Maureen Gray - The Story Of My Love (2003) Castle - Rare Doo Wop/Soul

Maureen S. Gray was born in 1948 in Queens, New York. Gray, a child prodigy, at age five made her first public appearance in Carnegie Hall in Midtown Manhattan singing "Steam Heat" from the musical "The Pajama Game", and received a positive critical acclaim. At age 12, she performed at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Glassboro, New Jersey in a concert along with her mother.  Discovered by John Madara at the young age of 12 after moving to philly, she went on to record and achieved success with regional hits such as “Today’s The Day,” “Crazy Over You,” “I Don’t Want to Cry” and “Dancing The Strand.” Here,s what John Madara had to say about her "Maureen Gray walked into my record shop in Philly and told me she could sing. Well, she was right! Boy could she sing! She was only 12 years old but already she had developed an amazing set of chops. Dave White and I wrote and produced 15 songs with her, with two of our songs reaching the charts, one of which hot Number 1 here in Philly “Today’s The Day” and “Dancing The Strand." Maureen went on to work with such greats as Arranger Paul Buckmaster, and sang with Billy Preston, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, David Bowie, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, just to name a few. Maureen continued her career as a singer/songwriter, going by the name “Girl,” which originated with a group she formed called Girl Talk. She wrote her own songs and accompanied herself on piano, guitar and keyboard. For a time, she was better known in Europe than she was in the U.S. "She was very creative," said her daughter, Nikko Gray. "She had a great thirst for knowledge. She was a real student of philosophy and world cultures. She felt music is important to uplift people's spirits." In addition to her music, Maureen wrote extensively on philosophical and political subjects, as well as poetry. "She was very outspoken and passionate about her beliefs," Nikko said. "She lived in different countries,The United Kingdom, Switzerland, Spain, France. She had a real wanderlust, always looking forward to going on to the next thing." Nikko traveled with her mother and tried her best to keep up. Maureen always credited her own mother, Louise, with encouraging her career. "When Louise saw how her daughter loved singing, she taught her West Indian rhythms along with tunes from 'Showboat,' " said Robert Bosco, music historian and writer. Charlie Horner, noted musicologist, said, "Maureen's records were always prized by Philadelphia collectors." "Indeed, they still are, as well as Soul fans in Europe". On a personal note she reminded me of Ronnie Spector in her style. Just a small part of what made the philly sound so Unique. Maureen passed in 2014. This partners her " the best of philly soul" vol 3 that i posted on the old Blog.

AMM

                                                           Review Courtesy of (Philly)Billymac

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