meets-soul song called But You Know I Love You – written
by Mike Settle – was first put out by the First Edition in
December 1968, and finally Maurice Dollison produced on Laura his big gospely ballad
called That’s How It Is, which had been a # 34 R&B hit for Otis
Clay on One-Derful! Records in 1967.
Love More than Pride truly is a magnificent soul album and had it been
released already in 1969, I’m sure it would have been a big seller and one of
the most praised deep soul albums of the late 60s. Luckily, those soulful
tracks are still available today on some of the compilations listed above.
Among unissued tracks there are at least I’ve Been Born Again. Burning
Bridges and Please It Woman.
Charlie Chalmers. Photo courtesy of Charlie Chalmers.
Charlie Chalmers: “At Fame we did her live. We would start off working
together out in the studio. Rick would give us a good sound, and we would work
up the parts just on the spot, all of us together. I would bring the horns in.
We had horns and rhythm all together, and we all were so tight. We horn players
were so used to working together that we just had a natural communication.” Mr.
Chalmers was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame on September 27 this
year as a member of the vocal trio of Rhodes – Chalmers – Rhodes.
Rhodes, Chalmers and Rhodes. Photo courtesy of Charlie Chalmers.
Spooner Oldham: “I haven’t seen Laura Lee since. I didn’t have a lot of
interaction with her. She was pretty quiet. But she was a great soul singer.
Like most soul singers, she would stand up with the microphone and sing her
heart out. She’s one of the good ones.” Also Mr. Oldham was inducted into the
Memphis Music Hall of Fame on September 27. At the end of October, he was in
Los Angeles recording new songs.
Rodney Hall, President of Fame Publishing/Fame Studios: “We are
still very busy recording daily. We have recently worked on records by
the new up and coming duo that is on fire over here, The War and Treaty.
We have also recently done albums on Dylan LeBlanc, the Secret Sisters, the
Turnpike Troubadours, Maggie Rose, the Revivalists, Ann Wilson, the Dead
Daisies and Jennifer Hudson.”
Rodney Hall. Photo courtesy of Rodney Hall.
“We just produced an All-Star 65th anniversary kick-off show in Huntsville, AL,
with plans to possibly take that on the road next year. The kick-off show
included the War and Treaty, Bettye LaVette, Robert Randolph, Maggie Rose,
Steve Jordan (currently drumming with the Stones), Mike Farris, Gary Nichols
and a host of legendary Muscle Shoals guys including Spooner Oldham, Clayton
Ivey, Bob Wray, Randy McCormick the Horns and the Shoals Sisters on BGVs.”
“Another exciting development is we are opening a FAME Dolby Atmos room
across the river in Florence, close to where the City Drug store location where
Muscle Shoals music was conceived.”
SEPARATION LINE
In 1958 Criteria Studios was founded in North Miami, so in age it almost equals
with Fame. Some of the artists that have recorded there include James Brown,
Brook Benton, Betty Wright, Donny Hathaway, Aretha Franklin, Duke Ellington,
Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Rick James, Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston and
a big number of pop/rock stars.
Criteria Studios. Photos courtesy of Trevor Fletcher.
In 1969 Laura signed with the Cotillion label, a subsidiary of Atlantic, and
Laura herself thinks that Jerry Wexler had something to do with it,
although in his and David Ritz’s book “Rhythm and the Blues” Jerry
doesn’t mention Laura at all. Jerry sent Laura and Dave Crawford down to
the Criteria Studios for one week.
David Bernard Crawford was a producer/musician/songwriter, who is best
known for his work with Wilson Pickett (the immortal Cole, Cooke
& Redding, Don’t Knock My Love, Mr. Magic Man…), Dee Dee Warwick (She
Didn’t Know, She Kept on Talking), Jackie Moore (Precious,
Precious), Candi Staton (Young Hearts Run Free), the
Mighty Clouds of Joy (Time,Mighty High), Sam Moore (Plenty
Good Lovin’), Judy Clay (Stayin’ Alive), Phyllis Hyman
and many, many more. Tragically he was murdered in New York in June 1988 at the
age of 44.
