Eugene Booker Record (December 23, 1940 – July 22, 2005)
was a songwriter, producer, all-around instrumentalist and frequent lead
vocalist of the Chi-Lites, one of the greatest soul groups ever to come out of
Chicago.
Chicagoan Eugene Record became interested in music at an
early age, first picking up the guitar. A big influence was his older sister,
an accomplished pianist who practiced classical music everyday in the living
room of his family home. Classic music motifs appear later in Record's original
songs and record productions.
The Chaunteurs (1961) : Clarence Johnson, Robert Lester,
Eddie Reed, Sollie McElroy and Eugene Record
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At 13, he shared his visions of owning his own record
company with fellow teen Gus Redmond. While attending Englewood High School, he
formed the Chanteurs with Robert "Squirrel" Lester and Clarence
Johnson. The group recorded a couple of singles ("You Did That to
Me") for Leo Ostell's Renee Records in 1959. Teaming with Marshall
Thompson and Creadel "Red" Jones of the Desideros, the quintet became
the Hi-Lites and started recording for the Daran label owned by Thompson's
cousin James Shelton. Record, who was working as a taxi-driver, wrote most of
their songs, often with his then wife Barbara Acklin. He also provided the
distinctive lead vocal, fluttering between tenor and falsetto.
The band had several minor hits on the R&B chart in
the 1960s, In 1964, the single "I'm
So Jealous" was a moderate hit and was leased to Chicago-based Mercury
Records. Johnson left the group that same year.
The H-Lites : Top : Creadel "Red" Jones, Eugene
Record, Robert Squirrel- Bottom : Marshal Thompson
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Two more releases followed on Mercury's Blue Rock
subsidiary while other singles were issued on Ja-Wes and Darin, including the
Monk Higgins song "Go Go Gorilla." Their first big break came when
Marshall Thompson ran into Otis Leavill while riding on a city bus. Leavill
suggested that the group, now called the Chi-Lites, audition for producer Carl
Davis, who had just opened his Dakar label. The Chi-Lites' first Dakar single
was "Price of Love" in 1967.
Davis signed the Chi-Lites to Brunswick in late 1968,
releasing their first national chart hit, "Give It Away," which went
to number ten R&B in early 1969. The double-sided follow-up was "Let
Me Be the Man My Daddy Was" backed with "The Twelfth of Never."
Davis hired Record to write songs for his Jalynne publishing firm in the late
'60s. Collaborating with fellow Brunswick signee Barbara Acklin, who had a 1968
Top Ten R&B/pop hit with "Love Makes a Woman," Record had a hit
with Peaches and Herb's "Two Little Kids."
Around this time, he and Acklin wrote the classic
melancholy ballad "Have You Seen Her," but Record had rejected it as a potential single on
account of it being unusually long. Yet the huge success of Isaac Hayes's LP
Hot Buttered Soul (1969) - which contained several lengthy, part-spoken tracks
- convinced Record to dust off the tune, and its beseeching tone, combined with
his soulfully romantic delivery propelled it to No 3 in the American charts.
The group's country-ish follow-up, Oh Girl, though perhaps less memorable, did
even better, reaching No 1.
The Chi-Lites continued to enjoy success in the pre-disco
days of the mid-Seventies, scoring four Top Ten hits in Britain, most notably
Homely Girl. Record, however, was already turning to more ambitious, polemical
fare such as There Will Never Be Any Peace (Until God is Seated at the
Conference Table), that hinted at his ultimate destiny as a gospel singer.
Before then, tax problems at Brunswick hobbled the
Chi-Lites for a time and, following several changes of personnel, Record quit
the band in 1976 to try a solo career. He released three albums on Warner
Records, including Trying to Get to You (1978), named after a Marvin Gaye
track, but they failed to spark. In 1979, he had a disco hit called
"Magnetism. In 1980 he re-joined the Chi-Lites.
In1988 however, he left for good, attesting that he had
heard God speaking to him while he was in the recording studio. He dedicated
himself to gospel and to a simpler way of life, being able to live comfortably
off his song-writing royalties. In 1990, for instance, MC Hammer recorded a
version of Have You Seen Her which reached No 4 in the American charts, while
among many other covers of his songs was Swing Out Sister's 1992 hit Am I The
Same Girl?'
In December of 2003, Record reunited with the Chi-Lites
to film the PBS Special Superstars of Seventies Soul. The following year the
hip hop generation knocked on his door once again as "Are You My
Woman" was used as part of the Beyonce hit "Crazy in Love." The
song used enough of his tune to garner a writing credit and earned Record his
first Grammy Award.
After a long battle with cancer Eugene Record passed away
on July 22, 2005 at the age of 64. At the time of his death he was busy with
ministry work and planning a re-release of his 1998 gospel album Let Him In.
(Info compiled and edited mainly from All Music & The
Telegraph obit)
2 comments:
For “The Chi-Lites - 20 Greatest Hits” go here:
http://www77.zippyshare.com/v/15266513/file.html
1 Give It Away 2:44
2 Let Me Be The Man My Daddy Was 3:28
3 I Like Your Lovin' (Do You Like Mine) 3:16
4 Are You My Woman (Tell Me So) 2:59
5 (For God's Sake) Give More Power To The People 3:47
6 We Are Neighbors 3:39
7 Have You Seen Her 5:09
8 Oh Girl 3:36
9 The Coldest Days Of My Life (Part 1) 4:20
10 A Lonely Man 6:12
11 We Need Order 5:17
12 A Letter To Myself 5:12
13 Stoned Out Of My Mind 2:58
14 I Found Sunshine 2:59
15 Homely Girl 3:27
16 Too Good To Be Forgotten 3:14
17 There Will Never Be Any Peace (Until God Is Seated At The Conference Table) 4:50
18 You Got To Be The One 3:55
19 Toby 3:46
20 You Don't Have To Go 4:44
A big thank you to Carlos Prado @ relembrando os bons tempos Blog. For active link
Eugene Record was a Gem. Apart from his many talents, he had an energy that touched his many fans. Even though he has passed his spirit still shines beautifully through his photos and his performances.
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