Ted Hawkins born 28 October 1936

Ted Hawkins (October 28, 1936 – January 1, 1995) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist born in Mississippi. He split his time between his adopted hometown of Venice Beach, California, where he was a mostly anonymous street performer, and Europe and Australia, where he and his songs were better known and well received in clubs and small concert halls. 

Hawkins' existence was no day in the park. He was born into abject poverty in Lakeshore, a small town not far from Biloxi, Mississippi. An abused and illiterate child, Hawkins was sent to reform school when he was 12 years old for some early misdemeanor. He encountered his first musical inspiration there, from New Orleans pianist Professor Longhair, whose visit to the school moved the lad to perform in a talent show. But it wasn't enough to keep him out of trouble. At age 15, he stole a leather jacket and spent three years at Mississippi's infamous state penitentiary, Parchman Farm. 

On release from jail he heard the latest records by the up-and-coming soul singer Sam Cooke, who proved an inspiration. Hawkins spent the next few years working as a travelling musician, roaming from Chicago to Philadelphia and to Buffalo. He left the frigid weather behind in 1966, purchasing a one-way ticket to L.A. Suddenly, music beckoned; he bought a guitar and set out to locate the ex-manager of Sam Cooke. No such luck, but he did manage to cut his debut 45, the soul-steeped "Baby"/"Whole Lot of Women," for Money Records. When he learned no royalties were forthcoming from its sales, Hawkins despaired of ever making a living at his music and took to playing on the streets.

He was heard performing in the black ghetto by Bill Harris, a radio DJ, who brought him to the attention of the record producer Bruce Bromberg. Fortunately he was interested in Hawkins' welfare, recording his delightfully original material in 1971, both with guitarist Phillip Walker's band ("Sweet Baby" was issued as a single on the Joliet label), and in a solo acoustic format (with Ted's wife Elizabeth occasionally adding harmonies). The producer lost touch with Hawkins for a while after recording him, Hawkins falling afoul of the law once again and spent much of the next decade in prison addicted to heroin. Eventually Bromberg contacted Hawkins and was able to get him to agree to release the previously recorded songs as an album, Watch Your Step, which was released by Rounder Records in 1982. 

                                   

This debut album was a commercial failure but received rave reviews (notably a rare five-star rating in Rolling Stone) and Hawkins began to receive some acclaim. But the ladder of success was not in his reach as he had to serve 18 months of a three-year sentence due to indecent exposure in the midst of suffering nervous breakdowns. Yet, Hawkins reunited with Bromberg in 1985 for a second album, Happy Hour, which contained the touching "Cold & Bitter Tears."  This album featured more original songs by Hawkins and was again ignored in the U.S.; however, it won acclaim and sales in Europe. 

Throughout most of the Eighties Hawkins sang on the ocean-front boardwalk in Venice, California, where he entertained the tourists, few of whom realized he was a celebrated recording artist. He was tracked down by Andy Kershaw, who visited him at his home and encouraged him to come to Britain, where he showed up in 1986 and was treated like a star for four years. He frequently played at the Mean Fiddler, Harlesden, visited Ireland and even performed at the Montreux Festival, Switzerland. Despite the recognition and fame he received in Europe, Hawkins was restless and moved back to California in the early 1990s. 

But when he came home, he was faced with the same old situation. Once again, he set up his tip jar on the beach, donned the black leather glove he wore on his fretting hand, and played for passersby, until DGC ever so briefly propelled him into the major leagues. The subsequent album, The Next 100 Years, was a surprise Top Twenty hit in Australia, where Hawkins was invited to tour. He was planning another trip to Australia at the time of his death and had been expected to play at several leading American jazz and blues festivals. His career had finally seemed set to blossom, and for a year or so, he was even a star in his own country but he suffered a  diabetes-related stroke on 29 December, 1994, from which he never recovered. He died in Los Angeles 1 January 1995, just a few months after the release of his breakthrough recording. 

Ted Hawkins was a unique talent, unclassifiable and eminently soulful. Love You Most of All: More Songs from Venice Beach was issued posthumously in 1998. In 2014, in cooperation with his family, the Killer Blues Headstone Project placed a headstone for Ted Hawkins at Ingelwood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California. 

