 |
Oscar Toney Jr. (born 26 May 1939, Selma, Alabama, United States) is an American soul singer. [1]
|
Oscar Toney Jr. (born 26 May 1939, Selma, Alabama, United States) is an American soul singer. [1]
Toney was raised in Columbus, Georgia, United States, and sang gospel in churches while young. In his teens, he joined a gospel group called The Sensational Melodies of Joy, and after this joined secular group called The Searchers (no relation to The Searchers), who released a few singles between 1958 and 1961. [1] In 1964, Toney released a solo single, "Can it All Be Love", on King Records, but did not garner any widespread notice. [1]
Toney then began working with the record producer Papa Don Schroeder, who used Toney as a backup replacement for James & Bobby Purify when one of the two singers was unavailable for a live performance. Schroeder had Toney signed to Bell Records in 1967, and his first single, a cover of "For Your Precious Love" by Jerry Butler & the Impressions, was produced by Chips Moman. [1] The tune would be the first and most successful of Toney's four chart hits. [1] His last single was 1969's "Down in Texas" b/w "Aint That True Love", which failed to chart, and Toney left Bell when Schroeder quit the music industry.
Toney toured the UK a few times during the 1960s, brought to England by agents Henry Sellers and Danny O`Donavan. He insisted after his first tour to have the same backing band which was Merlin Q from London. Merlin Q were Dave Kerr-Clemenson on bass, Andy Locke and Wally Scott on guitars Eddie Richards on drums and Denis White on Hammond. After their first rehearsal at the Q club in Paddington Oscar said to Sellers "you said they were good but not that good". The tour included all the Northern soul venues, such as Twisted Wheel Club in Manchester and Golden Torch in Tunstall. After the last tour Dave, Andy Wally and Eddie went on to become Edison Lighthouse.
In 1970, Toney released a single, "Down on My Knees", on Capricorn Records, but the tune did not chart; three more singles, all flops, followed on Capricorn, which dropped the singer in 1973. [2]
Toney's career was tenuous in America, but the British love for Northern soul resulted in a second wind. Later in the 1970s, he was signed to the British record label Contempo Records for six singles and an album, yet none of these sold well, [1] and in the 1980s Toney left the secular industry to focus on gospel again.
Collaboration: Cliff Ellis & Oscar Toney, Jr Over At Mary's Place, 2008
| Year | Title | Chart Positions [2] | |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Pop Singles | US R&B Singles | ||
| 1967 | "For Your Precious Love" | 23 | 4 |
| 1967 | "Turn On Your Love Light" | 65 | 37 |
| 1968 | "Never Get Enough of Your Love" | 95 | - |
| 1968 | "Without Love (There Is Nothing)" | 90 | 47 |
Solomon Vincent McDonald Burke was an American singer who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues as one of the founding fathers of soul music in the 1960s. He has been called "a key transitional figure bridging R&B and soul", and was known for his "prodigious output".
SWV is an American R&B vocal trio from New York City whose members are Cheryl (Coko) Gamble, Tamara (Taj) George, and Leanne (Lelee) Lyons. Formed in 1988 as a gospel group, SWV became one of the most successful R&B groups of the 1990s. They had a series of hits, including "Weak", "Right Here ", "I'm So into You", and "You're the One". The group disbanded in 1998 to pursue solo projects and reunited in 2005. SWV has sold more than 25 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling girl groups of all time.
Frederick Anthony Jackson is an American singer. Originally from New York, Jackson began his professional music career in the late 1970s with the California funk band Mystic Merlin. Among his well–known R&B/soul hits are "Rock Me Tonight " (1985), "Have You Ever Loved Somebody" (1986), "Jam Tonight" (1986), "Do Me Again" (1990), and "You Are My Lady" (1985). He contributed to the soundtrack for the 1989 film, All Dogs Go to Heaven with the Michael Lloyd-produced duet "Love Survives" alongside Irene Cara. He also appeared in the movie King of New York.
Chanté Torrane Moore is an American singer-songwriter, television personality, and author. Rising to fame in the early 1990s, Moore established herself as an R&B singer.
