Freddie Hughes born 20 August 1943

Freddie Hughes (August 20, 1943 – January 18, 2022) was an American gospel, soul, and R&B singer, perhaps best known for his 1968 song, "Send My Baby Back". 

Fred Willie Hughes Jr. was born in Berkeley, California. His parents came to the Bay Area from Dallas/Fort Worth Texas. His father Fred W Hughes Senior worked as a longshoreman and his mother Lola Mae Anderson was a singer and missionary at the Church of God In Christ in Oakland. It was in this church where Freddie's qualities as a singer were noticed for the first time when he was only five years old. At the age of 12, Fred sang in a choir, that included Betty Watson and Edwin Hawkins. It took him a few more years, though, to have his first hit single. 

The Four Rivers (Freddie top right)

In his early years Freddie played in quite a few outfits including the Holidays, Five Disciples, The Markeets, Casanova Two, Music City Soul Brothers and The Four Rivers. Subsequently he played with quite a lot of musicians (including Lonnie Hewitt, Wylie Trass, Johnny Talbot to name a few) and recorded several songs with them. Some of these were released as singles/albums and some never found a release. Freddie started to play on Oakland's club circuit around 1955 and in 1958 he released his first 45 with the Markeets with whom he released five more 45s and three albums on Melatone Records.

                                   

In 1968 he recorded his first hit single "Send My Baby Back" which was released nationally by San Francisco's Wee Records and internationally by Scepter-Wand Records. It was written by Lonnie Hewitt and Ernest Marbray, and issued as a single with "Where's My Baby" on the B-side. The single appeared on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart, peaking at No. 20 that year. It also charted on the Billboard Hot 100 peaking at No. 94.As a matter of fact many people still attribute “Send My Baby Back”  with the name of Fred Hughes who is a singer from L.A. and recorded the hit "Oo Wee Baby, I Love You" for the famous Vee-Jay label. 

The mix-up between Freddie Hughes and Fred Hughes is quite a problem if you want to find out which songs were really recorded by Freddie Hughes as many online discographies/biographies are a total mess because they cannot distinguish beween Freddie Hughes and Fred Hughes. Releases such as the bootleg CD "Fred Hughes And His Groups" only help to contribute to this confusion as both artist are mixed-up again. Nevertheless the CD includes tracks Freddie recorded with several bands mentioned above, e.g. the Four Rivers' "I Confess," four selections from his stint with the Music City Soul Brothers, and "We Got to Keep On" by Casanova Two. Solo tracks include "Send My Baby Back," "My Baby Came Back," and "Where's My Baby". 

In addition Freddie Hughes has been working with such greats as Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Etta James, Ike & Tina Turner and the Bobby Murray Band (band leader & guitarist for Etta James) and has performed in venues, from the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area to New York as well as London, France, Italy, Switzerland and Holland. 

In 1997 Freddie Hughes released the album "The Soul of Freddie Hughes" which was produced by Marlin Hunter and Chris Burns. The CD contains songs co-written by Hughes, together with Burns and Hunter. “The Soul Of Freddie Hughes” was recorded at the House of Hughes in Atlanta Ga. and released on the IFGABM Label. 

The International Alpha Band

Jeanne Doan, who is a lyricst and published poet, and Freddie Hughes formed The International Alpha Band in November 1999 for the main purpose to book Freddie in public performances and keep his singing career alive.  2002 saw the release of the album "The Future Is Now," a marvelous soul album that shows Freddie at his best. On this CD Freddie is joined by his son Derrick Hughes singing “The Woman I Want” co-written by Hughes and Burns. Other songs include “Trying To Be A Better Man” which was written by Freddie for his son; "Freedom" and "Baby I Believe In You" where the marvelous Mz. Dee joins Freddie on vocals and many more outstanding soul tunes. 

In 2009 Freddie was inducted into the West Coast Blues Hall of Fame. He remained active and performed in numerous clubs right until his death.  In early January 2022, Hughes was hospitalized with pneumonia and COVID-19. He died on January 18, 2022, at age 78, from leukemia and COVID-19 complications at Kaiser Oakland Medical Center in Oakland, California. 

(Edited from Bay Area Bands, Wikipedia & Soulwalking)