I've been on a SERIOUS Little Willie John kick these days, mind you, I've always liked him, but these days I really sunk my teeth into his music(its amazing what you could stumble on when you're sick and have nothing to do ).

I won't even mention "Fever" because it has been discussed to death and frankly his discography has many superior songs...




And the TOP of my rotation


It makes SO much sense to me how this man shaped soul music along with Sam Cooke prior to the Motown invasion and the JB revue.
[Edited 2/23/10 13:39pm]

Pure Soul...



...Sufferin' With The Blues



Music for adventurous listeners


tA

Tribal Records

theAudience said:

This song ALWAYS make me tear up, no matter who sings it, but his version and Little Jimmy Scott put a sore lump in my throat



I can't describe to you how ticked off I am that there still isn't a consistent compilation for him,,,,hell, I don't think a boxet treatment is too much for him.

This guy was actually the precursor to Sam Cooke. Sam was still doing gospel music with the Soul Stirrers when he debuted in 1955. And he was the man that James Brown feared from a professional point of view because Willie was a great, mesmerizing performer.

Timmy84 said:

If Brother James was shaking in his boots from Little Richard and Little Willie John, you know they put their foot down

Imagine what could've happend had Willie John put his temper in check and didn't bump heads with industry's big names(aside from his violent nature), people wouldn't be surprised to find out that "Fever" wasn't actually Peggy Lee's.

But then again, shoulda coulda woulda.

Harlepolis said:

Yeah I know, it's a shame.

Matter of fact, I don't even credit Sam as an influence on Marvin. If you hear Marvin's early records and compare his records to Willie's, they sounded more like him than Sam (or even Ray).

Timmy84 said:

I think both contributed equally. I could hear ALOT of echos of Sam and Willie in Marvin's voice, it showed more clearly at the beginning of his career when he didn't fully craft his talent.

What surprised me though, was finding out recently(from Divided Souls) that Marvin owed Lester Young plenty for his 'laid back' delivery.

Who would've thought?

But then again, it makes total sense, Marvin have always said that he doesn't sing 'straight', he always thought of his singing as 'horn emulating'.

nice

Harlepolis said:

Yeah I could see it lol And I know what you mean by Sam, obviously you can hear him too. But yeah I always thought that's what he was doing with his voice (emulating an instrument).

Harlepolis said:

They released some material of him from 1966, after he got out on parole or something like that.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

I didn't know he was paroled, I thought he died in jail.

yeah, i thought so too

Harlepolis said:

or hadn't, you know, murdered someone.

errant said:

Did he?

I honestly didn't know that, I knew that he was caught in a knife brawl with someone but I didn't know that it was ended with death.

Well,,,goes to show you how much I didn't know about him.

errant said:

Yeah I think reports said he stabbed someone.

Harlepolis said:

Yeah, he did die in prison, but in 66 got out for something (can't remember what for) and cut some material.

this is from allmusic.com


Nineteen Sixty Six: The David Axelrod and H.B. Barnum Recordings




Though no Little Willie John discs of material recorded after his imprisonment for murder in October 1964 were issued between that time and his death (in jail) in May 1968, he did actually record quite a few tracks for Capitol in February 1966. These recordings (supervised by David Axelrod and H.B. Barnum) were unreleased both at the time and for decades afterward, in part because King Records (John's previous label) contested Capitol's right to issue the cuts. This 2008 CD of 20 tracks from the sessions, recorded at a time when he was out on appeal, can thus be considered as a genuine lost Little Willie John album. (And despite the number of songs, there would have only been enough for one LP, since there are two versions of eight of the numbers.) For someone with a murder sentence hanging over him, John sounds remarkably unaffected and at ease, and indeed pretty much the same as he did in his classic King period, albeit a little more mature. Much the same can be said for the arrangements, which update his sound a little into the mid-'60s, but draw considerably from lightly swinging jazz and even a bit of easy listening pop in addition to soul. There are a few remakes of songs he'd cut at King, as well as some standards and R&B-oriented tunes (and, disappointingly, just one original John composition). Would this have reestablished John as a star had he won his appeal and Capitol been allowed to put the material out? Probably not; there aren't any songs that scream "hit," and that was still the name of the game in the R&B market. But if it had been somehow marketed as a comeback album, without expectations that it would be a huge seller -- in the manner that respectable efforts by R&B and rock veterans were, many times over, in subsequent decades -- it would have been well received, as John sings well and the material is sympathetic, if not quite outstanding. For all these reasons, this doesn't rank among his best work; his best King sides remain the place to start. But for the same reasons, it will be enthusiastically and justifiably welcomed by Little Willie John fans as a significant discovery, at a time when few such substantial unreleased bodies of work from soul's golden age seemed to remain at large.

ssssstuff.