(Edited from Chris Welch obit @ The Independent, AllMusic  & Wikipedia)  

Pepe Jaramillo born 27 October 1921

Pepe Jaramillo (October 27, 1921 - April 30, 2001) was a notable Mexican pianist, composer, arranger, and recording artist. He was most active in London as an EMI recording artist in the 1960s and 1970s.

Born José Jaramillo García in Lerdo, Durango, Mexico, both of Jaramillo's parents were originally from the state of Chihuahua. Pepe's father was Vicente Baca Jaramillo and his mother was Doña Enriqueta García. He also had a sister and three brothers. Jaramillo's sister's piano-playing inspired the then-four-year-old to teach himself to play the instrument, largely by ear. His family soon arranged for private lessons with a local teacher, and Jaramillo later continued his private lessons with the director of the Mexican Conservatory of Music. 

In spite of his musical gifts, his family urged him to still have a back-up plan within a more stable profession. Thus, after studying dentistry for a frustrating two years, Jaramillo completed his higher education at the Academia de Negocios de Milton (Milton Business Academy), México City; he also devoted himself to learning English, French, Italian and Portuguese. 

Jaramillo was employed for several years under a British mining company operating in the state of Chihuahua. One evening, while visiting the bar of the fashionable Ritz-Carlton in Mexico City, Jaramillo casually began "tinkering" on the grand piano in the hotel lobby for the entertainment of his friends; upon hearing his playing, hotel management promptly offered him a job playing in the Ritz-Carlton's night club. This marked the beginning of Jaramillo's lifelong musical career, during which he focused on the composition, arrangement and performance of various Latin American and Spanish musical styles, including Cuban cha-cha and rumba, boleros, and Brazilian samba, among others. 

After a successful three-year term at the Ritz, Jaramillo was subsequently employed by friends who had opened the Quid Grill, a restaurant and bar. In turn, it was these friends' Hollywood actor friends who proved to be instrumental in introducing Jaramillo to the mainstream media, beginning in Mexico City; he also became highly sought-after as an accompanist for visiting and touring vocalists and other musicians. 

After a 1957 visit to Paris with his cousin, Jaramillo fell in love with Europe, ultimately deciding to relocate to London. He appeared on a radio series with the BBC called Stairway to the Stars. After answering a call on TV for musicians, Jaramillo sent a recording of some of his earlier Mexican releases to Norman Newell; soon thereafter, his 20-year recording career (spanning 1959–1979) as an EMI artist began. 

                             Here's "Pepe" from above album.

                                    

As a seasoned professional performer in Mexico, at age 38 Pepe Jaramillo was well prepared to move to the international stage. Through his nightclub and theater performances in some of the world's major cities, he became known as the "Ambassador of México." His performance venues in the Americas included Los Angeles, Harlem, New York City, Miami, Colombia, and Buenos Aires. European performances included London, Paris, Madrid, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Yugoslavia. 

During a world tour he performed in many theaters across Japan, and also performed in Tangier, Hong Kong, Thailand, and China. During his concert tour in Australia and New Zealand, he also performed with The Seekers. By popular demand, Pepe visited Durban and Johannesburg for three tours of South Africa. In London, Pepe played at the reception hosted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and the Royal Family. 

When he was not working or staying in London, Pepe Jaramillo spent his free time at his villa Las higueras (The Fig Trees) on the Costa del Sol in Spain. He enjoyed swimming, tennis, and painting. Pepe's generous charitable benefits and sponsorships included organizations in his homeland like the Red Cross and the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

José Jaramillo García was recognized in September 1991 by Lerdo as "Distinguished Citizen." In November 1996, Pepe made another return visit to his hometown, gave several concerts, and donated a piano to the local Casa de la Cultura.

On April 30, 2001, Pepe Jaramillo died of anemia during sleep at his residence located near the town of Mijas, Malaga province in Andalusia, Spain. His ashes were returned to his family in Mexico. 

(Edited from Wikipedia) (Online, and within other sources, Jaramillo has often been confused with an Ecuadorean singer of the same name.) 

 

Ranee Lee born 26 October 1942

Ranee Lee, CM (born October 26, 1942) is an American jazz singer and musician who resides in Montreal, Quebec. She is also an actor, author, educator and television host. Referred as “Montreal's Queen of Jazz,” Lee is a Juno Award winner, two-times Top Canadian Female Jazz Vocalist by Jazz Report Magazine and was honored with the International Association of Jazz Educators Awards for her outstanding contribution to jazz music. 

