Lou Johnson - Sweet Southern Soul (1997) Marginal 057 - Rare Soul (MP3)

Lou was born in 1941 and passed in 2019. he came from Brooklyn, New York. In his short career he only recorded 2 albums and a dozen singles,though quite a few unreleased tracks have been discovered since. He was also an accomplished musician on keyboards and percussion influenced by his upbringing in a musical family. He started singing in gospel choirs in his teens, before studying music at Brooklyn College. He learned keyboards and percussion, forming a gospel group, the Zionettes, who recorded for Simpson Records and achieved some local success. Johnson then formed a secular vocal group, the Coanjos, with Tresia Cleveland and Ann Gissendammer, recording "Dance the Boomerang" before Cleveland and Gissendanner left to become the Soul Sisters. In 1962, Johnson signed as a solo singer with Bigtop Records, run by the Hill & Range music publishing company in the Brill Building. There, he met the songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, who wrote Johnson's first single, "If I Never Get to Love You". Neither that song nor his second record, "You Better Let Him Go", were hits, but his third single, "Reach Out for Me", also written by Bacharach and David and this time produced by Bacharach, reached # 74 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1963. However, as it rose up the charts, the record company collapsed so limiting the record's success. "Magic Potion" - the B side of "Reach Out For Me" was also written by Bacharach and David and became popular on the UK's Northern Soul scene, first being played at Manchester's Twisted Wheel club in the late 1960s along with many other great tracks. This mega rare CD includes all the tracks from his debut album from 1969 on cotillion along with all his tracks played on the northern scene...LEGEND!. One of Marginals Best!

AMM

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