One of the great unsung soul singers to have ever recorded IMHO. This was betty,s debut album from seven recorded and one of my faves.
Betty Padgett was born in Newport, New Jersey and her family
moved to Florida when she was a child. She sang in her church
choir and began to take performing seriously after graduating from high
school. While checking out the bubbling local music scene at venues like
The Double Decker and Tedie Green, Padgett became particularly keen
with the group called Joey Gilmore and the T.C. B. (Taking Care of
Business) Express. In 1971 she auditioned with Gilmore and ended up, not
only securing the position, but singing with the band for the next 17
years. After a gig at the Elks Club in Ft. Lauderdale, Padgett was
approached by soul legend Milton Wright (responsible for the rare groove
classics “Keep It Up” and “You Don’t Even Know Me.” as well as Northern fave " The Gallop") Blown away by her
vocal skills and stage presence Wright wasted no time. Within a month
she was co-writing and arranging with Wright (check his unmistakable
influence on “Gypsy of Love”), Wally Joest, and a cast of musicians she
had just met. The entire album was recorded in one evening at Criteria
Studios in Miami. Padgett vividly remembers listening to the demo on the
drive home from the studio around 3am. It was pouring down rain and she
was so excited from having recorded her first record at age 21 that she
lost control of her car on the slick streets and nearly crashed! A 12” disco single of “Sugar Daddy” was pressed up in support of the
LP and it created quite a buzz (despite her name being misspelled on
the cover and labels.) Padgett remembers a local Pepsi Cola TV &
radio advert featured the music. The commercial was apparently filmed on
the Ft Lauderdale beachfront and included Navy Sailors in uniform that
just happened to be docked nearby. Padgett danced up to a vending
machine that was parked in the sand, slapped it, and received a glass
bottle of soda. After the success of “Sugar Daddy,” Padgett and her band
were whisked off to Belize for live dates. After landing at the Belize
airport, she was picked up in a taxi and the commercial played on the
radio in the cab. While Padgett never quite topped the heights of “Sugar Daddy,” she
boasts a great musical resume and continues to perform and record. She
has performed and shared the stage with Little Beaver, Gwen & George
McCrae, K.C. & The Sunshine Band, Latimore, Jimmy Bo Horne, Jackie
Moore, Joe Tex, Denise LaSalle, The Impressions, Bobby Bland, Joe Simon
and ZZ Hill. What a voice! I must get rounf to purchasing the CD also. The rest of her albums are worth checking out.
AMM
The Tasters!
19 comments:
Great tasters , cant wait to hear it .
Thanks for the flac upgrade amm, really appreciated!
unknown to me thanks for introducing AMM
LOVE Luv `N Haight! From your review I`m gonna LOVE this!
Cheers!
Bill
another good review ...thanks AMM
Thanks AMM. Love the Belize part of the story,
It would be a shame if I didn't check this one out. Thanks, AMM!
New to me and looks good, many thanks for the review.
Very nice... used to have this on vinyl, but that was a long time ago.
Many thanks for the re-release AMM
BigD
Thank you AMM For this Album
You are correct from the tasters. She does have some pleasant vocals. Thank you for this lady. Thank you AMM.
thank you AMM
Quite a nice rarity, again. Thanks for review, P.
great review AMM thanks
Love the review mate, thank you
Thanks for this one AMM my copy has gone walkies nice bleand of styles
Cheers Pedro
I'm getting the shakes. Betty Padgett is some rare stuff, AMM.
Thank you for another rare soul post MM.
cheers,ELtel
Many thanks for the digging,another rare
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