Born in Brooklyn, Lee performed as a singer while in high school and in the mid-60s, she was invited to join a dance troupe and tour various parts of the U.S. and then Canada. As one of the company members who sang, the dance performance was extended with added vocals generally provided by Lee. After a few years of performing throughout Ontario and the U.S. and, eventually, discovering Montreal, then falling in love with one of her native sons, Montreal became her home. She subsequently landed a starring role playing Billie Holiday in Lady Day, and won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for her performance. After which she began recording as a vocalist, releasing her first album All Grown Up in 1980 which contained disco oriented songs. 

It was an energetic time on the music scene in Canada and Lee has fond memories of the era. Thankfully, she came to realize that the music of Billie Holiday, and others of the jazz genre, continue and remain. Disco wass a distant memory as she began to sing Jazz songs in the night clubs, leading to her next release Live at the Bijou in 1984, was the first of many albums with the Justin Time label. Lee’s actual understanding of jazz phrasing and the development of a song gradually set in the more she became aware of the style of the music and its requirements. 

She wrote and starred in Dark Divas, The Musical, a tribute to the lives and careers of seven of the most popular female jazz singers of the 20th century: Josephine Baker, Billie Holiday, Pearl Bailey, Lena Horne, Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan. She is also a children's book writer (author of Nana, What Do You Say?); an educator, long associated with the University of Laval in Quebec City and the Schulich School of Music of McGill University; and she hosted the television series The Performers. 

                         Here’s a 2022 digital single of “I’m Alive”

                                     

Ranee’s impressive discography is filled with masterworks: “The Musical, Jazz on Broadway”, being one of them, was a successful marriage of jazz standards and the music of Broadway. In 1994 and again in1995, Ranee received the Top Canadian Female Jazz Vocalist Award presented by Jazz Report magazine. Her album “I Thought About You” was the first nominated recording for a Juno Award in the Best Mainstream Jazz category in 1995. In March 2003 Ranee received her third Juno nomination for “Maple Groove: Songs From The Great Canadian Songbook,” featuring selections from some of Canada’s greatest songwriters. 

Throughout her career Ranee has performed with many jazz notables, including Clark Terry, Bill Mayes, Herbie Ellis, Red Mitchell, Milt Hinton, Oliver Jones, Terry Clarke, John Bunch, George Arvanitas, to name a few. Lee is no stranger to the road; she has toured with her own group throughout America and has played at many prestigious jazz festivals, most recently the Montreal International Jazz Festival and the Canada Capital festival in Sao Paulo. Ranee has toured throughout all of Spain and France, and other Scandinavian countries, as well as England. 

As an educator, Ranee has been part of the University of Laval faculty in Quebec City for twelve years, and The Schulich School of Music of McGill University faculty for over twenty years. She won the Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award in 1988 for her musical and actorial achievements. Her music appears in the animated short film Black Soul (2000). Lee was named a member of the Order of Canada in 2006. She received the International Association of Jazz Educators award in 2004 and 2008. 

In 2007 Ranee was given the award in the category for Arts and Culture and an award for appreciation and contribution to the development of the McGill Jazz Program by the McGill Schulich School of Music. In April 2010, Ranee won the Juno Vocal Jazz Album of the year for the recording of “Ranee Lee Lives Upstairs. 

Ranee Lee is now celebrating thirty-five years in Montreal where she enjoys a successful, multi faceted career as one of Canada’s most popular jazz vocalists, an award-winning actress, a songwriter, and a proud author of children’s books. 

She has performed regularly this year at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal and in November will be performing with her quintet at the Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill in Montreal. 

(Edited from articles @ Schulich School of Music, McGill University webpage, Westmount Mag, & Upstairs Jazz.com)

 

Jimmy Heath born 25 October 1926

James Edward Heath (October 25, 1926 – January 19, 2020), nicknamed Little Bird, was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, and big band leader. He was the brother of bassist Percy Heath and drummer Albert Heath. 

Heath was born in Philadelphia, began playing the alto saxophone when he was 14, and was making his living with it five years later. His father, Percy Sr, was a car mechanic who played the clarinet in marching bands at weekends and introduced Jimmy to the instrument, and his mother, Arlethia, sang in the local church choir. Rejected for the second world war draft on account of his slightness, Heath toured with the New Orleans bassist and bandleader Nat Towles’s group in 1945-46, but then formed his own local big band in Philadelphia, modelled on the audacious swing-to-bop chemistry of Gillespie’s new orchestra. Heath’s ensemble included several Philly players who were to become stars later, including Benny Golson and Coltrane. 