The Impressions were an American music group originally formed in 1958. Their repertoire includes gospel, R&B, doo-wop, and soul.
Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul is the third studio album by American soul singer and songwriter Otis Redding. It was first released on September 15, 1965, as an LP record through the Stax Records subsidiary label Volt.
Alicia Michelle "Miki" Howard is an American R&B singer who had a string of top 10 hit songs in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, including "Baby, Be Mine" (1987), "Come Share My Love" (1986) and "Love Under New Management" (1990). "Ain't Nobody Like You" (1992) and "Ain't Nuthin' in the World" (1989) both peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard Top R&B Singles chart.
Dobie Gray was an American singer and songwriter. Gray's music spanned multiple genres, including soul, country, pop, and musical theater. His hit songs included "The 'In' Crowd" in 1965 and "Drift Away". "Drift Away" was one of the biggest hits of 1973, has sold over one million copies, and remains a staple of radio airplay.
Beverley Knight is an English singer, songwriter, actress and radio personality. She released her first album, The B-Funk, in 1995. Heavily influenced by American soul music icons such as Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin, Knight has released nine studio albums. Widely regarded as one of Britain's greatest soul singers, Knight is best known for her hit singles "Greatest Day", "Get Up!", "Shoulda Woulda Coulda", "Come as You Are" and "Keep This Fire Burning".
"It's My Party" is a song by American singer-songwriter Lesley Gore from her debut studio album I'll Cry If I Want To (1963). It was released as the lead single from the album on April 5, 1963, by Mercury Records. The song was collectively written by Herb Wiener, John Gluck Jr., and Wally Gold, while production was helmed by Quincy Jones.
James & Bobby Purify were an R&B singing duo, whose biggest hits were "I'm Your Puppet" in 1966, which reached number six in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and in a re-recorded version number 12 in the UK Singles Chart, and "Let Love Come Between Us" in 1967, which reached number 23 in the US. The original "Bobby Purify" was replaced by a second "Bobby Purify" in the 1970s.
Otis Lee Clay was an American R&B and soul singer, who started in gospel music. In 2013, Clay was inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame.
The Dixie Nightingales, also known as Ollie & the Nightingales and The Nightingales, was an African-American male vocal group, whose repertoire included gospel and later rhythm and blues and soul music.
Gerald Alston is an American soul/R&B singer, and the lead singer of the Grammy Award winning group The Manhattans between late 1970 and 1988, recording 25 top 40 R&B and 12 Hot 100 Pop Singles. Alston was lead singer on their most successful 1976 Platinum song "Kiss and Say Goodbye", which topped all U.S. pop and R&B charts and was number one in four countries. Alston left the group in 1988 to pursue a solo career and recorded five albums and ten singles, including the hit singles "Take Me Where You Want To", "Slow Motion" and "Getting Back into Love", he also recorded a remake of Atlantic Starr's "Send for Me", most of which was for Motown Records.
Mitty Lene Collier is an American church pastor, gospel singer and former rhythm and blues singer. She had a number of successful records in the 1960s, of which probably the best known is "I Had A Talk With My Man".
"Without Love (There is Nothing)" is a song written by Danny Small and originally recorded by Clyde McPhatter in 1957. McPhatter's version peaked at number six on the R&B Best Seller chart and number nineteen on Billboard Hot 100.
"For Your Precious Love" is a song written by Arthur Brooks, Richard Brooks and Jerry Butler, and performed by Jerry Butler and The Impressions in 1958. The song was ranked #335 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2010.
This article is a discography for the work of former Temptations singer David Ruffin as a solo artist and in other group acts outside of The Temptations. It also includes a listing of his lead vocal recordings with The Temptations.
James Tigner, Jr., known as Jimmy Tig, was an American R&B singer, drummer, bandleader and songwriter who recorded and performed between the 1950s and 1970s.
Gerald Don Schroeder, known professionally as Papa Don Schroeder, was an American radio station owner and former record producer, radio personality, and singer-songwriter, who was responsible for producing hit singles in the 1960s and 1970s by James & Bobby Purify, Carl Carlton, and others.
| Authority control databases: Artists |
|---|
