Mable
John (born November 3, 1930) is an American blues vocalist and was the first
female signed by Berry Gordy to Motown's Tamla label.
John
was born in Bastrop, Louisiana. At a very young age, she and her parents moved
to north across the state-line into Arkansas where her father got a job in a
paper mill near the community of Cullendale. There four brothers (including
R&B singer Little Willie John) and two sisters were born. In 1941, after
her father was able to secure a better job, the family moved to Detroit, where
two additional brothers were born. The family lived in a new housing
development at Six Mile and Dequindre Road. She attended Cleveland Intermediate
School, and then Pershing High School, which is at Seven Mile and Ryan Road.
After
graduating from Pershing High School, she took a job as an insurance
representative at Friendship Mutual Insurance Agency, a company run by Berry
Gordy's mother, Bertha. Later, she left the company and spent two years at
Lewis Business College. She subsequently ran into Mrs. Gordy again, who told
Mable that her son Berry was writing songs and was looking for people to record
them. Gordy began coaching her and would accompany John on piano at local
engagements. This continued until 1959, when John performed at the Flame Show
bar on John R Street at the last show that Billie Holiday did in Detroit, just
weeks before Holiday's death.
The
same year, John began recording for Gordy. First she was signed to United
Artists, but nothing was released there. Eventually, she became one of the
first artists signed to Tamla, Gordy's own label. In 1960, she released her
first Tamla single, "Who Wouldn't Love a Man Like That?" a romantic
blues number, to no success. John followed with "No Love" in June of
that year and then with "Actions Speak Louder than Words" by year's
end.
(Here's the B Side to Actions Speak Louder Than Words and by far the best of all her Motown releases.)
While
Motown was beginning to have success with acts like The Miracles and The Marvelettes
(and later The Supremes, who had sung background vocals for John) that appealed
to teenagers and young adults, it failed to make an impact in the established
blues market. As a result, Gordy soon thinned out his roster of early blues
artists. While John continued to be used as a background singer, Gordy
dissolved her contract in 1962.
The song peaked at #6 on the R&B chart, and even managed to cross over onto pop radio, peaking at #95 there. She released six more singles for the label, none of which captured her first single's success. After leaving Stax Records in 1968, John rejoined The Raelettes for several years. She left secular music in 1973, and began managing Christian gospel acts, occasionally returning to the studio as a singer. She became the pastor and founder of Joy in Jesus Ministries in Los Angeles, California in 1986. John earned her doctorate in divinity from the Crenshaw Christian Centre in 1993.
In
1994, the Rhythm & Blues Foundation inducted Mable John into their Hall of
Fame. It was a just honour for the underrated blues singer, who made excellent
records but never had the luck or the timing to achieve the prominence she
deserved. She has been given many awards
for her service to music and music education including the AMC Support Music
Award in 2004.
She
appeared in John Sayles' 2007 movie Honeydripper. John was one of the singers featured in the
documentary film, “20 Feet From Stardom” about the lives of, mostly female,
background singers. Her solo singing career and subsequent session work as a
singer qualified her for the movie. The movie went on to win an Academy Award
for Best Documentary Feature. (Info mainly Wikipedia)
5 comments:
For an edited playlist of Mable John – My Name Is Mable go here:
http://uptobox.com/feptr2t0g183
1) No Love (without strings)
2) You Made a Fool Out of Me (Single Verison)
3) (I Guess There's) No Love (Single Version Without Strings)
4) Looking For a Man (Single Version)
5) (I Guess There's) No Love (Single Version With Strings)
6) Actions Speak Louder Than Words (Single Version)
7) Take Me (Single Version)
8) I'm Yours, You're Mine (Previously Unreleased)
9) I'm Finally Through With You (Previously Unreleased)
10) Look at Me (Previously Unreleased)
11) More Lovin' (Previously Unreleased)
12) My Name Is Mable (Previously Unreleased)
13) My Thanks (Previously Unreleased)
14) True Love (Can Be Found) (Previously Unreleased)
15) We Belong Together (Previously Unreleased)
16) You Never Miss a Good Thing (Previously Unreleased)
17) Who Wouldn't Love a Man Like That (1963 Single Version)
18) Say You'll Never Let Me Go (Single Version)
19) Meet Me Half Way (Previously Unreleased)
20) No Love (with strings)
Mable John hardly registered with me at first, but after learning that she was a member of the Raelettes, backing Ray Charles in his hey day, I checked out her history, and it is very impressive.
I tried to DL the album but it's gone. Any chance of a re-up?
Al
hello MG, had to dig deep for this one..
https://www.upload.ee/files/11114930/Mable_John.rar.html
Regards, Bob
Thanks very much Bob. I'll cop this tomorrow.
MG
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