Freddie Scott born 24 April 1933

Freddie Scott (April 24, 1933 – June 4, 2007) was a solo artist who began his career as a songwriter for Colpix Records, along with Carole King and Gerry Goffin.

Born in Providence, Rhode Island, he sang with his grandmother’s gospel group the Gospel Keys while in his early teens. He attended Cooper High School in New York City and studied medicine at the University of Rhode Island but gave it up for singing. He recorded his first solo single, “Running Home”, for the small J&S label in 1956. But his recording career was cut short because of a call from Uncle Sam – resulting in a short period in Korea, but mainly working in Special Services up to '59 – which, however, didn't prevent Freddie from recording to small Bow and Arrow labels in '57 and '58. 

From 1956 to 1962 he would release nine more records for four different labels, but with little or no success.



During that period he wrote songs and together with Helen Miller they wrote for Al Nevins' and Don Kirshner's Aldon Music (in the company of Goffin & King, Mann & Weil, Neil Sedaka and others) providing material for Paul Anka, Ann-Margret, Gene Chandler, Bobby Darin, Tommy Hunt and Jackie Wilson. and even did production work to keep his singing dream alive. Freddies "Baby I'm Sorry" was recorded by Ricky Nelson for his 1957 debut album "Ricky"

His big break came in 1962 when he recorded a demo of “Hey Girl”, written by the Brill Building writing team of Gerry Goffin and Carole King. The song was written with Chuck Jackson in mind, but Chuck turned it down. Goffin and King liked Scott’s voice and recorded another version with Freddie and it was released in 1963 on the Colpix label, almost one year after he recorded the demo record.

The record became a Top Ten hit and effectively launched Scott’s career.The success of Hey Girl sent Freddie from behind the writing desk onto the road, but the success also called for an album. Freddie Scott Sings was released on a Columbia subsidiary, Colpix, in '63. He hit the charts another two times for Colpix, but lost favor as many American singers did due to the British Invasion. 

He moved on to Columbia records and released four more singles, but this time, with no chart activity.  In 1966 Bert Berns, the producer, songwriter and owner of Shout Records signed Freddie and returned him to the charts with “Are You Lonely For Me”.

 Freddie stayed on the charts until the untimely death of Bert Berns in 1967. Freddie’s chart career seemed to die with Berns. He did some jingle writing after that, and took some minor acting roles, but his singing career was over. One of Freddie’s songs from 1968 “You Got What I Need” was sampled in 1989 and became the signature song for rapper Biz Markie. While Scott’s star waned somewhat in the 1980s, he still toured and performed regularly, releasing a pair of new albums in 2001 and 2004. He also was a contributor to Van Morrison's "Vanthology" album released in 2003.

 

Over the course of his career, Freddie Scott released well over 30 single recordings and many, many albums. He died of a heart attack June 4, 2007 in New york City at the age of 74.

(Info edited mainly from Tunedex memories)