Probably one of the most under-rated pop singers of my generation is Dionne Warwick.

Brought up in the gospel world in a musical extended family, Dionne formed the “Gospelaires” singing group with her sister Dee Dee and her aunt Cissy Houston ( later the mother of Whitney Houston).  Dionne and her group did vocal session work in New York on weekends while she studied music on scholarship in college during the week.

The story goes that Dionne was asked to provide vocals for some demos written by the songwriting-producing team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, while in the studio working on the backing vocal for the Drifter’s song “Mexican Divorce.”

When the composing duo pitched the demo(s) to Scepter Records, the head of the label (Florence Greenberg) liked what she heard and signed Dionne to a recording contract.

Bacharach and David wrote her first song for recording and the rest is legend!

Dionne sang her first and all  subsequent Bacharach and David unusually complicated songs with ease, grace and smoothness. Her voice is just so mellow  yet expressive and her singing sounds effortless. I recall playing with my Barbie doll in her black evening gown, microphone and pink scarf singing nothing but Dionne Warwick songs because even as a youngster she epitomized class to me!

Warwick charted high continuously from 1963 up until 1980 before her recording career began to slow down a bit.

This 1967 the single, “I Say A Little Prayer,” charted #8 R&B and #4 on the Billboard Top 100.  The song appeared on Dionne’s LP  of the same year “The Windows of the World”  pictured above.

Aretha obviously loved the song too because only a year later she put her spin on the tune and released her cover of Dionne’s hit.  Naturally The Queen of  Soul’s version was a hit too!  Charting #3 R&B and #10 Pop in 1968.  The song appeared on her 1968 certified Gold classic LP  “Aretha Now”  pictured above.

Over the years, Aretha’s hit cover of Marie Dionne Warwick’s original hit has become the definitive version of the song. Don’t think  so? Then check this out --  my most favorite part of the movie “My Best Friend’s Wedding” is this clip: this is why I love YouTube

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vji6vzyrI-A

Of course I want to know which of these two renditions of the Bachrach/David classic YOU like best so please vote.

And here are a few more related videos to enjoy while they last on YouTube.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlWFQynaxqk

www.youtube.com/watch?v=STKkWj2WpWM

Trivia: The Gospelaire’s  are thought to have provided backing vocals for Ben E. King’s “Spanish Harlem” and “Stand By Me.”

Musically Yours,

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Another hit written and produced by Ashford and Simpson from the Marvin Gaye & Tammy Terrell LP of the same name — “You’re All I need to get By” was  one of the biggest hits of Marvin & Tammi’s career as a duo.  It charted #1 on the R&B charts and remained there for 5 weeks!  The song charted #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the summer of 1968 as well. This is one of my favorites by the singing duo!

Aretha covered the Marvin & Tammi  smash hit in 1971 for her  “Aretha’s Greatest Hits” LP.  This cover did not earn her the Grammy, as did her second cover  from the same LP did (“Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing” ) in 1974,   but the single did  chart #3 R&B and #19 Pop and remained at #19 on the British singles charts for an amazing 19 weeks!

Sometimes I wonder about the Grammy voters: personally this cover seems more  Grammy worthy than “Real Thing” cover did  — but that’s just my opinion.

Ashford & Simpson

One awesome song sung in two different styles! Although covered and sampled by many other artists --  these two renditions presented today are my favorites.  I can’t really pick one over the other. Can you?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO-e34PslOk

Aretha Live 1978

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxIIcIMycXQ

Bonus Cover Version just for you 

Musically Yours,

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Just about every song Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell performed together was a smash hit for Motown. There is not a single song they recorded that I don’t adore.  I don’t think  anyone could surpass what those two put on wax together!

“Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing,” composed by the extraordinary songwriting couple of Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, was surely no exception.   “Real Thing” was just one of  many of Ashford and Simpson’s  long string of hits on Gaye & Terrell that had started with 1967′s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”.

“Real Thing” topped the R&B singles chart at #1 in 1968 and was #8 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The song appeared on the duo’s 1968 LP  (#4  R&B #60 Billboard Top 200 Albums)  entitled “You’re All I Need ” --  pictured above.

One of my personal favorite covers of this tune was by the Jackson 5 with Jermaine and MJJ sharing lead,  but this month’s theme is Aretha covers and of course her cover version,  recorded in 1973 and released as a single in 1974, charted a respectable #6 R&B and #47 Pop.

This time around Aretha didn’t best the original,  but she sure made a great showing! Don’t you agree?  Besides — this cover  earned Aretha the 1974 Grammy for  Best Female  R&B Vocal!

Aretha’s cover version appeared on her 1974 LP release “Let Me In Your Life” — pictured above.

Ok, now that you have voted for your fave please enjoy the bonus video below. This is my all time favorite version of  “Real Thing.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoDBO3wgeWg

MJJ -- I miss you.  Jermaine is that an afro wig or did you actually groom your hair into that perfect halo?   Jackie and Marlon  your moves are great: smooth temptation-like unison fellas!