Laura’s and Dave’s one session at Criteria produced two singles. On the first
one, released in late 1969, Laura covers two familiar songs. Separation Line
appeared first on The Johnnie Taylor Philosophy Continues on Stax
Records just three months prior to the release of Laura’s single. This touching
and melancholy ballad was written by We Three, comprising of Bettye
Crutcher, Homer Banks and Raymond Jackson. A few years ago, Bettye
told me how this Memphis trio came about: “There were two young writers, Homer
Banks and Raymond Jackson, who were kind of writing together. Homer is like a think-tank
and he's the idea man. He would always come to me to finish the song, because
he always wanted a female point of view, which I really liked about him.
Finally, we just kind of started writing together, the three of us. Then
Raymond Jackson got burned up in a fire, so that was the end of We Three, but
we did a lot of writing.”
Laura’s reading of Separation Line is really affective and moreover
we can enjoy Dave’s rich orchestration. On the flip there was Dave’s hypnotic,
mid-tempo chant titled What a Man. The song had been a small hit (# 50 –
r&b) for Linda Lyndell a year earlier and in 1994 it turned into a
platinum record for Salt-N-Pepper with En Vogue.
The First Edition’s pop song, But, You Know I Love You, that was first
released on Laura’s Chess album, appears on the plug side of her second
Cotillion single, this time produced by Dave Crawford and released in February
1970. Still no new songs, as on the flip there’s Laura’s smooth mid-tempo
version of the Kenny Gamble – Leon Huff song called Together,
which had been a # 9 r&b hit song on the Gamble label for the Intruders in
1967. Again, Dave’s arrangement grows in richness towards the end.
Unfortunately, this was the end of Laura’s Atlantic career, without any
commercial success. There should be at least two unissued tracks in the vaults:
Fan the Flame and Into My Own Thing. Between 1967 and ’69 Laura recorded
a lot of glorious soul music, but commercially the best part of Laura’s career
was still ahead. Please read about it in the next part of the story.
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DISCOGRAPHY
SINGLES
(Label / titles / (year) / # Billboard placings: Hot Rhythm and Blues/Pop)
Ric-Tic Records 111) To Win Your Heart / So Will I (1966)
Chess 1989) Stop Giving Your Man Away / You Need Me (As Much As I Need You) (1967)
Chess 2013) Dirty Man (# 13 / # 68) / It’s Mighty Hard
Chess 2030) Up Tight, Good Man (# 16 / # 93) / Wanted: Lover, No Experience
Necessary (- / # 84)
Chess 2041) As Long As I Got You (# 31 / # 123) / A Man With Some Backbone (1968)
Chess 2052) Need To Belong (# 44 / # -) / He Will Break Your Heart
Chess 2062) Hang It Up (# 48 / # -) / It’s How You Make It Good
Chess 2068) Mama’s Got A Good Thing / Love More Than Pride (1969)
Cotillion 44054) Separation Line / What A Man
Cotillion 44073) But, You Know I Love You / Together (1970)
ALBUMS
LOVE MORE THAN PRIDE (Chess, CH 50031) 1972
Mama’s Got A Good Thing / Another Man’s Woman / It Ain’t What You Do (But How You Do
It) / She Don’t Love You / It’s All Wrong, But It’s Alright / I Need To Belong
To Someone // Dirty Old Man / But You Know I Love You / That’s How It Is / It’s
How You Make It Good / Love More Than Pride
................
Additional acknowledgements: Rodney Hall, Spooner Oldham, Charlie Chalmers; Peter Nickols
and Rob Bowman; Justin Seidler (Rock & Roll Hall of Fame), Jeremy Allen (The
Michigan Chronicle), Trevor Fletcher (Vice-President at Criteria Recording Studios)
and Ducky Lucas.