Buddy Ace: Born Jimmy Lee Land in Jasper, TX, on November 11, 1936, bluesman "Buddy Ace" was known as "The Silver Fox of the Blues". His name was changed to "Buddy Ace" by Duke's Don Robey after Frankie Ace's younger brother (St. Clair Alexander) had no success with it! Lee Land was in gospel groups at first (one contained Joe Tex) before going R & B in the early 50s. He played in Bobby Bland and Junior Parker's bands before he finally got a record contract with Duke/Peacock in 1955. In the mid-'60s, Ace scored several R&B hits but never scored a major breakthrough. Relocating to Los Angeles in 1970 and later to Oakland, he spent much of this period touring in and around the Bay Area. Ace continued to perform and record into the '90s with 3 albums released on Leon Haywood's Evejim imprint. On December 26, 1994, Ace passed away in Waco, TX.
Tyrone Davis: Born May 4, 1938 in Greenville, Mississippi, Tyrone Davis is considered the "king of romantic Chicago soul". The moved to Chicago in 1959, where he found work as a valet for bluesman Freddie King. Eventually, Davis began singing in clubs on the city's West and South Sides, and by 1965 he had signed to the Four Brothers label.. Three years later, Davis moved to producer Carl Davis' Dakar Records and earned his first hit, "Can I Change My Mind," when a local DJ played the B-side of his Dakar debut. The song went to Number One on the R&B charts, and hit the pop Top Five. In the Seventies, he scored other R&B chart-toppers with "Turn Back the Hands of Time" and "Turning Point" before switching to Columbia Records and discofying his soul. It was his smooth bedroom ballads like "In The Mood", however, that burned up the charts. Davis went onto record successfully on various labels like Ichiban and Malaco up to his death. He is one of the most imitated soul singers of the modern era.
Quinn Golden: With a voice as precious as his name Quinn Golden was born on October 25, 1954 and grew up in the right place for soul- Memphis, Tennessee. Blessed with a smoky, earthy and sexy (to the ladies) voice he began performing in his teens when he joined the vocal group Elements Of Soul, then Canteca, which had the privilege of opening up for various Stax Records acts like the Bar Kays and Rufus Thomas. Golden also played bass and sang backing for Al Green for seven years and recorded an LP with a group called White Heat (now Switch). It wasn't until 1990 he got the chance to go solo and record and album under his own name. The album, "I Am Serious About Your Love" was released on Jim Bennett's Traction Records. But his career really took off when he signed with Ecko Records in 1997 and released his first disc "Cover You With A Kiss", which included a new version of his signature song "If You Don't Love Me". He went on to record several more albums and was growing in popularity when he died suddenly and unexpectedly from a heart attack on July 28, 2003. He was only 48 years old.
