Farewell to Inez Foxx

Yes, another sixties soul icon has reportedly died, this time Inez Foxx (79) whose exciting records alongside her brother Charlie (who died in 1998) really put the UK Sue label on the map and helped make it one of the most sought after soul record labels. Inez and Charlie Foxx were born in North Carolina but came to fame when they met Juggy Murray, owner of the New York based Sue label, and recorded their first big hit 'Mockingbird' for the Symbol subsidiary. When London DJ Guy Stevens was asked by Chris Blackwell to set up a UK Sue label he chose that record as its first release. All the early Sue releases were originally recorded by US Sue although other releases soon joined the UK Sue fold. Foxx 45s followed 'Mockingbird in quick succession on Sue including 'Hurt By Love', 'Jaybirds', 'Le-De-Da I Love You', 'Ask Me' and 'Competition'. Often these were attributed to Inez alone, although Charlie also participated. A further Sue single, 'My Momma Told me'. appeared on London. I loved the Inez and Charlie Foxx sound and no fewer than four of their Sue 45s entered by personal top ten between May and July 1964. In many ways their sound was similar to what Ike and Tina Turner were doing at the time and I occasionally went to Guy Stevens' The Scene club to pick up on the latest Sue releases. Inez and Charlie signed to the Musicor subsidiary Dynamo in 1966 and continued their run of great R and B records with tracks such as 'Come By Here', 'Tightrope' (a big hit on the Northern soul scene), 'I Ain't Going For That' '(1,2,3,4,5,6,7) Count The Days' and 'Baby Give It To Me'. Inez married songwriter and producer Luther Dixon who produced their 1968 album 'Come By Here' and the couple wrote 'I Love You 1000 Times', a hit for the Platters. Inez continued as a solo act into the seventies and recorded several fine southern soul singles for Volt in Memphis, including 'I Had A Talk With My Man' and 'You Hurt Me For The Last Time' and an album, 'Inez Foxx at Memphis'. Apparently she was offered 'Woman To Woman', a huge hit for Shirley Brown, but turned it down, and that seems to have marked the end of her music career. During their sixties heyday Inez and Charlie toured the UK with the Rolling Stones and made a big impression, as did their fine records, but Inez left the music business after her spell in Memphis and did not record or tour again. RIP Inez.

Ural Thomas at Nell's Jazz and Blues

The story of Ural Thomas and his band the Pain is a remarkable one. Now in his early eighties, he made his second London appearance in three years last night at Nell's Jazz and Blues promoting the band's new album 'Dancing Dimensions'. Ural's career started in the 1960s with records such as 'Can You Dig It' and 'Pain Is The Name Of The Game' and appeared at the Apollo in New York and on stage with the likes of Otis Redding and Etta James. But it was only around ten years ago that it really began to take off when Scott Magee, a DJ in his home town of Portland, Oregon, put together the Pain to back Ural's vocals. This seven piece band, wearing matching paisley pattern jackets, have a big sound which occasionally overpowered Ural's singing but are clearly well rehearsed and a really solid unit. His songs - all of them originals - ranged from sixties style Sam and Dave type numbers to pure rock and roll with one or two slower songs and some excellent raucous numbers with the Pain adding backing vocals. Some of his songs came from his 2018 'Right Time' album, (a copy of which I bought at his 2019 show), including 'Gotta Say (I Love You)' and 'Vibrations', while others were taken from his new LP, including the title track, 'Hung Up On My Dream' and 'Gimmie Some Ice Cream'. It was a fairly short set, lasting little over an hour, but went down well with the rather thin crowd. The band was due to have appeared at the Porretta Soul Festival this year but cancelled because of Covid, but it was good to see that they are still around and producing some exciting music. Long may Ural thrive.

Mable John RIP

Yet another soul great has passed on. Mable John, who was 91, was the sister of Little Willie John and had the distinction of recording for both Tamla Motown and Stax. I was lucky enough to see her several times - including at the Porretta Soul festival on two occasions (1997 and 2008) and at the Ponderosa Stomp in 2015. The photo above shows her at the 2008 festival. Mable was born in Louisiana but moved to Detroit at a young age and was signed by Berry Gordy to his Tamla label in 1960 as its first female artist. She recorded some excellent records for the label, two of which ('Who Wouldn't Love A Man Like That' and 'I Guess There's No Love') were released in the UK on two of the Motown Memories LPs. It seems that Mable's sophisticated style didn't fit with the emerging Motown sound and she was dropped by Gordy, but her career blossomed as a member of the Raelettes for several years. Her peak solo years were with Stax where she recorded such classics as 'Your Good Thing Is About To End', 'Same Time Same Place' and 'Able Mable'. After leaving Stax in 1968 she rejoined the Raelettes but gave up secular music to focus on gospel, eventually founding a charity for the homeless and becoming a Doctor of Divinity in Los Angeles. She appeared at Porretta in 1997 - my first time at the festival (pictured with me below).

