Eddy Giles born 17 March 1938

Eddie Giles (, March 17, 1938 - February 5, 2019) was an American southern soul and gospel singer, songwriter and guitarist. 

Eddy Giles was born Elbert Wiggins Giles in Frierson, Louisiana, near Shreveport and lived with his Grandmother. After seeing an ad in a magazine, he earned his first acoustic guitar. Using the music guide that came with the guitar, he taught himself three chords and began entertaining classmates at school, first at Second Ward High School in Gloster, then during his senior year at Booker T. Washington High School after he moved to Shreveport to live with his mother. 

After he graduated, his uncle bought him an electric guitar and amplifier, and his skills grew to the point he was asked to sing in the local gospel groups the Humming Bees. In 1962, a Chicago gospel group called the Pilgrim Jubilee came to Shreveport needing a bass player and left with Giles, who made the switch from guitar to bass to join the band. Giles was newlywed to a young girl who was still in high school when he hit the road with the band for three years of constant touring. Finally, his wife sent word: "Me or the group." Giles promptly caught the train back to Shreveport and got a job as a waiter. A couple of months later, his wife left him. 

Eddie Giles and Murco label owner Dee Marais knew each other from the late 1950s. Dee Marais settled in Shreveport where he started a career in the music business, starting the Recco label and buying the Bayou Record Shop on 70th Street in Shreveport from Shelby Singleton. To soul fans Dee Marais is best known for his revival of the Murco label in the 1960s, a concern which had had some rockabilly releases in the 1950s. By far the most successful of Marais’ artists was Eddie Giles. 

However it wasn’t until 1967 that Eddy agreed to make a secular recording, but it was well worth the wait. “Losing Boy” sold very well straight away from release. It’s lively rhythm and approach really caught the ear of the buying public, with the Dallas area alone accounting for 10,000 sales, and it registered for 5 weeks on the Cashbox hot 100 in the spring. Eddy had a further six 45s on Murco over the next couple of years but without hitting the sales highlight of the first release. 

                              

The follow-up “Don’t Let Me Suffer” was rather too similar to the hit for inclusion here. But the flip While I’m Away (Baby Keep The Faith), another of those Soul In Vietnam songs, was a fine ballad, given greater weight by the delicious extra vocal by Charles Brown and a sparse horn section. This track was also used as the flip to the disappointing "Eddy's Go Go Train” a few months later. 

But for deep soul fans Eddy’s next release Happy Man was his best yet, with a really committed vocal over a classic chord progression and a soulful organ. “Love With A Feeling” carried on the mood, after a splendidly sanctified opening, and had a lovely bluesy feel to the horns. His next 45 “Soulful Feeling” was a rather messy funk item, but in the strutting southern groove of “Ain’t Gonna Worry No More” Eddy was right back to peak form. 

His final 45 for Dee Marais coupled the O.V. Wright deep soul standard "That’s How Strong My Love Is", a staple of his stage show, with the upbeat “So Deep In Love”. This was cut at Shreveport’s premier studio Sound City but after a short lived Murco release, Dee leased the masters to Shelby Singleton, who in turn placed them with Leland Rogers’ Silver Fox concern in the summer of 1969.self pity of the lyric. The ballad has one of Eddy’s very best vocals on it, and the ad-libbed run-out groove where he really cuts loose is simply superb. 

Eddy joined the Bobby Patterson/Jerry Strickland partnership, and recorded enough material at the local Sound City studios for an LP. One 45, a recut of “Losing Boy” and a typically humorous “It Takes Me All Night” was leased to Stax, and a second came out on Alarm, the label they owned with Stewart Madison. This was the superb ballad Married Lady and an excellent cheating number “Are You Living With The One You’re Loving With”, which also gained a UK release on Hit And Run. 

Eddy’s final secular recordings were a 45 for another local label Custom Sound in 1977 as Eddy Giles & The Numbers. One side “Sexy Lady” has had plays on the modern scene and is now well sought after. Since then Eddy returned to the church as a pastor in Shreveport. He also was a gospel announcer for more than 40 years, as well as a program and music director at KOKA radio station. The station won the 2012 Stellar Award as an outstanding gospel radio station, as well as other accolades. 

Eddy enjoyed his time in the soul limelight and remained grateful to Marais for his career as a solo artist, but was adamant that he wouldn’t cut any more non-Christian material. "The blues tells you what condition you're in and the gospel tells you how to get out," he explained to the Shreveport Times. Dr. Eddie Giles died 7^th February 2019. 

(Edited from Sir Shambling’s Deep Soul Heaven & Shreveport Times)