Old School Music Lover » Bert Russell

"Tell Him" Performed by The Exciters (1963)

sondan — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:00:54 +0000

[audio http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/2384361_8mhix/Exciters-TellHim.mp3] The Exciters – Tell Him (1963) Peaked #4 Pop, #5 R&B.

I love this song so much. Of course since I am writing about it today that means I will be singing it for the next week or two since it is one of those tunes that is catchy and it sticks in you brain a while. ; 0

Written by Bert Russell, this tune was produced by the great team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Lead singer Brenda Reid belts this out joyously accompanied by the other group members.

It is truly unbelievable that a group that sounds this great falls under the “One Hit Wonder” Banner. There just is no justice in the music business.

The Exciters only had four other singles make the Billboard Top 100. One of those songs just happened to be the original version of “Do-Wah-Diddy-Diddy” that was released in 1964 as the follow-up to “Tell Him” and yet this great song only peaked at #78 on both the Pop and R&B charts. But we know it is a great song since British invasion group Manfred Mann ‘s cover, of this Jeff Barry & Ellie Greenwich penned classic, zoomed all the way to #1 here in the USA!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah-tui1ubnU

You gotta love this vintage video. This takes me back to the time when a young lady always wore gloves as part of her ensemble

I hope you enjoy this as much as I do. Yeah I know they are lip singing but it is all about the visual so sit back and relax and sing along with Brenda.

TRIVIA: Group members Brenda Reid and baritone Herb Rooney married and continued to lead “The Exciters” for a while. Then they recorded some disco music as “Brenda & Herb” in the Eighties.

The couple eventually retired their group and divorced. But their son, L.A. Reid, went on to become on of the most successful music producers and label executives of our era!

MORE TRIVIA: The Exciters covered “A Little Bit of Soap” – The Jarmels “Wonderful One Hit” as previously posted here.

"A Little Bit Of Soap" Performed By The Jarmels (1961)

sondan — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:01:16 +0000

[audio http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/2384360_eiucb/TheJarmels-ALittleBitofSoap.mp3] A Little Bit of Soap – The Jarmels (1961) R&B #7, Pop #12

Richmond, Virginia’s Nathaniel Ruff , Ray Smith, Paul Burnett, Earl Christian and Tom Eldridge had been singing together in church and school. As a group, The Jarmels were signed to Laurie Records and their second single, “A Little Bit of Soap” composed by Bert Berns, was the hit that added them to the list of National One-Hit Wonders.

Their first single, “Little Lonely One,” was a hit in New York only and their singles after “Soap” never charted.

Trivia: The Jarmel’s later membership included Richmond born Major Harris, who subsequently became part of the Delfonics and had a solo career as well peaking with the #1 smash “Love Won’t Let Me Wait.”

According to WIKI:

“Ray Smith, the only surviving original member, continues to tour as of September 2008 with four new members as the Jarmels.”

Here is a recently upload performance found on YouTube. Enjoy.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwRw5Y9GlQQ

"Cry To Me" – Performed by Betty Harris (1963)

sondan — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:23:21 +0000

[audio http://boxstr.com/files/3853508_9bloy/05.%20Betty%20Harris%20-%20Cry%20To%20Me.mp3] Betty Harris – Cry To Me (1963)

My plan for today was to follow up “The Name Game” with two more female led light-hearted tunes this week. But I happened to see and play this song off of my hard drive and couldn’t stop listening to it — so decided to share it with you. Now you can enjoy this wonderful deep soul song sung by a teenage Betty Harris in 1963.

This was one of those songs I heard the grown folks listen to as child: it would be playing while the adults were “partying” and I was in bed supposedly asleep. I would listen and enjoy and feel the music, but never understood the lyrics – I just knew that the person singing was going through something pretty painful (SMILE). Now as an adult I find out that it was a child, not much older than me, singing the song and that she didn’t have a clue either (LOL).

As an adult I also happen to love the blues and soul (as I do just about all genres of music) and this song is no exception. It is a true soul classic.

Born in Florida, the daughter of preachers, Betty Harridick left the gospel music world and her home at 17 to pursue a career in secular music. She began by apprenticing with Big Maybelle. Then she moved to California and recorded the single “Taking Care of Business” for the Douglas label in 1960.

Her next stop was New York City where she auditioned for songwriter Bert Berns at the Brill Building singing her version of “Cry to Me.”

In 1963, after being in the music business for a few years, Betty Harris recorded a slowed down version of Solomon Burke’s hit of the year before, “Cry to me”, produced by the original record’s producer, Bert Berns, and released on the Jubilee record label. Taken at a slower pace, Betty’s rendition turned the song into a top 10 R&B hit [#23 Pop] and Deep Soul classic. Two further singles were released on Jubilee, also produced by Bert Berns, with “His Kiss”, another Deep Soul ballad, making the lower part of Billboard Pop and R&B charts. (SOURCE)

After retiring in 1970, Harris made a comeback to music in 2001. Read about her both in and out of the music industry at these great web pages:

Let’s keep these great oldies alive.