Z.Z. Hill Arzell Hill was born Sept. 30, 1935 in Naples, Tx. He started out singing gospel with a quintet called the Spiritual Five, but was lured to blues and soul music. Inevitably he began performing around Dallas but moved to California to release his debut single on M.H.Records, started by his brother Matt Hill. "You Were Wrong" briefly dented the pop chart in 1964 (reached #100). Followup singles on Kent, including the now classic "I Need Someone", didn't chart. He then released singles for Atlantic, Mankind, and brother Matt's Hill Records. In 1971 he finally scored his first big hit for United Artists. "Don't Make Me Pay For His Mistakes" hit #17 on R & B and #62 Pop. Several more hits followed (including a new version of "I Need Someone" #30 R & B) before his 1977 Columbia single "Love Is So Good When You're Stealing It" became a smash at #15 R & B. When he switched to Malaco Records he started a blues revival. 1982's "Down Home Blues" was a smash, hitting #17 on R & B album charts and he followed that up with a string of similar soul/blues albums prior to his 1984 heart attack. Truly one of the legends of the genre. Albert King: "If you don't dig the blues you got a hole in your soul" sayeth King. Born in Indianola, MS, on April 25 1923. as Albert Nelson. He taught mself how to play guitar when he was a child, building his own instrument out of a cigar box. King moved to Gary, IN, in 1953, where he joined a band that also featured Jimmy Reed but King actually played drums in the group. At this time, he adopted the name Albert King and claimed to be releated to B.B. King. Eventually King met Willie Dixon who helped him record for Parrot Records. Five songs were recorded during the session and only one single, "Be On Your Merry Way" / "Bad Luck Blues," was released. In 1956, Albert moved to St. Louis, where he initially sat in with local bands. By 1958, Albert was quite popular in St. Louis, which led to a contract with the fledgling Bobbin Records in the summer of 1959. King's records for Bobbin sold well in the St. Louis area, enough so that King Records leased the "Don't Throw Your Love On Me So Strong" single from the smaller label. When the single was released nationally late in 1961, it became a hit, reaching number 14 on the R&B charts. King Records continued to lease more material from Bobbin -- including a full album, "Big Blues", which was released in 1963 -- but nothing else approached the initial success of "Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong." Bobbin also leased material to Chess, which appeared in the late '60s. Albert King left Bobbin in late 1962 and recorded one session for King Records in the spring of 1963 without a hit. Within a year, he cut four songs for the local St. Louis independent label Coun-Tree. But by 1966 King signed with Stax Records where he finally broke out. With Booker T & The MGs on sessions the soul underpinning gave King crossover appeal, as evidenced by his R&B chart hits -- "Laundromat Blues" (1966) and "Cross Cut Saw" (1967) both went Top 40, while "Born Under a Bad Sign" (1967) charted in the Top 50. Furthermore, King's style was "borrowed" by several rock & roll players, most notably Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, who copied Albert's "Personal Manager" guitar solo on the Cream song, "Strange Brew." Albert King's first album for Stax, 1967's "Born Under A Bad Sign", was a collection of his singles for the label and became one of the most popular and influential blues albums of the late '60s. King went on to be one of the most heraled electric blues guitarists of the genre.
Ronnie Lovejoy: Truly a legend of soul/blues in the modern era, Lovejoy wrote some of the best soul blues cuts of the last quarter century. Classics and great artists who covered them include "Sho' Wasn't Me" (Tyrone Davis, Otis Clay & Chuck Roberson), "Given' My Love To The Other Man" ( Little Milton, Vernon Garrett, Kip Anderson), "In Need Of A Good Woman" (Willie Clayton), "Live In Woman" (Pat Brown) & many many more. People began calling him "the new Z.Z. Hill" because he was more than just a songwriter/producer but also a gifted singer/recording artist- blessed with a deep, rich baritone that packed an emotional wallop! His first record came out on Evejim in 1992, followed by two for Ace, 2 for Avanti and one final outing for Goodtime Records before his premature death at age 51. He is a deeply revered and missed legend of the music world.