L-R: Miles Davis, Kenny Drew, Art Blakey, Jimmy Heath 1953

Heath moved to New York at 22, eventually landing a spot alongside Percy Jr in Gillespie’s big band, and also in the trumpeter’s sextet. During 1947-48, the brothers also played in the bebop trumpeter Howard McGhee’s group, appearing with it at the first Festival International de Jazz in Paris. In 1950 Heath switched to tenor sax, and his musical identity quickly acquired a more distinctive strength. From 1952 to 1953 he was working with Davis’s band, and though later in the decade arranging and composing took up an increasing proportion of his time, he did co-lead a bop-oriented quintet with another trumpet star, Kenny Dorham. The Davis connection was also periodically re-established, with Heath occasionally deputising for Coltrane in the famous first Davis quintet in 1959 and 1960. 

However, Heath’s progress during the 50s was hampered, like that of a number of his jazz contemporaries at the time, by an addiction to heroin. He spent 1955-59 in the federal penitentiary at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, following convictions for dealing. He kicked the habit during that period, learning the flute, and smuggling compositions out of the institution that would turn up on jazz recordings of the era, such as the famous Chet Baker/Art Pepper cool-bop album Playboys. Probation stipulations following Heath’s release initially stopped him returning to the road, but freelance arranging (for Ray Charles, among others) and studio recording and staff-arranging work for the Riverside label restored his profile. 

                                  

Heath was thus in his 30s before he recorded under his own name, and on his debut album The Thumper (1960), which featured Nat Adderley on trumpet, he immediately impressed the jazz world with the warm authority of his composing on such striking tracks as For Minors Only.In his own groups during the 60s, Heath often appeared with his siblings, in ensembles that were sometimes augmented by Nat and Cannonball Adderley, and also by Sun Ra’s saxophonist Pat Patrick. A signature Heath ensemble style began to evolve, built around sonorous, Gil Evans-like low-brass effects, and homages to 30s jazz-orchestral innovators including Jimmie Lunceford. 

Much of Heath’s most trenchant tenor-sax improvising on disc was also captured in this period, sounding authoritative and surefooted even up against partners including the young trumpet firebrand Freddie Hubbard and the pianist Wynton Kelly on 60s albums that included The Quota and On the Trail. In the following decade Heath worked extensively with the trumpeter Art Farmer and pianist Stanley Cowell, with his brother Al on drums – his arranging talents continuing to make small bands sound much larger than they really were. Heath’s son, the singer/percussionist James Mtume, appeared with his father’s bands from the late 70s, as did the guitarist Tony Purrone. There continued to be occasional appearances with Gillespie, and after Gillespie’s death in 1993, Heath celebrated his former employer’s music in tribute concerts at such venues as Lincoln Center in New York. 

Writing and arranging occupied Heath extensively in the 80s, but he did sporadically record for the Muse label. His saxophone playing, full of character as ever, became increasing economical and unusual, with as much being said in the pacing and spaces as any note-rammed stream of jazz virtuosity. In the mid-80s Heath also began expanding the educational work he had begun with the New York jazz-outreach organisation Jazzmobile in 1964. He pioneered a jazz course as a professor at Queens College, City University of New York, remaining in that role until 1998. 

His big band continued to perform into the 90s – his composing achievements in that field having included the fine orchestral works Afro-American Suite of Evolution (1975), Smilin’Billy (1976, written with Ornette Coleman’s drummer Billy Higgins in mind) and Praise (1994). Heath was nominated for Grammy awards three times, and was presented with the National Endowment for the Arts’ Jazz Masters award in 2003. His autobiography, I Walked With Giants, was published in 2010. Heath died on January 19, 2020, in Loganville, Georgia, of natural causes.

(Edited from John Fordham obit @ The Guardian & Wikipedia)

 

Sanford Clark born 24 October 1935

Sanford Clark (October 24, 1935 – July 4, 2021) was an American country-rockabilly singer and guitarist, best known for his hit "The Fool". 