Musically Yours,

Updated 1/24/09

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But King’s labelmate,  Aretha,  dipped into King’s  Songbook in 1970 and covered  his hit  and bested him by taking it all the way to the top of the the charts: her single went #1 R&B and #11 on the Billboard Top 100. This tune also earned Aretha the 1970 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance!

You know what to do now … vote for your fave and then enjoy the YouTube Videos below while you can!

Musically Yours,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAa8vwmeewU

www.youtube.com/watch?v=B66REcQowGE

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“Spanish Harlem” was the first hit in the solo career of Benjamin E. Nelson: it was also the name of his first solo LP pictured above.  The fantastic Latin-flavored  song (why don’t they make them like this anymore?) composed by Jerry Lieber and Phil Spector, took Nelson to #10 on the Billboard Top 100 and #15 on the R&B charts. Not a bad way to start a solo career at all!

Formerly of the hit Doo-Wop group The Drifters,  Nelson took the group into a smooth, soulful sound. Leaving the group and changing his stage name to Ben E. King for his solo career certainly paid off — don’t you agree?

A decade later Aretha decided to cover this gem and of course she made it her own and took it to the very top of the charts at #1 R&B for three weeks;  #2 Pop for two weeks;  and #6 Adult Contemporary.  Although originally recorded for her “Young, Gifted and Black” LP, the song appeared on her 1971 “Aretha’s Greatest Hits” LP.

Besting the originator Ben E. King — this was not the first time Aretha had dipped into Ben E. King’s Songbook. After you vote on your favorite version of “Spanish Harlem,”  try to guess which  other Ben E. King song Aretha made her own! I will be doing the reveal on Thursday so stay tuned.

Musically Yours,

Thought  I  would add this related  YouTube video for you to enjoy while it lasts.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiL5C_-nUh8

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0BssiwJBJs

The successful Sixties pop duo, Simon & Garfunkel,  continued on into the Seventies with this number #1 Adult Contemporary and #1 Billboard Hot 100 song written by Paul Simon. It appeared on the duo’s  last LP, of the same name,  that also topped the charts at #1

Paul supposedly wrote this ballad, in the summer 1969,  influenced by Reverend Claude Jeter and the Swan Silvertones gospel group (one of my favorites gospel groups BTW).  More specifically,  in the song “Oh, Mary Don’t You Weep for Me, “  Jeter improvises the line  “I’ll be your bridge over deep water if you trust in my name.”

Please enjoy this live version of the original song  from YouTube. The song won  both the 1970  Grammy Record of the year and Album the year in 1970

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DBl5gAs6WI

Aretha Franklin’s cover of this reverent song went on to top the R&B charts  at #1 and ranked #6 Pop. Isn’t it remarkable how Aretha makes every song she sings her own. I would consider her one of the greatest artists of my lifetime and this century for that matter!

Enjoy this awesome live performance video and marvel at Aretha’s piano playing. This woman has been blessed with remarkable talents.

Aretha won the  1972 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for this song, from her “Aretha Live at Filmore West” LP.

I love both the original and Aretha’s cover. But which is your top pick?

Musically Yours,

Updated 1/24/09

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For the past two Januarys I have blogged about Motown artists covering other Motown artists. Since 2009 was the year of Motown 50 I thought I would go in another direction this January 2010 and talk about a non-Motown artist and her hit covers — The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin!

Many have covered her and sampled her but Franklin herself has done mostly covers throughout her career (as did Elvis). Songs have been written just for her by her sister(s) and others, but some of her biggest hits have been cover tunes — songs that she liked when she heard others perform them and then decided to interpret in her own style to make them her own!

Bobby Womack wrote and recorded this sweet love song in 1967 but the Wicked Wicked Wilson Pickett recorded and released it first! It zoomed  right up the charts and landed at #4 on the R&B charts and #45 on the Billboard Top 100 that same year.

Womack’s released, recorded with the same musicians at the same studio as Pickett’s,  did not do as well. But The Queen laid it on us and her 1973 session won out reaching #1 on the R&B charts and #19 on the Billboard Top 100.

Take a listen to the original and ReRe’s cover and let me know which you prefer and why after you vote below.

Musically Yours,

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[audio http://boxstr.com/files/3853505_zrrwd/04.%20Doris%20Troy%20-%20Just%20One%20Look.mp3] Doris Troy – Just One Look (1963)

This song is another of my all time childhood favorites. It makes me feel good whenever I hear it and of course it begs me to sing along (LOL). This is Doris Troy’s best known song.

She was born Doris [Higginson] in The Bronx, the daughter of a Barbadian Pentecostal minister. Her parents disapproved of “subversive” forms of music like rhythm & blues, so she cut her teeth singing in her father’s choir. She was working as an usherette at the Apollo where she was discovered by the ‘Godfather of Soul’, James Brown.

