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#1 R&B, #2 Pop
Almost every wedding reception I have ever been to plays three songs that get the entire crowd up to dance. Those songs would of course be Marcia Griffin’s “Electric Slide,” Betty Wright’s ” Clean-Up Woman” and of course Jean Knight’s “Mr. Big Stuff.”
“Mr. Big Stuff” was one of the largest selling singles to ever come out of the Stax label and yet it was rejected by the Stax “suits” before it was finally accepted for release. Once management came to their senses and released the song, it sat at the top of the R&B charts for 5 weeks! It also stayed on the Pop charts at #2 for two weeks.
“Mr. Big Stuff” was composed by Joseph Broussard, Carrol Washington, Carol Washington and Ralph Williams. It was to be Knight’s only top ten hit.
In October 2007 Knight, born Jean Calista, was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. This video is of her performance at the induction ceremony.
Check out these additional live performances of “Mr Big Stuff” at OSML’s sister site EOINA.
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#4 R&B , #35 Pop
Otis created the song “Respect” as he recorded it for what was his third LP “Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul”. This was just one of the many hits on this classic 1965 set that went #1 R&B the year of release and reached #75 on the Billboard Top 200 in 1966.
This month is all about Stax — Great Wax from Stax! But Stax music, like Motown music, became a part of the music culture and I would be remiss if I did not mention, as you all know, that Aretha went on to cover this song and it would become one of her trademark cuts.
#1 R&B, #1 Pop
Turnabout is fair play and the smash “Otis Blue” set includes the cover Otis made of The Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction,” which became one of Redding’s trademark performances as well. Check out this awesome live performance on the OSML sister blog EOINA.
You may read a bit more about Aretha’s cover version in this earlier post here at OSML and listen to Aretha”s Studio version.
Now which performer do you think rocked “Respect” the best in the Sixties? Share your thoughts in a comment below.
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#4 Adult Contemporary , #6 Pop
When looking over my notes trying to select what soulful British singer I was going to post about, it struck me out of the blue that not only hadn’t I selected any women for this month, but I would be remiss in not mentioning the beautiful lady that was the FIRST soulful singer the Brits had to offer the pop music world– the legendary Dusty Springfield.
This song was one of the many, many Burt Bacharach and Hal David compositions that had been recorded by another great pop singer Dionne Warwick.
This catchy song has been covered my many and even recorded by Motown’s own Martha & The Vandellas, but it was Dusty’s duplicate cover of Dionne’s original that was the biggest hit.
“Wishin’ and Hopin’” appeared on Dusty’s first solo release, “Stay Awhile/ I Only Want to Be With You” on Mercury records.
Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland and Eddie Holland compositions, as performed by the Funk Brothers, are a major part of the “Motown Sound” and this song is no exception. I will just let you listen to all of these renditions by the Motown artists and let you hear for yourself. This is Classic Motown at it’s [...]
[Audio clip: view full post to listen] #6 Pop Before there was the angelic youthful tenor of the pre-teen Michael Jackson, there was a teenager named Frankie Lymon. He sang lead on “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” propelling his group, The Teenagers, right on up the Pop charts! The young Frankie influenced everyone from [...]
[Audio clip: view full post to listen] #1 R&B, #11 Pop If you have been around OSML since the beginning you may remember that I blogged about this Orioles’ classic cover, “Crying In The Chapel,” back in 2008. And you may also recall that this song has a very special place in my heart so [...]
[Audio clip: view full post to listen] I loved Peggy Lee singing her signature cover song “Fever” in the Fifties (another of my Barbie doll’s favorites to sing in a night club — LOL) and her her songs from Disney’s 1955 American film “Lady & The Tramp” Soundtrack! But her only Grammy win was The [...]
