| The Prime of My Life | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | November 6, 1965 [1] | |||
| Recorded | 1965 | |||
| Genre | Traditional pop, jazz | |||
| Label | Motown | |||
| Producer | William "Mickey" Stevenson | |||
| Billy Eckstine chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Record Mirror |   [2] |
The Prime of My Life is a 1965 studio album by the American singer Billy Eckstine. It was produced by William "Mickey" Stevenson, and was the first of three albums that Eckstine recorded for Motown Records. [3]
William Clarence Eckstine was an American jazz and pop singer and a bandleader during the swing and bebop eras. He was noted for his rich, almost operatic bass-baritone voice. In 2019, Eckstine was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award "for performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording." His recording of "I Apologize" was given the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999. The New York Times described him as an "influential band leader" whose "suave bass-baritone" and "full-throated, sugary approach to popular songs inspired singers like Earl Coleman, Johnny Hartman, Joe Williams, Arthur Prysock, and Lou Rawls."
Syreeta Wright, who recorded professionally under the mononym Syreeta, was an American singer-songwriter, best known for her music during the early 1970s through the early 1980s. Wright's career heights were songs in collaboration with her ex-husband Stevie Wonder and musical artist Billy Preston.
William "Mickey" Stevenson is an American former songwriter and record producer for the Motown group of labels from the early days of Berry Gordy's company until 1967.
Meet the Temptations is the debut studio album by the Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label released in 1964. It includes most of the group's early singles, excluding only the first, "Oh Mother of Mine", and its b-side, "Romance Without Finance" ; as well as the single "Mind Over Matter", in which the group is credited as The Pirates. The album consists entirely of previously released singles, including the group's first hit single, "The Way You Do the Things You Do".
George Ivy Hunter, known as Ivy Jo Hunter, was an American R&B songwriter, record producer and singer, most associated with his work for Motown in the 1960s.
The Temptin' Temptations is the third studio album by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label released in 1965. The album includes several of the group's hits from 1965, and also includes a handful of singles that were not included on the Temptations' first 1965 album, The Temptations Sing Smokey. Among these are the 1964 singles "Girl " and "I'll Be in Trouble"; and the 1965 singles "Since I Lost My Baby", and "My Baby". Seven of the album's 12 tracks had previously been released as singles and their B-sides, though "My Baby" preceded the album only by a month.
Where Did Our Love Go is the second studio album by Motown singing group the Supremes, released in 1964. The album includes several of the group's singles and B-sides from 1963 and 1964. Included are the group's first Billboard Pop Singles number-one hits, "Where Did Our Love Go", "Baby Love", and "Come See About Me", as well as their first Top 40 hit, "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes", and the singles "A Breathtaking Guy" and "Run, Run, Run".
Ronald Norman Miller was an American popular songwriter and record producer who wrote for Motown artists in the 1960s and 1970s and attained many Top 10 hits. Some of his songs, such as "For Once in My Life", have become pop standards.
Going to a Go-Go is a 1965 album by the Miracles, the first to credit the group as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. It includes four of the Miracles' Top 20 hits: "Ooo Baby Baby", "The Tracks of My Tears", "Going to a Go-Go", and "My Girl Has Gone". It was produced by Miracles lead singer Smokey Robinson, along with Frank Wilson and William "Mickey" Stevenson.
"My Baby Loves Me" is a 1966 soul standard by Martha Reeves but released under Martha and The Vandellas. None of the Vandellas are featured in this song. Instead, the background is sung by Motown's session group, The Andantes, and another legendary Motown group, The Four Tops. Co-written and co-produced by William "Mickey" Stevenson & Ivy Jo Hunter, the song rose to #22 on Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and #3 on Billboard's Hot R&B singles chart.
"For Once in My Life" is a song written by Ron Miller and Orlando Murden for Motown Records' Stein & Van Stock publishing company, and first recorded in 1965.
Do You Love Me (Now That I Can Dance) is the only album issued by The Contours during their recording career at Motown Records. Issued on Motown's Gordy subsidiary in October 1962 (see 1962 in music), the album includes the hit title track and the number 21 R&B hit single "Shake Sherry". Also including the early singles "Whole Lotta' Woman" and "The Stretch", Do You Love Me is notable as the first LP to be released by Gordy Records. The song was also performed in the movies Dirty Dancing, Getting Even With Dad, Teen Wolf Too (by Ragtime), and "Beethoven's 2nd". It was performed by Bootsy Collins and the Funk Brothers in the movie Standing in the Shadows of Motown and in 2016 was used in a Pepsi-Cola commercial featuring Janelle Monáe. It also appeared in a 2020 Boston Dynamics commercial featuring dancing robots.
Lost and Found: You've Got To Earn It (1962–1968) is a compilation album by The Temptations. Released by Motown Records in 1999, it includes twenty previously unreleased Temptations records alongside previously unreleased mixes of "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" and "You've Got to Earn It". Most of the songs were recorded during the group's "Classic 5" era with David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks as lead singers, although there are some tracks present which were recorded with Ruffin's predecessor, Elbridge Bryant, in the lineup. There's also one track that was recorded with Ruffin's successor, Dennis Edwards.
Super Hits is a compilation album by American soul singer, songwriter, and producer Marvin Gaye. It was released in 1970 by Motown's subsidiary Tamla Records and compiles Gaye's pop-R&B singles recorded from 1962 to 1969.
"I'll Always Love You" is a song co-written by William "Mickey" Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter and produced by Stevenson and Hunter as a single for The Spinners on the Motown Records label. The single became the Detroit-reared group's first charting single on the Motown Records company since they had signed with the company in 1964. The song was a top 40 pop single on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, on which it peaked at number 35. On the Billboard R&B singles chart, "I'll Always Love You" peaked at number 8. The song featured lead vocals by the group's main lead singer, Bobby Smith.
Playboy is the third album by the Motown girl group The Marvelettes, released in 1962. It capitalized on their hit singles "Playboy" and "Beechwood 4-5789". It also includes the single "Someday, Someway" and "Forever", a heartfelt standard that would be released the following year as the B-side of the single "Locking Up My Heart" and join the A-side on the charts. Other compositions include "Goddess of Love", "Cry Over You", and "Mix It Up". George Gordy, William "Mickey" Stevenson and Marvin Gaye, who had produced "Beechwood 4-5789" all did some work on the Playboy LP as well.
Love Starved Heart: Rare and Unreleased is a compilation album by Marvin Gaye. Released in 1994 on Motown Records, the collection features some rarities from the soul singer's catalog during his formative years in the label between his breakthrough year as an R&B star in 1963 to around the time of his late-1960s hits including "I Heard It through the Grapevine". Covering material he worked on with figures such as Holland-Dozier-Holland, Smokey Robinson and William "Mickey" Stevenson, the disc showcases Gaye's growth as a vocalist. In 1999, an expanded version was released under the title Lost and Found: Love Starved Heart, including bonus tracks and a rare interview.
Four Tops is the 1965 self-titled debut studio album by the American vocal group the Four Tops. The album was produced and mostly written by the Motown's main writing/producing team Holland-Dozier-Holland. Four Tops includes the singles "Baby I Need Your Loving", "Without the One You Love ", and "Ask the Lonely".
My Way is a 1966 studio album by the American singer Billy Eckstine. It was produced by William "Mickey" Stevenson, and was the second of three albums that Eckstine recorded for Motown Records.
The Prime of Shorty Long is a 1969 studio album by American rhythm and blues singer Shorty Long, released on Motown subsidiaries Soul Records and Tamla Motown shortly after his death. The release was compiled of songs that Long had intended for his follow-up album and was credited to him as producer.