Troy worked with Solomon Burke, The Drifters, Cissy Houston, and Dionne Warwick before she co-wrote and recorded “Just One Look”, which hit #10 [Pop and #3 R&B] in 1963. (Source)

Troy never charted like this again and moved to England where she made her second lp in 1970, under the tutelage of George Harrison and Billy Preston, for the Beatles’ Apple Records.  While in living in England, Troy also sang backup for many rock groups including The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd.

From the mid-80′s to 1991, Doris performed in the US musical biography of her own life story entitled  ‘Mama, I Want To Sing’. She also repeated her performance when the show opened in London in February 1995 and remained involved with the musical until 1998.

Troy passed away in 2004 at age 67, in Las Vegas, after a lengthy bout of emphysema.

You may learn more about Miss Troy at the “Official Home Page of Soul Legend Doris Troy”.

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[audio http://boxstr.com/files/3561264_q3wjf/07.%20Ivory%20Joe%20Hunter%20-%20Since%20I%20Met%20You%20Baby.mp3] Ivory Joe Hunter – Since I Met You Baby (1956)

I used to confuse Motown producer-songwriter Ivy Joe Hunter with the singer of this wonderful song — Ivory Joe Hunter — thinking that I was reading misspellings in print.  It took me a while to figure out that they were two completely different talented musical artists.

The great Country Bluesman, pianist, composer and businessman, Ivory Joe Hunter, recorded this wonderful song when I was but a babe of two years old and yet somehow this has been one of my favorite ballads as long as I remember. I really don’t recall how and why I have known this song but I do. It is one of my top ten “feel good” songs.

Usually I can recall if a song was a favorite of my Mother of Father but with this song I just know I know it and have loved it always!

In the early 1940s, Hunter had his own radio show in Beaumont, Texas on KFDM, where he eventually became program manager, and in 1942, he moved to Los Angeles, joining Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers in the mid-1940s. When he wrote and recorded his first song, “Blues at Sunrise” with the Three Blazers for his own label, Ivory Records, it became a regional hit. [2]

In the late 1940s, Hunter founded Pacific Records, and in 1947, he recorded for Four Star Records and King Records. Two years later, he recorded his first R&B hits; on “I Quit My Pretty Mama” and “Guess Who” he was backed by members of Duke Ellington’s band. [3]

After signing with MGM Records, he recorded “I Almost Lost My Mind,” which topped the 1950 R&B charts and would later (in the wake of Hunter’s success with “Since I Met You Baby”) be recorded by Pat Boone. “I Need You” was a number two R&B hit that same year. With his smooth delivery, Hunter became a hot R&B commodity, and he also began to be noticed in the country-Western music community. In April, 1951, he made his network TV debut on You Asked For It.

By 1954, he had recorded more than a hundred songs and moved to Atlantic Records. His first song to cross over to the pop charts was “Since I Met You Baby” (1956). It was to be his only top-40 pop song, climbing to the number 12 position. (Source: WIKI)

Just as some of the other male vocalists that I have discussed in the past week, Hunter was a sorely under appreciated artist IMHO.  It baffles (and angers) me that this artist never “crossed-over” into Pop fame and yet when artists such as Elvis Presley or Pat Boone covered his tunes they had great success, i.e., chart toppers.

Oldies.Com has a biography on Mr. Hunter where you can read more about his long lived career.  But first check out this wonderful vintage LIVE performance of Mr. Hunter singing “Since I Met You Baby”.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rGBM4HSWZQ

Keep the Oldies alive.

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[audio http://boxstr.com/files/3283107_qgetn/04.%20Respect.mp3] Aretha Franklin – Respect (1967)

Another four Grammys were awarded in the R&B category in 1967 and two of those four went to this great song as performed by Aretha Franklin.  Miss Franklin’s cover of the Otis Redding song “Respect”  earned both the  Best Rhythm and Blues Recording and the Best Rhythm and Blues Solo Vocal Performance, Female of 1967.

When [Otis' original "Respect"] released in the summer of 1965, the song reached the top five on Billboard‘s Black Singles Chart. The song even crossed over to pop radio’s white audience, peaking at number thirty-five there. At the time, the song became Redding’s second largest crossover hit (after “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”). (SOURCE:WIKI)

Franklin’s rendition found even greater success than the original, spending two weeks atop the Billboard Pop Singles chart, and for eight weeks on the Billboard Black Singles chart. It also became a hit internationally, reaching number ten in the United Kingdom, and helping to transform Franklin from a domestic star into an international one. Even Otis Redding himself was impressed with the performance of the song, and at the Monterey Pop Festival in the summer of the cover’s release, he was quoted playfully describing “Respect” as the song “that little girl done stole from me.” (SOURCE:WIKI)

[As additional proof of  the greatness of Miss Franklin's cover version -- it] was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2002, the Library of Congress honored Franklin’s version by adding it to the National Recording Registry. It is number five on Rolling Stone’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.  It was also included in the list of Songs of the Century, by the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment for the Arts. (SOURCE:WIKI)

Of course I couldn’t close out this post without showing a vintage live performance of Miss Franklin doing the classic circa 1967! Enjoy.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kkgQHcdlZU

Thanks for stopping in.

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