Johnnie Taylor: The Godfather of Southern Soul/Blues. Period. Also nicknamed the "Philosopher of Soul" during his Stax days, Johnnie Harrison Taylor was born in Crawfordsville, AK, on May 5, 1934 (or maybe1938 as he sometimes claimed); but grew up mostly in nearby West Memphis. He began singing in church as a young child, and later moved to Kansas City, where he performed with a gospel group called the Melody Kings; it was through this outfit that he initially met and befriended Sam Cooke, singer for the popular Soul Stirrers. In 1953, Taylor left home and moved to Chicago, where he joined the doo wop group the Five Echoes; shortly thereafter, he began performing concurrently with the gospel group the Highway QCs. In 1957, Taylor would replace Cooke in the hugely influential Soul Stirrers, after Cooke departed for a career in secular music. in 1961 Taylor joined Cooke's Sar label for a few singles. Cooke was killed in 1964 so Taylor switched to Stax the following year. His first significant hit came in 1966 as "I've Got To Love Somebody's Baby" reached #15 R & B. This was swiftly followed by the #19 "I Had A Dream". But in 1968 he shot through the roof with the #1 R & B smash "Who's Making Love", which also hit #5 on Pop charts. Over the next five years Taylor racked up hit after hit for Stax until the label went bankrupt. From there JT joined Columbia Records and jumped on the disco bandwagon. And it worked at first. His first single with the label, "Disco Lady" became a #1 Pop record. Some lesser hits followed via "Somebody's Gettin' It" (#5 R & B #33 Pop), "Disco 9000" (#24 R & B) & "Your Love Is Rated X" (#17 R & B) but the general quality of the albums was uneven and the commercial appeal declined. JT next cut one record for Beverly Glen that spawned two charting singles before he found a new permanent home with Malaco Recirds in 1984, a Southern label dedicated to preserving the region's classic soul and blues sounds debuting with 1984's "This Is Your Night", Taylor and Malaco began a twelve album run of terrific Southern Soul/Blues for the label. Although Taylor's albums charted on R & B Charts he hadn't had a Top 40 single until "Good Love" sneaked in at #39 R & B in 1996. Of course his songs were always hits in the South but "Good Love" and album of the same name became the biggest record in the label's history. It reached #15 on R & B Charts and even crossed over to the Billboard Top 200 albums at #108. , After two successful followups Johnnie Taylor died of a heart attack on May 31, 2000.
Little Milton: Blues Hall Of Famer Little Milton is simply one of the greatest bluesmen of the modern era- every bit as deserving of the acclaim a B.B. King enjoys. Blessed with a thick, hearty soul/blues voice Milton also proved to be a top guitarist and songwriter. James Milton Campbell was born September 7, 1934, in Inverness, MS, and grew up in Greenville. (He would later legally drop the "James" after learning of a half-brother with the same name.) His father Big Milton, a farmer, was a local blues musician. At age 12 he began playing guitar and by 15 he was performing for pay in local clubs and bars. He got a chance to briefly back Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller). Ike Turner, who was also a talent scout for Sun Records introduce Little Milton to Sam Phillips, who signed him to a contract in 1953. With Ike Turner and band band backing him, Milton cut various Sun sides. Unfortunately, none of them were hits, and Milton's association with Sun was over by the end of 1954. He set about forming his own band, which waxed one single for the small Meteor label in 1957, before picking up and moving to St. Louis in 1958. In St. Louis, Milton and DJ Bob Lyons set up their own label, Bobbin, which, by Milton's doing, signed Albert King. Little Milton's first Bobbin single, "I'm a Lonely Man," sold 60,000 copies. Although none of his, Albert King's or Fontella Bass' Bobbin singles charted they sold well enough to strike a distribution deal with Chess Records. Milton himself switched over to the Chess subsidiary Checker in 1961 and scored his first hit, "So Mean To Me" (#14 R & B) in 1962. After subsequent singles failed to chart he hit the big time in 1965 when "We're Gonna Make It" hit number one on the R&B charts and even managed #25 on the pop charts. Some say it was aided by the civil rights movement. Milton hit the R & B charts 13 more times for Checker, most notably with "Grits Ain't Groceries" (13 R & B), "Who's Cheating Who" (#4 R & B), "Feel So Bad" (#7 R & B), "Baby I Love You" (#6 R & B) and "If Walls Could Talk" (#10 R & B). In 1972 Milton Memphis-based soul label Stax ."That's What Love Will Make You Do" returned Milton to the R & B Top 10 (#9) and Milton had several more soul blues hits with the label. Nevertheless, Stax went bankrupt in 1975, upon which point Little Milton moved to the TK/Glades label, which was better known for its funk and disco. His music was funked up like most artists of the time, but managed a #15 R & B placing for the classic"Friend of Mine" and scored a few other minor charters. TK/Glades folded soon after as well and Milton recorded one album for Evidence, which contained a rough version of his great "The Blues Is Alright" and then cut one LP for MCA. In 1984 Milton signed with Malaco, perfectly filling the void created at Malaco with the death Z.Z. HIll. Milton's recordings continued the soul blues revival Hill had started in 1980. Over the next two decades Milton cut 14 albums for Malaco- all of generally high quality full of crispy soul blues, down home soul & even standards.
