King, Anna
Back To Soul
The James Brown Revue has included numerous 'feature' female singers through the decades, from Tammy Montgomery(Terrell), Sugar Pie DeSanto and Vicki Anderson to Yvonne Fair and Lynn Collins, but while Mr Brown included most of these ladies in 'live' LPs, and others had solo contracts with his label, only Anna King enjoyed the privilege of James Brown producing an album by her. It was 1963, and Brown had just signed with Smash Records to score a big pop hit with 'Out of Sight'. He noted the quality of Anna's voice, had her sign with Smash and produced the "Back To Soul" LP. The album includes Anna's distinctive versions of several soul and blues hits and some Brown originals written under various pseudonyms, plus a storming duet with Bobby Byrd, 'Baby Baby Baby', which took her into the R&B top 50 early in 1964 and 'bubbling under' the Billboard Hot 100. Thus with Anna's stirring, soulful vocals, a range of familiar songs, the support of the James Brown Band and the production skills of Mr Brown himself, "Back To Soul" was a notable album release on UK Philips in 1964, though it enjoyed but modest sales to the avid soul fans of the day. Consequently it has long been a rare collectors' item, a situation which will be remedied by its on Shout!.