NY Night Tain Soul Clap & Dance-Off Top 500 ripped from the original 45s!
Have mercy! Yvonne Faire’s gotta be one of the most exciting soul shouters to ever grace this planet! And while her 1962 James Brown produced sides “I Found You,” “Tell Me Why,” and “It Hurts To Be In Love” are a holy trinity of stone cold classics and way ahead of their time, the explosion of “Say Yeah Yeah” gazes deep into the future. In 1963, when soul music was still twisting, and its popular vanguard can be exemplified by Motown hits like “Fingertips,” “Mickey’s Monkey,” and “Heat Wave,” Yvonne’s fourth record with the James Brown band was light years beyond – making giant steps towards the development of some of the hardest funk known to (wo)mankind. When this was recorded during Yvonne Fair’s tenure as one of the first in a long prestigious line of fiery divas featured in the James Brown Revue.
While this platter is uncommon in that it doesn’t have James Brown’s name on it and its not on King like the first three Fair/Brown collaborations, you are hearing her fronting the incredible phenomenon that was James Brown’s “Live At The Apollo” era band under Mr. Dynamite’s visionary musical direction. And everybody give it up for the forward-thinking percussive pyrotechnics of one of Brown’s most under-rated drummers Clayton Fillyau. While its easy to understand how a drummer could get obscured by the mighty shadows of Jabo Starks, Clyde Stubblefield, et al, his work here, on “Live At The Apollo,” and other J.B. classics of the time warrants greater appreciation. Its worth noting that the writing credit to “Dessie Rozier” is the same JB pseudonym he hid behind on Dade’s “(Do The) Mashed Potatoes.” While there's not room here, on my site (see link below) I go into why I think the Godfather of Soul and his friend and collaborator Dade's Henry Stone may also have been sneaking behind King head honcho Syd Nathan's back on this one.
Yvonne Fair remains one of soul music’s most identifiable and electrifying voices. After getting her start in The Chantels, when the pioneering Bronx’s girl group opened for James Brown at Philadelphia’s legendary Uptown Theater in 1961, she hitched onto his Revue where she stayed on for several years a featured singer. Like so many of James Brown’s “funky divas,” the two were romantically involved and, after recording the afore-mentioned classics, in 1965 they conceived a daughter. Fair quickly moved on – marrying and giving birth to the child of another soul legend Sammy Strain, one of the few artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice – for both Little Anthony and The Imperials (1958-1972) and The O’Jays (1975-1992). He also cut his teeth in the immortal NYC vocal group The Chips of “Rubber Biscuit” fame!. After her killer 1966 “Just As Sure (As You Play, You Must Pay)”/”Baby Baby Baby” Smash 45 with Brown, she took some time off to devote to her young children. With her powerful Etta James-informed vocals, stunning risqué performances, and superstar persona, Fair was one of the few singers of her era who transitioned with ease into the rapid changes occurring in the musical landscape. And while it took her a minute to catch on, the ’70s saw here rise to new heights in the highly competitive soul field. Her comeback started with a spot in Chuck Jackson’s revue. After the singular voice of “Cry To Me” and a number of other hits brought her along for his ride at Motown, they laid down a few well-regarded recordings that didn’t see the light of day until the 21st Century. And though Motown didn’t see much success when they finally released one of her singles in 1970, she landed a gig as the opener on two of the Jackson 5’s whirlwind tours, hired unknown upstarts The Commodores as her backup road band, kickstarted Lionel Richie’s singing career when she had him put down his sax to duet with her, and acted in the Diana Ross star vehicle “Lady Sings The Blues.” You can get a sense of her live charisma from the nightclub scene where she sings “Shuffle Blues.” All of her years at Motown finally paid off in 1974 when she busted into the charts twice with vicious performances on a pair Norman Whitfield produced hits: a revision of Edwin Starr’s “Funky Music Sho Nuff Turns Me On” (with an uncredited Marvin Gaye!) and an original “Walk Out The Door If You Wanna.” After a couple more screaming funky 45s, Motown released Yvonne Faire’s only LP “The B***h Is Black.” While the album, with its suggestively-posed cover featuring Fair donning a whip, didn’t get a whole lotta stateside spins until decades later, it became an international hit with its “It Should Have Been Me” climbing up to Number 5 on the UK Pop charts. After Fair’s career wound down in the late ’70s, she retired from singing and became Dione Warwick’s wardrobe coordinator. She passed away from pancreatic cancer in Las Vegas in 1994 but her earth-shaking voice remains alive and as vital as ever on her canonical sides.
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