Tyrone Davis: Born May 4, 1938 in Greenville, Mississippi, Tyrone Davis is considered the "king of romantic Chicago soul". The moved to Chicago in 1959, where he found work as a valet for bluesman Freddie King. Eventually, Davis began singing in clubs on the city's West and South Sides, and by 1965 he had signed to the Four Brothers label.. Three years later, Davis moved to producer Carl Davis' Dakar Records and earned his first hit, "Can I Change My Mind," when a local DJ played the B-side of his Dakar debut. The song went to Number One on the R&B charts, and hit the pop Top Five. In the Seventies, he scored other R&B chart-toppers with "Turn Back the Hands of Time" and "Turning Point" before switching to Columbia Records and discofying his soul. It was his smooth bedroom ballads like "In The Mood", however, that burned up the charts. Davis went onto record successfully on various labels like Ichiban and Malaco up to his death. He is one of the most imitated soul singers of the modern era.
Quinn Golden: With a voice as precious as his name Quinn Golden was born on October 25, 1954 and grew up in the right place for soul- Memphis, Tennessee. Blessed with a smoky, earthy and sexy (to the ladies) voice he began performing in his teens when he joined the vocal group Elements Of Soul, then Canteca, which had the privilege of opening up for various Stax Records acts like the Bar Kays and Rufus Thomas. Golden also played bass and sang backing for Al Green for seven years and recorded an LP with a group called White Heat (now Switch). It wasn't until 1990 he got the chance to go solo and record and album under his own name. The album, "I Am Serious About Your Love" was released on Jim Bennett's Traction Records. But his career really took off when he signed with Ecko Records in 1997 and released his first disc "Cover You With A Kiss", which included a new version of his signature song "If You Don't Love Me". He went on to record several more albums and was growing in popularity when he died suddenly and unexpectedly from a heart attack on July 28, 2003. He was only 48 years old.
Z.Z. Hill Arzell Hill was born Sept. 30, 1935 in Naples, Tx. He started out singing gospel with a quintet called the Spiritual Five, but was lured to blues and soul music. Inevitably he began performing around Dallas but moved to California to release his debut single on M.H.Records, started by his brother Matt Hill. "You Were Wrong" briefly dented the pop chart in 1964 (reached #100). Followup singles on Kent, including the now classic "I Need Someone", didn't chart. He then released singles for Atlantic, Mankind, and brother Matt's Hill Records. In 1971 he finally scored his first big hit for United Artists. "Don't Make Me Pay For His Mistakes" hit #17 on R & B and #62 Pop. Several more hits followed (including a new version of "I Need Someone" #30 R & B) before his 1977 Columbia single "Love Is So Good When You're Stealing It" became a smash at #15 R & B. When he switched to Malaco Records he started a blues revival. 1982's "Down Home Blues" was a smash, hitting #17 on R & B album charts and he followed that up with a string of similar soul/blues albums prior to his 1984 heart attack. Truly one of the legends of the genre. Albert King: "If you don't dig the blues you got a hole in your soul" sayeth King. Born in Indianola, MS, on April 25 1923. as Albert Nelson. He taught mself how to play guitar when he was a child, building his own instrument out of a cigar box. King moved to Gary, IN, in 1953, where he joined a band that also featured Jimmy Reed but King actually played drums in the group. At this time, he adopted the name Albert King and claimed to be releated to B.B. King. Eventually King met Willie Dixon who helped him record for Parrot Records. Five songs were recorded during the session and only one single, "Be On Your Merry Way" / "Bad Luck Blues," was released. In 1956, Albert moved to St. Louis, where he initially sat in with local bands. By 1958, Albert was quite popular in St. Louis, which led to a contract with the fledgling Bobbin Records in the summer of 1959. King's records for Bobbin sold well in the St. Louis area, enough so that King Records leased the "Don't Throw Your Love On Me So Strong" single from the smaller label. When the single was released nationally late in 1961, it became a hit, reaching number 14 on the R&B charts. King Records continued to lease more material from Bobbin -- including a full album, "Big Blues", which was released in 1963 -- but nothing else approached the initial