Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Patti Drew

For my first audio post, I’m gonna showcase some tracks from Patti Drew, one of Soul music’s most overlooked artists.
Patti began her singing career as the lead singer of the Drew-vels, which included her sisters Lorraine and Erma and bass vocalist Carlton Black.

Their debut single, "Tell Him" was a huge local hit around the Chicago area and charted number 90 R&B in early 1964.
The Drew-vels broke up later that year, and in 1967, Drew signed a solo deal with Capitol records after a small stint on Peter Wright's Quill label. Her first Capitol single, a re-recording of "Tell Him," hit number 22 on the R&B charts in fall 1967. An LP, Tell Him, was also issued. One year later, her recording of the Neil Sedaka/Roger Atkins song "Workin' on a Groovy Thing" made it to number 34 R&B. A Workin' on a Groovy Thing LP was issued along with two more Capitol LPs, I've Been Here All the Time (1969) and Wild Is Love (January 1970). In 1971, she left the music business but resurfaced in 1975 with a release on Carl Davis and E. Rodney Jones' Innovation Records. During the '80s, she reunited with Carlton Black in the group Front Line and performed around the Evanston area.

Patti’s 1st album, Tell Him, has been reissued by Collectables along with the original Drew-vels rendition of the title song. You can pick it up here

In 2007, Capitol EMI released a decent comp of Patti’s material dubbed, "Workin' on a Groovy Thing: The Best of Patti Drew".

For more info, check here...

If you’re searching for original pressings of Patti’s albums, you can always try your luck here

Tell Him
(from the album, “Tell Him” (Capitol, 1967)






Hard To Handle
(Patti puts her own spin on the
Otis Redding classic, highly recommended!!)






&

The Love That A Woman Should Give To A Man
(both from album, “I’ve Been Here All The Time” (Capitol, 1969)

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