She returned in 2008 when I wrote: 'The highlight of day one was without doubt Mable John, whose clean soulful voice is as strong as ever. Her versions of 'Bad Water', 'Your Good Thing', brother Little Willie John’s 'Need Your Love So Bad' and others were powerful and beautiful at the same time.'The following year she appeared on the 'Divas of Motown' show at the Hammersmith Apollo where she was presented as The First Lady of Motown. Her act included 'Able Mable' which was first recorded, but not released while she was at Motown. The last time I saw Mable was at the 2015 Ponderosa Stomp where several other soul greats were, in my words 'overshadowed a little by a sparkling set by 85 year old Mable John. Wearing a white lacy 'Miss Haversham' style dress, she wowed the crowd with 'Able Mable', 'Bad Water', from her time with the Raelettes, a delicious 'Same Time Same Place', 'You're Taking Up Another Man's Place' and 'Your Good Thing Is About To End'. RIP Mable. Truly one of the great female soul singers. Here are a couple of photos from the 2015 Ponderosa Stomp. The first one is from one of the interview sessions.

Jerry Allison RIP

Sorry to hear of the death, at the age of 82, of Jerry Allison, who was the drummer for the Crickets and co-writer with Buddy Holly of such hits as 'That'll Be The Day' and 'Peggy Sue', the latter being named after his then girlfriend (later wife) Peggy Sue Garron. Jerry was with Buddy from the beginning in Lubbock and continued to lead the Crickets to success after Buddy's death. He also had one solo hit, a cover, under the name of Ivan, of Australian Johnny O'Keefe's 'Real Wild Child'. Jerry's drumming style was a major factor in the success of Buddy Holly and the Crickets, with imaginative use of slaps, hand claps and tom toms on many recordings. Among his songwriting achievements were 'More Than I Can Say', a hit for Bobby Vee, 'When You Ask About Love', 'He's Old Enough To Know Better' (for the Crickets) and 'Tell Me How'. He also claimed to have written 'Not Fade Away', which was attributed to Buddy Holly and Norman Petty.

I neglected to mention the sudden death a few weeks ago of music expert and blogger Red Kelly whose blog The B Side is linked to The Vinyl Word. Red was an expert on New Orleans R and B and blues and his 'soul detective' work investigated the background of many of the great records of the fifties and sixties. He championed the work of guitarist Reggie Young and interviewed him at one of the Ponderosa Stomp panel sessions in 2017 (pictured). He also interviewed Willie Hightower at the 2015 Stomp and promoted the career of blues man Sir Lattimore Brown. His detective work brought to light 'the Cosimo Code' - a numbering system devised by record producer Cosimo Matassa and went on music road trips with my friend John Broven in recent years. In fact, he was due to go on another such trip when he passed away. He will be missed.

Lamont Dozier RIP

Yet another death, this time of Lamont Dozier (81) who did as much to write the soundtrack of my youth as anyone. A Detroit native he recorded with local groups early on including the Romeos (for the Fox label) and the Voice Masters (for Berry Gordy's Anna label) before getting a solo record released under the name of Lamont Anthony in 1961, again for Anna. He then teamed up with Eddie and Brian Holland to form one of the most successful songwriting teams of all time. Their run of hit songs included 'Come And Get these Memories', 'Heatwave' and Quicksand' for Martha and the Vandellas, 'Where Did Our Love Go' and 'Baby Love' for the Supremes, 'You're A Wonderful One' and 'How Sweet It Is' for Marvin Gaye, 'I Can't Help Myself' and 'The Same old Song' for the Four Tops and countless others for Motown artists. When Holland Dozier and Holland left Motown in 1968 to form the Invictus and Hot Wax labels he and Brian Holland had some recording success themselves, including 'Why Can't We Be Lovers'. He left the partnership in 1973 and recorded a series of excellent albums over the following ten years, including 'Black Bach', 'Out Here On My Own, 'Bittersweet' and 'Right There' (pictured above). Single releases included 'Trying To Hold On To My Woman;', Fish Ain't Bitin'', 'All Cried Out' and 'Shout About It'. Songwriting collaborations followed in the eighties with Phil Collins and Mick Hucknall and he also wrote several movie soundtrack scores. Sadly, I never got to see Lamont perform live, but he was a giant of soul music. RIP.

