Peggy Scott-Adams RIP

Sad to hear of the death at the age 74 of Peggy Scott-Adams, a singer who had two careers under two different names and who possessed one of the most soulful voices of any female singer. As Peggy Scott she toured with Ben E King as a teenager and in the sixties recorded a series of highly successful duets with Jo Jo Benson, including 'Lover's Holiday', 'Pickin' Wild Mountain Berries', 'Soulshake' and 'I Want To Love You Baby'. As a solo singer under her original name her version of 'Every Little Bit Hurts' is utterly brilliant. Despite that she stopped recording and worked as a lounge singer in Pensacola, before moving to California and marrying Robert L Adams. As Peggy Scott-Adams her career took off in the mid nineties when she teamed up with writer/producer Jimmy Lewis and recorded her first solo album 'Help Yourself'. This contained the song 'Bill' about her husband having sexual feelings for another man, which created controversy and became a considerable hit. Further albums followed with explcit themes including 'Contagious', which included the song 'Spousal Abuse'. Other albums included 'Undisputed Queen' and 'Hot and Sassy' and she became a leading figure in the Southern Soul scene, later changing direction to record a couple of successful gospel albums. Sadly I never got to see her perform live - another one who got away - but loved her voice, in both of her careers. RIP Peggy.

Recent music deaths - David Dee and others

It's time to catch up on some recent music deaths. The latest is that of David Dee, an East St Louis soul and blues singer who has died aged 84. Born in Greenwood, Mississippi, he moved to St Louis as a child. After army service he led a group called David and the Temptations and played bass in the bands of Howlin'Wolf and Albert King. He enjoyed solo success in 1982 with 'Going Fishing' for the Vanessa label and was renowned as a showman in clubs around St Louis. I saw him at the Blues Estafette in Utrecht in 1993 and was very impressed, and his smooth vocals and guitar work are a joy. He also played a one off gig for Gerard Homan in Peterborough.

Another recent death is that of Fuzzy Haskins, (81) who was a singer with doowop group the Parliaments and moved on to funk groups Parliament and Funkadelic. Born in West Virginia he was a founder member of the Parliaments, led by George Clinton. The group recorded for Revilot in Detroit, although in that case it was George Clinton with local group the Holidays (see recent article). When Revilot folded Clinton formed Parliament and Funkadelic and signed for Invictus. The two bands were inter-changeable and known as P-Funk with Parliament aimed at the soul audience and Funkadelic at the rock audience. Fuzzy and other former Parliament members left the band in 1977 and he recorded a solo album 'A Whole Nother Thang' with Bootsy Collins and others and this was followed by a further album 'Radio Active'. Fuzzy formed a new version of Funkadelic in 1981 and recorded an album 'Connections and Disconnections'.

Napoleon XIV, real name Jerry Samuels, who has died aged 84, was a one hit wonder with the novelty song 'They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa' in 1966. The follow up 'I'm In Love With My Little Red Tricycle' was less successul as was an album also based around the theme of mental illness which included 'Bats In My Belfry' and 'Split Level Head'.

A new name to me when I visited Detroit in 2019 was Ms Cubie, who did a few numbers at the St Regis Hotel, about which I wrote 'a raunchy R and B singer in a tight fitting animal print dress who tweaked and belted out a couple of low down and dirty songs that earned her a standing ovation.' Her real name was Betsy Barron and she is reported to have passed on.

Finally, sorry to hear of the death of Robin Gosden, one of the original founders of Flyright Records and Swift Distribution. RIP to them all.

The Womack Sisters at the Jazz Cafe

The Womack Sisters are undoubtedly soul royalty. Their maternal grandfather was Sam Cooke, their parents Womack and Womack (Linda and Cecil) and their uncle Bobby Womack. The question in my mind though when I went to see them at the Jazz Cafe last night was: would they be a bit too modern R and B and pop for my taste. I needn't have worried, because although some of their songs are in that vein, they did a varied set, which included a brilliant version of Sam's 'A Change Is Gonna Come' and also included Womack and Womack's 'Teardrops'. The girls look great and their voices harmonise well. It's clear that all three have inherited the Womack singing gene. The sisters - BG, Zeimani and Kachu - now live in LA but spent much of their childhood on the road with their parents and four siblings. They performed with many big acts including the Rolling Stones, not to mention their uncle Bobby on his final tours. They recently brought out an EP called 'Legacy' and many of their songs last night came from that. These included 'Blocked', 'Lost For Words', 'Daily', 'Livin' In' and 'Wave'. Other songs in an entertaining set, with accompaniment from a backing track, included the Four Seasons' 'Beggin'', 'Summertime' (another song recorded by their grandad), 'Valerie', 'Japanese Denim' and Rhianna's 'Love On The Brain'. Apparently the girls went viral last year with an acoustic version of 'Daily' on TikTok so they are clearly making their mark, although the Jazz Cafe was only half full. It would be good to see them with a backing group, but I can well see them making it big based on their vocal ability, looks and, of course, their lineage.

https://www.facebook.com/nick.cobban/videos/772721447358168

Two deaths of artists who missed out

Back in the sixties I had the job of reviewing new singles releases for my paper, the Croydon Advertiser. I still have quite a few of those 45s and as it happens two musicians have died who have associations with a couple of those records, but who were either overlooked or missed out on the records in question. The first is James Holland, aged 81, who was a member of the Holidays, a Detroit soul group who recorded for various labels including Golden World and whose members changed regularly. The Holidays began as a doowop group and were also known as the Royal Holidays, the New Holidays and the Four Hollidays. As well as recording with the group James recorded in Chicago (backing Sir Mack Rice on 'Mustang Sally') and was central to the majority of records by the various versions of the Holidays. But their only UK release, 'I'll Love You Forever', released on Polydor in 1966, was actually recorded by four guys from Jackson, Mississippi, with Edwin Starr over dubbing the lead, which had originally been taken by Tony Hester. It became a Northern Soul favourite and is now very collectable. The full, complicated story of the Holidays can be found on the excellent SoulfulDetroit.com website.

The second death is that of Manchester born blues singer and instrumentalist Victor Brox, also 81, who has been considered by many to be among the UK's best blues singers. He played with many greats, including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Deep Purple, Alexis Korner, Dr John and Muddy Waters and also had his own band, the Victor Brox Blues Train, and appeared on the original recording of 'Jesus Christ Superstar'. But the 45 in question, a copy of which I received at the time, is 'Warning' by the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation, released on the fledgeling Blue Horizon label in 1967. Aynsley was of course the band's drummer and the label credits him as the writer of a song which is considered highly influential in the development of heavy metal. But although Victor is not credited, either as the writer or for his central role on vocals and organ, he was credited with having written the song when Black Sabbath recorded it on their debut album in 1970. Victor was the father of blues musician Kyla Brox, who performs regularly in the UK.