| The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Studio album by | |
| Released | February 1971 |
| Recorded | 1970 |
| Genre | Psychedelic soul, funk, rock |
| Length | 40:59 |
| Label | Curtom CRS 8007 |
| Producer | Curtis Mayfield |
The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend is the only solo album by American soul singer James "Baby Huey" Ramey. He died at the age of 26 while recording his solo debut, and the album was finished and released posthumously. The title refers to the "legend" of Baby Huey that survives after his death.
Ramey came to prominence under the stage name Baby Huey as the vocalist for the group Baby Huey & the Babysitters, which released a string of singles and found success in the Chicago area during the 1960s. Baby Huey was in the midst of recording tracks for his debut album when he died as a result of a heart attack in 1970. [1] Some time lapsed before his manager Marv Stuart, aka Marv Heiman, and producer/songwriter/musician Curtis Mayfield took what had already been recorded, added some instrumental tracks that had been recorded previously, and managed to gather up enough for the album's release. It is quite likely that some of the tracks feature Curtom Records session men and not the Babysitters since Mayfield wanted to sign Ramey and not the rest of the band.[ citation needed ] Noteworthy tracks include a "massive psychedelic rendition" [2] of Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come."
A quarter century after its release, The Baby Huey Story went on to become a cult classic among soul musicians and hip-hop fans. Its single "Hard Times" in particular has been sampled many times, by artists such as Ice Cube, A Tribe Called Quest, and Ghostface Killah, and was covered by John Legend and the Roots in 2010 for the album Wake Up!
The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend is the only available album release of Baby Huey. Several singles, including "Beg Me", "Monkey Man", "Messin' with the Kid", and "Just Being Careful", are not included.
Curtis Lee Mayfield was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, and one of the most influential musicians behind soul and politically conscious African-American music. Dubbed the "Gentle Genius", he first achieved success and recognition with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted group the Impressions during the civil rights movement of the late 1950s and the 1960s, and later worked as a solo artist.
Super Fly is the third studio album by American soul musician Curtis Mayfield, released on July 11, 1972 on Curtom Records. It was released as the soundtrack for the Blaxploitation film of the same name. Widely considered a classic of 1970s soul and funk music, Super Fly was a nearly immediate hit. Its sales were bolstered by two million-selling singles, "Freddie's Dead" and the title track. Super Fly is one of the few soundtracks to out-gross the film it accompanied.
Chicago soul is a style of soul music that arose during the 1960s in Chicago. Along with Detroit, the home of Motown, and Memphis, with its hard-edged, gritty performers, Chicago and the Chicago soul style helped spur the album-oriented soul revolution of the early 1970s.
Donny Edward Hathaway was an American soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, backing vocalist, and arranger who Rolling Stone described as a "soul legend". His most popular songs include "The Ghetto", "This Christmas", "Someday We'll All Be Free", and "Little Ghetto Boy". Hathaway is also renowned for his renditions of "A Song for You", "For All We Know", and "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know", along with "Where Is the Love" and "The Closer I Get to You", two of many collaborations with Roberta Flack. He has been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame and won one Grammy Award from four nominations. Hathaway was also posthumously honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. Dutch director David Kleijwegt made a documentary called Mister Soul – A Story About Donny Hathaway, which premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam on January 28, 2020.
Buddah Records was an American record label founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's founding. Buddah handled a variety of music genres, including bubblegum pop, folk rock (Melanie), experimental music, and soul.
James Thomas Ramey, better known as Baby Huey, was an American singer. He was the frontman for the band Baby Huey & the Babysitters, whose sole LP for Curtom Records in 1971 was influential in the development of hip-hop music.
The Impressions were an American music group originally formed in 1958. Their repertoire includes gospel, R&B, doo-wop, and soul.
Curtom Records was a record label started in 1968 by Curtis Mayfield and Impressions manager Eddie Thomas. The label's name was a combination of Mayfield's first name and Thomas' last name. Mayfield had previously made attempts at a record label with the "Mayfield" and "Windy C" labels.
Curtis is the debut album by American soul musician Curtis Mayfield, released in September 1970. Produced by Mayfield, it was released on his own label Curtom Records. The musical styles of Curtis moved further away from the pop-soul sounds of Mayfield's previous group The Impressions and featured more of a funk and psychedelic-influenced sound. The album's subject matter incorporates political and social concerns of the time.
Barry Joseph Goldberg is an American blues and rock keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer. Goldberg has co-produced albums by Percy Sledge, Charlie Musselwhite, James Cotton, and the Textones, plus Bob Dylan's version of Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready".
Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs is the debut album by Parliament-Funkadelic lead guitarist Eddie Hazel. The album was released on July 29, 1977. It was Hazel's only album until his death in 1992, when it was followed by several posthumous releases.
Baby Huey & the Babysitters was an American band formed in Gary, Indiana. The band, founded in 1963, was the idea of organist / trumpeter Melvyn Jones and guitarist Johnny Ross. James Ramey was their front man, and he adopted the stage name of "Baby Huey". They were well known on the club scene in Chicago.
Curtis/Live! is Curtis Mayfield’s first live album, after leaving The Impressions. Originally released in May 1971 as a double LP on Mayfield's Curtom label, the album's 16 tracks — along with Mayfield's interstitial raps on the politics of the day — were recorded at Paul Colby's 230 seater Bitter End nightclub in New York City. According to John Abbey, who at the beginning of the 1970s was editor of the UK magazine Blues & Soul, Mayfield and his band's first set at a Bitter End date in January 1971 comprised the bulk of the music presented here. Mixed primarily with Eddie Kramer at Electric Lady Studios, the album features Master Henry Gibson playing percussion, Craig McMullen on rhythm guitar, Joseph "Lucky" Scott on bass, and Tyrone McCullen on drums.
The Young Mods' Forgotten Story is an album by the American soul music group the Impressions. It was released in 1969 via Curtom Records.
Leroy Hutson is an American soul and R&B singer, songwriter, arranger, producer and instrumentalist, best known as former lead singer of R&B vocal group The Impressions.
Greatest Hits & Videos is a greatest hits album by Huey Lewis and the News, released on May 23, 2006. It contains the band's most popular songs and music videos. The compilation is a follow-up to the band's previous greatest hits compilation, Time Flies... The Best of Huey Lewis & the News from the previous decade.
All the Leaves are Brown: The Golden Era Collection is a 2001 release compiling the first four albums by The Mamas & the Papas in their entirety, with some single-exclusive mono versions and one non-album track. The package includes a brief history of the group and its albums by Matthew Greenwald, author of Creeque Alley: The Oral History of The Mamas & The Papas.
Johnny Ross was an American multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and founding member of Baby Huey & the Babysitters, who died in 2006 as a result of appendicitis. He also hosted his own cable television show.
Melvyn "Deacon" Jones was a trumpet player and an organist and founding member of Baby Huey & the Babysitters.
Joseph "Lucky" Scott was an American bassist, and musical director. He is most recognized for his work with Curtis Mayfield, in particular the Super Fly album. While Lucky was predominantly the bassist and musical director for Curtis Mayfield, his credits also include The Impressions, Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole, The Staple Singers, Leroy Hutson, Gladys Knight, and more. He played a Fender Jazz bass with flat wound strings and had an aggressive right-hand plucking technique that was very percussive.
