Doris Troy........Just One Look.....She was discovered by the "Godfather Of Soul"....James Brown
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Doris Troy (6 January 1937 – 16 February 2004) was an American R&B singer, known to her many fans as "Mama Soul".
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 in 1963. The song has been covered by The Hollies, Linda Ronstadt, Bryan Ferry, Anne Murray, Klaus Nomi, and Harry Nilsson, among others. As her solo career peaked, she did back-up for the Rolling Stones, Humble Pie, Kevin Ayers, Pink Floyd (on their seminal album The Dark Side of the Moon), George Harrison, Dusty Springfield, Nick Drake, Junior Campbell and Carly Simon.
Thanks To Di For First Posting This.The Northern Soul Fans Have Made This One Of Their Anthems.This Record Should Have Gone Easy Top 15.
Doris worked in the UK throughout the 1970s, appearing at Ronnie Scott's Club & recording a live album (The Rainbow Testament). Her People records album "Stretching Out" showed her versatility, though it was not a seller.
Doris Troy The Rainbow Testament LP $72.20
Doris Troy was suffering from emphysema when we tried to film her for our "Strange World Of Northern Soul" mega-documentary in late 1998, and was so ill that she went into hospital at the time
Mama, I Want To Sing is a stage musical based on her life, and was co-written with her sister, Vy. It ran for 1,500 performances at the Heckscher Theatre in Harlem. Troy played her own mother, Geraldine. Chaka Khan played her Aunt in the London production, as did Deniece Williams. The musical has been reinterpreted as a motion picture, due for release in early 2009. The film's cast includes musicians Ciara, Ne-Yo, Bobby Valentino, Ralph Tresvant and Patti Labelle. Also starring is CSI: NY actor, Hill Harper.
Troy died from emphysema at her home in Las Vegas, Nevada, aged 67.
Comment
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Comment by ZeroGravity on August 15, 2009 at 6:20pm
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I remember the song "Just One Look" but never knew who sung it. kewl :)
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Comment by Boo on August 15, 2009 at 7:41am
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Sole we thought you were MIA LOL. I am surprized that you have never heard of Doris Troy. Just One Look I love that song
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Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on August 14, 2009 at 8:51pm
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Now this is gooooooooooood, never heard of her....Great blog Bert
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Thanks, Enjoy your weekend
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Comment by Edie Antoinette on August 13, 2009 at 9:46pm
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This is SUPERB! I'm on my way to bed, then out of town for the weekend ..but will really dig into this when I return. You and your brother be tearin' it UP with these excellent blogs. Just showin' out bad!!!! LOL
I am loving it thoroughly! More..more...MORE!!!! Bravo!!!!!!
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The history of the Butlers/Raw Soul is dense, but for all of us music nerds, that's normal. It is not totally clear what year the Butlers actually formed but they released their first single in 1963 on Liberty Records. That single was "She Tried To Kiss Me" and another single followed on Guyden entitled "Lovable Girl." After the Guyden single the Butlers took a break not recording another record until the single "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh" was released on the Phila label in 1966. The group also backed Charles Earland and Jean Wells on one Phila single ("I Know She Loves Me").
As you might be noticing, the Butlers were doing a fair amount of recording but not achieving much success. The group's recordings sold regionally but never had the promotion to make an impact on the national scene. After the single with Phila, the Butlers moved to the Fairmount label (part of the Cameo-Parkway family) and released a handful of singles, some being reissued singles of the past. The Butlers were with Fairmount for 1966-67 and then moved to Sassy Records. Sassy released the group's greatest single (in my opinion) "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" b/w "If That's What You Wanted." A copy of that 45 sold for just under $500 last summer on eBay. Even though that isn't that much in the world of record collecting--it's still a hefty sum. The Butlers released another single on Sassy ("She's Gone" b/w "Love Is Good") that appears to be even
harder to come by then the "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" single.
The true history become a bit blurred here as the AMG biography states that the Butlers last record was released on C.R.S. in 1974 (". However, between 1971 and that single, Frankie Beverly formed a group called Raw Soul and released a number of singles. Some of the songs recorded by Beverly during this period are "While I'm Alone," "Open Up Your Heart," (both on the Gregor label) and "Color Blind." "Color Blind" was released by the Eldorado label and rerecorded by Maze. Beverly's big break came when Marvin Gaye asked Raw Soul to back him on a tour. Gaye helped Beverly/Raw Soul get a contract at Capitol. Beverly decided to take the group in a different direction, a name change occurred, and Maze was created.
The above isn't the most complete history of Beverly but hopefully someone will know a way to get in touch with the man or his management because a comprehensive pre-Maze history needs to be done on Frankie Beverly (his real name is Howard, by the way). Below you'll find every Frankie Beverly (pre-Maze) song available to me right now ("Color Blind" will be up soon).
If you have a song that is not included below, shoot it over to funkinsoulman (at) yahoo.com and it will go up in the next Frankie Beverly post (later this week--highlighting Maze). Also, if you have any more information please share your knowledge. The Butlers material has been comp-ed sporadically (usually imports) but the entire Maze catalog has been reissued and is available.
Enjoy. "She Kissed Me" (Fairmount, 1966 or 1967)
"I Want To Feel I'm Wanted" (not sure which label or year)
"Laugh, Laugh, Laugh"
(Phila, 1966)
"Because Of My Heart" (Fairmount, 1966 or 1967)
"Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" (Sassy, 1967)
"If That's What You Wanted" (Sassy, 1967)
Frankie Beverly is one of those cats that has lasting power. He started in the music business doing a tour with doo wop group the Silhouettes and then formed his own group called the Blenders. The Blenders never recorded a single, Beverly wouldn't appear on wax until forming the Butlers a few years later. Along with Beverly, the Butlers included Jack "Sonny" Nicholson, Joe Collins, John Fitch, and Talmadge Conway.
Beverly would later enjoy great success fronting Maze and Conway would become a
well-known penning Double Exposure's
"Ten Percent" and the Intruders' "Memories Are Here To Stay."
While Maze is a phenomenal group, Beverly's work before that group will always stand out as his best (imo).
The Butlers produced tunes that most Northern Soul fans would kill for and Raw Soul gave the funksters something to pursue. The Butlers recorded their first single in 1960 titled "Loveable Girl". Left to right John Fitch, T Conway, Frankie Beverly, Sonny Nicholson and Joe Collins.
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