Tulsa-born Sanford Clark moved with his family to Phoenix, Arizona, at age nine and began playing guitar at the age of twelve. Until 1953 he played around Phoenix, then he enlisted for four years in the U.S. Air Force, which initially took him to Johnston Island in the Pacific. His next assignment was back home in Phoenix where he returned to the clubs when off-duty. Guitarist Al Casey, Clark's lifelong friend, persuaded him to get on stage at the Arizona Hayride. Casey brought along Lee Hazlewood, a 27-year old deejay from KTYL who was looking for someone to record a song he had written. Hazlewood liked Clark's style and in March 1956 the three men pooled $ 215 to cut "The Fool" at a Phoenix studio owned by Floyd Ramsey. 

"The Fool" was meant to be a country song, but after Al Casey came up with a guitar riff out of an R&B song ("Smokestack Lightning" by Howlin' Wolf), Hazlewood felt that the song shouldn't be released on his own Viv label, which was strictly country, but on MCI, a label jointly owned by Hazlewood, Floyd Ramsey, Jimmy Wilcox and Connie Conway. Wilcox, who played bass on the session, remembers that it took more than 100 takes of "The Fool" before Hazlewood was satisfied. This wasn't Clark's fault, though, it was more a matter of Hazlewood experimenting with all kinds of tape echo, trying to get a certain sound. 

                                   

1500 MCI copies were pressed but nothing happened until influential Cleveland deejay Bill Randle started pushing the record. Randle also tipped off Randy Wood, who reissued "The Fool" on Dot in June 1956. With Dot's superior distribution behind the record, it reached # 7 on the Billboard pop charts in September also # 5 R&B and # 14 country. Following the song's success, Clark and Casey opened on tour for Ray Price, Roy Orbison and toured with Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins. 

Clark's 1957 follow-up single, "The Cheat", gave him a second minor hit, peaking at No. 74  on the pop charts. Five more Dot singles followed in 1957-58, but nothing charted. Sanford was having trouble with Dot honcho Randy Wood, who tried to turn him into another Pat Boone. In the spring of 1958, Clark, Hazlewood and Casey moved to the Jamie label, where Duane Eddy was just starting his long string of hits. Duane played on some of Clark's Jamie recordings, but to no commercial avail. Al Casey quit touring with Sanford in the summer of 1958 to join Duane on tour as a bassist. All of the ten Jamie sides were released in the UK, on London American, unlike the Dot recordings, which were limited to one single and one EP on London. 

After leaving Jamie in 1960, Clark recorded only sporadically for several years which included one single for 3-Trey in 1961 and another one-off single for Project Records in 1964. After moving to Hollywood, he and Lee Hazlewood tried their luck at Warner Bros Records in 1964. Clark nearly had a hit in 1965 with Hazlewood's composition "Houston", until Dean Martin covered it later that year, scoring a # 21 hit. Next, Sanford had five country-tinged singles released on Floyd Ramsey's Ramco label in 1966-67, including a remake of "The Fool", with Waylon Jennings on guitar, but "A Cheat" would remain Clark's last chart entry. There were enough Ramco tracks for an album, but Ramsey didn't release one at the time. 

Eventually Clark wound up on Hazlewood's independent LHI label, for which he cut an album ("The Return Of the Fool") in 1968. It included one of the first versions of "The Son Of Hickory Holler's Tramp", soon an international hit for O.C. Smith. Clark was far from happy with the hasty way he had to record his vocals over the pre-recorded backing tracks. By the 1970s he was no longer playing music full-time and made his living in the construction business and in gambling, as a highly skilled blackjack player. 

In March 1982 he recorded again, with his old buddies Al Casey and Lee Hazlewood, in Los Angeles. But only two of the eleven recordings were released at the time, The remaining nine tracks stayed in the can until Bear Family released them in 1993. In the 21st century Sanford has occasionally returned to the stage, with performances at Hemsby, England (2001, 2009), Viva Las Vegas (2002) and Green Bay, Wisconsin (2002), joined by Al Casey, his original guitar player. 

Clark's publicist and fellow performer, Johnny Vallis, said that Clark died on July 4, 2021, at Mercy Hospital in Joplin, Missouri, where he had been receiving cancer treatment before contracting COVID-19. He was 85 years old. 

