Fontella Bass was one of the great soul singers of the 60's with albeit a short career. Fontella's mother was a gospel singer, and at a young age, Fontella toured with her mother as a young teen. In her late teens, Fontella began interested in R&B/Soul music, and eventually began touring with Little Milton. She later auditioned for the famed Chess Records, and released her first solo single, "Don't Mess Up a Good Thing" in early 1965. While the song was moderately successful on the R & B charts, it wasn't nearly as successful as the single released later in the same year--"Rescue Me".
"Rescue Me" sold over a million copies, and gave Chess Records its first major hit since Chuck Berry. Unfortunately, Fontella didn't see as much of the money as she felt she deserved. Fontella became disillusioned with the record label after she recorded her first full-length album "The New Look" in 1967 and left the label afterwards. Nearly five years later, Fontella released a second album "Free", which wasn't as successful as she'd hoped, and retired from the music business to raise a family with Lester Bowie, the trumpet player/composer from the free jazz band, Art Ensemble of Chicago.
Let's face it, Fontella Bass's name is remembered for "Rescue Me". It's still played on oldies stations occasionally, and you've even heard it over the years on T.V., in commercials for American Express and Pizza Hut. It's a great song, but there are many other songs that are worth checking out in Fontella Bass's short catalog. "The Soul of a Man" was released as the B-Side to "Rescue Me", and you can listen to it here:
Pick up a "Best of" compilation of Fontella's music for Chess Records, and you won't be disappointed.
No comments:
Post a Comment