success of "Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong." Bobbin also leased material to Chess, which appeared in the late '60s. Albert King left Bobbin in late 1962 and recorded one session for King Records in the spring of 1963 without a hit. Within a year, he cut four songs for the local St. Louis independent label Coun-Tree. But by 1966 King signed with Stax Records where he finally broke out. With Booker T & The MGs on sessions the soul underpinning gave King crossover appeal, as evidenced by his R&B chart hits -- "Laundromat Blues" (1966) and "Cross Cut Saw" (1967) both went Top 40, while "Born Under a Bad Sign" (1967) charted in the Top 50. Furthermore, King's style was "borrowed" by several rock & roll players, most notably Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, who copied Albert's "Personal Manager" guitar solo on the Cream song, "Strange Brew." Albert King's first album for Stax, 1967's "Born Under A Bad Sign", was a collection of his singles for the label and became one of the most popular and influential blues albums of the late '60s. King went on to be one of the most heraled electric blues guitarists of the genre.
Ronnie Lovejoy: Truly a legend of soul/blues in the modern era, Lovejoy wrote some of the best soul blues cuts of the last quarter century. Classics and great artists who covered them include "Sho' Wasn't Me" (Tyrone Davis, Otis Clay & Chuck Roberson), "Given' My Love To The Other Man" ( Little Milton, Vernon Garrett, Kip Anderson), "In Need Of A Good Woman" (Willie Clayton), "Live In Woman" (Pat Brown) & many many more. People began calling him "the new Z.Z. Hill" because he was more than just a songwriter/producer but also a gifted singer/recording artist- blessed with a deep, rich baritone that packed an emotional wallop! His first record came out on Evejim in 1992, followed by two for Ace, 2 for Avanti and one final outing for Goodtime Records before his premature death at age 51. He is a deeply revered and missed legend of the music world.
Johnnie Taylor: The Godfather of Southern Soul/Blues. Period. Also nicknamed the "Philosopher of Soul" during his Stax days, Johnnie Harrison Taylor was born in Crawfordsville, AK, on May 5, 1934 (or maybe1938 as he sometimes claimed); but grew up mostly in nearby West Memphis. He began singing in church as a young child, and later moved to Kansas City, where he performed with a gospel group called the Melody Kings; it was through this outfit that he initially met and befriended Sam Cooke, singer for the popular Soul Stirrers. In 1953, Taylor left home and moved to Chicago, where he joined the doo wop group the Five Echoes; shortly thereafter, he began performing concurrently with the gospel group the Highway QCs. In 1957, Taylor would replace Cooke in the hugely influential Soul Stirrers, after Cooke departed for a career in secular music. in 1961 Taylor joined Cooke's Sar label for a few singles. Cooke was killed in 1964 so Taylor switched to Stax the following year. His first significant hit came in 1966 as "I've Got To Love Somebody's Baby" reached #15 R & B. This was swiftly followed by the #19 "I Had A Dream". But in 1968 he shot through the roof with the #1 R & B smash "Who's Making Love", which also hit #5 on Pop charts. Over the next five years Taylor racked up hit after hit for Stax until the label went bankrupt. From there JT joined Columbia Records and jumped on the disco bandwagon. And it worked at first. His first single with the label, "Disco Lady" became a #1 Pop record. Some lesser hits followed via "Somebody's Gettin' It" (#5 R & B #33 Pop), "Disco 9000" (#24 R & B) & "Your Love Is Rated X" (#17 R & B) but the general quality of the albums was uneven and the commercial appeal declined. JT next cut one record for Beverly Glen that spawned two charting singles before he found a new permanent home with Malaco Recirds in 1984, a Southern label dedicated to preserving the region's classic soul and blues sounds debuting with 1984's "This Is Your Night", Taylor and Malaco began a twelve album run of terrific Southern Soul/Blues for the label. Although Taylor's albums charted on R & B Charts he hadn't had a Top 40 single until "Good Love" sneaked in at #39 R & B in 1996. Of course his songs were always hits in the South but "Good Love" and album of the same name became the biggest record in the label's history. It reached #15 on R & B Charts and even crossed over to the Billboard Top 200 albums at #108. , After two successful followups Johnnie Taylor died of a heart attack on May 31, 2000.