(Edited from This Is My Story & Wikipedia)

Pat Lewis born 23 October 1947

Patsy Ruth Lewis (October 23, 1947 – September 2, 2024) was an American soul singer and backing vocalist from the 1960s. Lewis was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame twice; as a solo artist in 2015 and as a member of Isaac Hayes Hot Buttered Soul group in 2017. 

Patsy Lewis was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States, and moved to Detroit, Michigan, in 1951 where she attended Central High School. It was here that her dream of a singing career began. Patsy performed where ever she could in Glee clubs, talent shows and with the school band, throughout her school years and like most singers, sang in the church choir. 

The Adorables

In the early 1960s, Pat, her sister Dianne, and two friends (Betty and Jackie Winston) formed the group, The Adorables, who recorded a record and began singing backing vocals for Golden World Records. Lewis debuted as a solo artist in 1966 with Can't Shake It Loose while also beginning to do outside backing vocals sessions. She met Motown Records' in-house backing group The Andantes, and one day when one of the girls could not make the session for Stevie Wonder's "Up-Tight", Lewis stepped in and did it as well as several other Motown sessions. She signed to Solid Hit Bound Records and released a string of singles, including "Look At What I Almost Missed", "Warning", "No One to Love", "No Baby No", and "The Loser". During this time she became a permanent backing singer for Aretha Franklin.

In 1969, Don Davis owner of United Sound Recording Studio (writer/producer for Stax) booked The Group for a session for Isaac Hayes album “Hot Buttered Soul.” Pat was hired to arrange and record background vocals. When the album was released it was a hit. Isaac called The Group and asked if they wanted to tour with him. Pat gave Aretha Franklin her notice and The Group was renamed Hot, Buttered & Soul. While working with Don Davis and Isaac Hayes, Hot, Buttered & Soul recorded background vocals for many of the Stax artists. 

Hot Buttered & Soul

Pat continued to arrange all background vocals but was not given credit until a later date. During Isaac’s off time, Hot, Buttered & Soul travelled with Aretha Franklin and Rick Dees “Disco Duck.”. In 1972, Hot, Buttered & Soul moved to Memphis. In 1974 they added a fourth group member, Barbara McCoy, a former member of the The Charmels. Pat also worked for Shoe Productions where she did commercials for several products. Hot, Buttered & Soul remained Isaac Hayes's opening act and studio group from 1969-1982. They went on world tours and appeared on TV shows nationally and abroad. Singing became scarce due to Isaac’s career difficulties, so Pat and Diane moved back to Detroit, but still worked with Isaac off and on. 

                                    

In 1989, Lewis as well as The Andantes were among the invited artists to join UK producer Ian Levine's mega-project Motorcity Records, a label formed to record new material on former Motown artists. She became the main backing vocals co-ordinator for the label and did several hundred arrangements while she recorded more than 50 tracks with herself and as a lead singer for the re-formed Andantes. Her single Separation (1991) (co-written by Levine and Billy Griffin) was Single of the Week when reviewed in British soul magazine Blues & Soul.

After the label's demise in 1992, she continued to work with Levine on a regular basis. In 1997, she recorded 50 cover versions of selected Motown and Northern Soul classics, although only a handful of tracks have been released on various artists compilations. In 1999, she recorded 76 gospel tracks with Levine for K-Tel. In 2002, Pat’s health began to fail. She acquired a rare blood disorder which resulted in both knees being replaced (2003) and the removal of her spleen (2004), which seemed to take care of the problem. 

In 2005, Pat received a call from T.J. Lubinski to sing backup for The Four Tops, Brenda Hollaway, Kim Weston and Francis Nero for the Motown - The Old Days PBS Special .As the Industry learned that Pat was back, the phone started to ring. In December 2005 the world of Northern Soul called for the sixties group,The Adorables, to perform what they called a Northern Soul Weekender in Northampton, England. Pat and the girls returned to the U.K. in 2006 and performed her sixties hits. 

She occasionally toured with Martha Reeves's original backing group The Vandellas and performed in Manchester, England in October 2007; where she had also been scheduled to record a new track for Levine's album Disco 2008, an engagement she had to cancel due to health problems. She was still performing in her later years and there is a video of her singing at the Detroit A-Go-Go Hotel St Regis, Detroit, on October 28, 2022, on YouTube. 

On September 2, 2024, it was announced that Lewis had died in Detroit, Michigan, at the age of 76.

(Edited from Discogs & Wikipedia)