Judith and Olivia - 2 Aussies RIP

Two Australian female singers have passed away in the last couple of days. What is happening? Both of these deaths will leave many people shocked, as they both enjoyed enormous success in their day. Judith Durham, who has died aged 79, was the lead singer of the Seekers and enjoyed huge success in the sixties before leaving to go solo. The group arrived in the UK in late 1964 and had a number one hit early the next year with 'I'll Never Find Another You'. Other big hits followed in the form of 'A World Of Our Own', 'Morningtown Ride', 'Someday, One Day' and ' Georgie Girl'. 'The Carnival Is Over' remains one of the top 50 selling singles ever in the UK. I was never a great fan of the Seekers (as can be seen in my Croydon Advertiser review from 1966 - which shows what a poor judge I was of hit potential) but there is no disputing her success as a singer.

The same can be said for Olivia Newton John, who has died at the age of 73. There was a time in the seventies when Olivia seemed to be everywhere. She was born in England but moved to Australia when she was six. Her first recording, in 1966, was for Decca in the UK ('Till You Say You're Mine') and she was signed by producer Don Kirshner for a group called Toomorrow which had singles released on RCA and Decca. Her first solo album in 1971 featured the Bob Dylan song 'If Not For You' which gave her her first hit and the follow up 'Banks Of The Ohio' made the top ten in the UK. She had an entry in the Eurovision Song Contest with 'Long Live Love' in 1974 which finished fourth and afterwards her songs moved towards the country field, creating controversy among American country purists. She moved to the US where she enjoyed continued success but her greatest fame came from her appearance with John Travolta in 'Grease' in 1978 with major hits 'Hopelessly Devoted To You', 'Summer Nights' and, with Travolta, 'You're The One That I Want'. RIP to both these Australian artists. A sad day.

Sam Gooden RIP

Very sad to hear of the death of Sam Gooden, a member of the Impressions for over 60 years, at the age of 87. The Impressions were by far my favourite soul group and Sam's smooth vocals, combining with Curtis Mayfield and fellow Chattanoogan Fred Cash, were a pivotal part of their sound. Sam was there from the beginning when the group was known as the Roosters, moving to Chicago with Fred where they formed the Impressions with Jerry Butler and Curtis on 'For Your Precious Love' in 1958. The group went on to record some magical tracks for ABC Paramount in the 1960s, including 'Gypsy Woman' (1961), 'I'm The One Who Loves You', 'It's Alright', 'Talkin' About My Baby', 'I'm So Proud', 'Keep On Pushing', 'You Must Believe Me', 'People Get Ready', 'Amen' and many more. When Curtis left the group in 1970 and Leroy Hutson took over as lead the group stayed with Mayfield's Curtom label and continued to record some excellent records although with less success. Reggie Torian took over as lead singer in 1973 and the Impressions had more success with 'I Finally Got Myself Together' and 'Sooner Or Later'. The line up changed a couple of times but Sam Gooden and Fred Cash remained and the group were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 1991. The group made its first ever UK appearance at the Barbican in London in 2011, at the Jazz Cafe in 2012 and the Islington Assembly Hall in 2014. I was lucky enough to be at all three and at Islington they ended their excellent set with a new Daptone record, a cover of Major Lance's 'Rhythm', 'Mighty Mighty (Spade and Whitey)' and their great civil rights anethm 'Move On Up'. The final UK show by the Impressions was at the Blackpool Soul Festival in 2017 with new lead singer Jermain Purifory. I wrote at the time: 'Backed by the excellent Snake Davis Band, they ran through many of their back catalogue from the Curtis Mayfield era, including 'I Can't Satisfy','Woman's Got Soul' and 'Nothing Can Stop Me'. Fred took the lead on 'You've Been Cheating', but mostly it was the new boy who took that role with strong support from Fred and Sam, and fulfilled it to perfection. The inspirational 'Choice of Colors' was included, along with'This Is My Country', 'I Need You', 'I've Been Trying', 'Stay Close To Me' and 'You Ought To Be In Heaven' There was no 'It's Alright', 'Amen' or 'People Get Ready', but the encore, inevitably, was 'Move On Up', which brought a tremendous response from the large soul loving audience in the Empress Ballroom. The group members seemed to be enjoying themselves throughout, which makes it all the sadder that this final show should also be Jermaine's first in the UK. With his looks and voice he will surely go on to big things as a solo artist. All three of them spent several minutes after their set shaking hand with anyone they could, their faces beaming with huge smiles. The end of an era, but a great way to go out.'