Little Milton: Blues Hall Of Famer Little Milton is simply one of the greatest bluesmen of the modern era- every bit as deserving of the acclaim a B.B. King enjoys. Blessed with a thick, hearty soul/blues voice Milton also proved to be a top guitarist and songwriter. James Milton Campbell was born September 7, 1934, in Inverness, MS, and grew up in Greenville. (He would later legally drop the "James" after learning of a half-brother with the same name.) His father Big Milton, a farmer, was a local blues musician. At age 12 he began playing guitar and by 15 he was performing for pay in local clubs and bars. He got a chance to briefly back Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller). Ike Turner, who was also a talent scout for Sun Records introduce Little Milton to Sam Phillips, who signed him to a contract in 1953. With Ike Turner and band band backing him, Milton cut various Sun sides. Unfortunately, none of them were hits, and Milton's association with Sun was over by the end of 1954. He set about forming his own band, which waxed one single for the small Meteor label in 1957, before picking up and moving to St. Louis in 1958. In St. Louis, Milton and DJ Bob Lyons set up their own label, Bobbin, which, by Milton's doing, signed Albert King. Little Milton's first Bobbin single, "I'm a Lonely Man," sold 60,000 copies. Although none of his, Albert King's or Fontella Bass' Bobbin singles charted they sold well enough to strike a distribution deal with Chess Records. Milton himself switched over to the Chess subsidiary Checker in 1961 and scored his first hit, "So Mean To Me" (#14 R & B) in 1962. After subsequent singles failed to chart he hit the big time in 1965 when "We're Gonna Make It" hit number one on the R&B charts and even managed #25 on the pop charts. Some say it was aided by the civil rights movement. Milton hit the R & B charts 13 more times for Checker, most notably with "Grits Ain't Groceries" (13 R & B), "Who's Cheating Who" (#4 R & B), "Feel So Bad" (#7 R & B), "Baby I Love You" (#6 R & B) and "If Walls Could Talk" (#10 R & B). In 1972 Milton Memphis-based soul label Stax ."That's What Love Will Make You Do" returned Milton to the R & B Top 10 (#9) and Milton had several more soul blues hits with the label. Nevertheless, Stax went bankrupt in 1975, upon which point Little Milton moved to the TK/Glades label, which was better known for its funk and disco. His music was funked up like most artists of the time, but managed a #15 R & B placing for the classic"Friend of Mine" and scored a few other minor charters. TK/Glades folded soon after as well and Milton recorded one album for Evidence, which contained a rough version of his great "The Blues Is Alright" and then cut one LP for MCA. In 1984 Milton signed with Malaco, perfectly filling the void created at Malaco with the death Z.Z. HIll. Milton's recordings continued the soul blues revival Hill had started in 1980. Over the next two decades Milton cut 14 albums for Malaco- all of generally high quality full of crispy soul blues, down home soul & even standards.