Ann Sexton - Loving You, Loving Me(1973)Seventy Seven-Rare Soul

Ann Sexton was born Mary Ann Sexton,on 6th February,1950, in
Greenville,South Carolina.She was raised by a family influenced by
gospel music.As a child,Ann sang in her church choir and
spent her adolescent and teenage years singing in school and
winning talent shows.
On Ann’s first recorded cut,in her home town in 1966,she is
the youthful yet accomplished vocalist billed as“Mary Sexton”
on the 45-rpm rarity by Elijah(Hawthorne) & The Ebonies,titled
“I Confess”(Gitana CR-3144).This early effort is an interesting
snapshot of a soon-to-be regional sensation,just a few years
before recording a number of hits that would form the bedrock
of her future career.
Whilst singing with Elijah’s band,Ann met and married saxophonist
Melvin Burton,who was also part of the band. Melvin was a
tenor and alto sax player,who gained notoriety as a youth
playing for Moses Dillard.Soon after,Ann and Melvin went on
to form their own band called “Ann Sexton and the Masters of Soul”.
Whilst Ann was performing in Shelby,North Carolina,at the Washington
Center,David Lee particularly recalls a striking twenty one
year old woman named Mary Ann Burton singing“Who’s Lovin’
You?”.He approached her to ask if she would record his song
“You’re Letting Me Down”. “She was really gracious;she said
You want me to sing your song?” Encouraged,he promptly booked
her a second engagement in Shelby the following week and
promised to send her his demo of the song.
At this point in Ann’s story,many of you will be wondering
who is this guy, David Lee?...Well,apart from seeing his name
on the writers’ credits on Ann’s Impel SS-AS-103 release,I
didn’t know much about him either.As this story unfolds it
will become apparent that David Lee and the DJ and record
producer John Richbourg,at radio WLAC in Nashville Tennessee,
were key players in the development of Ann’s career.
David M Lee was born in Shelby on the 3rd May 1936At fourteen,
David began writing poetry,but soon switched to song writing.
David worked at North Lake Country Club for thirty years and
held this job down right through the critical period while
writing and recording with Ann Sexton;if that wasn’t enough,
he spent evenings and weekends presiding over his record
shop and audio supply store “Washington Sound” with help
from his wife Nellena and the children.
David Lee was,over a course of three decades beginning in the
late 1950’s,songwriter,musician,producer and entrepreneur.
He released fourteen 45’s and two LP’s on his Impel,Washington Sound,
and SCOP labels,run out of his Washington Sound record and audio
supply shop in Shelby,North Carolina,outside Charlotte.He
wrote most of the songs himself,including the devastating
lament“You’re Letting Me Down”,which he recorded in 1971
with the then-unknown young Greenville,South Carolina,soul
singer named Ann Sexton.As reissued by Nashville DJ “John R” Richbourg
on his Seventy-Seven imprint that record became the biggest
hit of Mr. Lee’s long and impressive career,though hardly
his sole accomplishment.”
Although Ann’s promised demo took a while to arrive,David’s
original sounded a lot more country,but when she recorded it,
it sounded a different thing altogether.“It sounded tremendous”,said
David,after he recorded her version at Mark V Studios in
Greenville,backed by her husband Melvin Burton’s band,the
Masters of Soul.David gave her the stage name Mary Ann Sexton,
which was then shortened to Ann Sexton.
In collaboration with Ann & Melvin David wrote “You’ve Been
Gone Too Long”,the B side that has been his most lucrative
composition,and has kept Ann Sexton’s debut release on turntables
around the globe in the years since.Impel SS-AS-103,David’s
fifth record,was originally released in 1971;only 500 copies
were produced and it sold respectably in North and South
Carolinas,and was played on jukeboxes and managed a degree
of regional radio play.
The Impel release was reissued in two editions of John R’s
Seventy-Seven label,and sold more than 90,000 copies in the
70’s,and so began a productive working relationship between
David Lee and John R,which gave Ann the recognition she
deserved,and she was now signed to Seventy-Seven records.
The first reissue was on the pale yellow original Seventy-Seven
label,and then on the slightly later multi-coloured repress;
also white demos were issued for promotion purposes.
The B side “You’ve Been Gone Too Long”, was played as a new
import release at Blackpool Mecca Northern soul venue,and
was in short supply in the UK.This was soon rectified when
record dealer,Garry Cape(Soulscape)(Grapevine),contacted John R.
and arranged to have additional copies pressed up using the
multi-coloured label design,to satisfy the demand.So here we have her
Debut album in all its glory...A wonderful all round Soul Album.....Dynamite!!!

AMM

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