[Edited 12/27/12 5:12am]

R.I.P. to a hometown legend of ours Ms Fontella Bass the one and only!!!

That sucks.

Her brother, r&b and gospel singer David Peaston, passed in February of 2012. His biggest hit was "Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right".

RnBAmbassador said:

Soul singer died of a heart attack in St. Louis. This makes two in a row, with Marva Whitney having succumbed last week.

[Edited 12/27/12 5:12am]

"Rescue Me" is a classic. Too bad many thought (and still think) the song was from Aretha...

RIP

Fontella fought for years to finally be credited as songwriter for this song. Chess kept lying to her about having her get credit for the song. Due to its success, Bass had received a paycheck that felt that she was getting shortchanged for her success and found out she hadn't been credited. It wasn't until the song began to be used for commercials in the '90s that she finally got songwriting credit and the royalties she didn't earn from her Chess tenure. She briefly moved to France with her husband, jazz musician Lester Bowie, and recorded sporadically, retiring in the mid-1970s, to raise her four children with Bowie, later returning to St. Louis. She revived her career after the commercials used "Rescue Me" in their commercials.

Timmy84 said:

"Rescue Me" is a classic. Too bad many thought (and still think) the song was from Aretha...

RIP

RIP

I was surprised to find out this wasn't released by Motown the song did have a Motown feel to it.

1sotrue said:

Timmy84 said:

"Rescue Me" is a classic. Too bad many thought (and still think) the song was from Aretha...

RIP

RIP

I was surprised to find out this wasn't released by Motown the song did have a Motown feel to it.

The drums weren't as stomping as Motown's (Maurice White was the song's drummer) though. It did have some elements of the "Sound" though. Minnie Riperton sung in the background of this during her Chess period as part of the Studio Three. She can be clearly heard in the background pre-whistle register period.

Timmy84 said:

Fontella fought for years to finally be credited as songwriter for this song. Chess kept lying to her about having her get credit for the song. Due to its success, Bass had received a paycheck that felt that she was getting shortchanged for her success and found out she hadn't been credited. It wasn't until the song began to be used for commercials in the '90s that she finally got songwriting credit and the royalties she didn't earn from her Chess tenure. She briefly moved to France with her husband, jazz musician Lester Bowie, and recorded sporadically, retiring in the mid-1970s, to raise her four children with Bowie, later returning to St. Louis. She revived her career after the commercials used "Rescue Me" in their commercials.

I glad you brought this up, thank goodness Ms. Bass had the tenacity to fight for her song. She's just one of many people who should've been interviewed at depth before they're passing. This is the type of artist "UnSung" should be profiling. "Rescue Me" is one of many songs I start singing and dancing to when I hear it, timeless.

May Fontella Bass, R.I.P.

TD3 said:

Timmy84 said:

Fontella fought for years to finally be credited as songwriter for this song. Chess kept lying to her about having her get credit for the song. Due to its success, Bass had received a paycheck that felt that she was getting shortchanged for her success and found out she hadn't been credited. It wasn't until the song began to be used for commercials in the '90s that she finally got songwriting credit and the royalties she didn't earn from her Chess tenure. She briefly moved to France with her husband, jazz musician Lester Bowie, and recorded sporadically, retiring in the mid-1970s, to raise her four children with Bowie, later returning to St. Louis. She revived her career after the commercials used "Rescue Me" in their commercials.

I glad you brought this up, thank goodness Ms. Bass had the tenacity to fight for her song. She's just one of many people who should've been interviewed at depth before they're passing. This is the type of artist "UnSung" should be profiling. "Rescue Me" is one of many songs I start singing and dancing to when I hear it, timeless.

May Fontella Bass, R.I.P.

Agreed. But I guess she was one who was not about the entertainment like that. You can tell if you read part of her story that the industry was always fucking with her so she eventually returned to her roots.

What a killer track Rescue Me is.

Something with her ex-husband Lester Bowie and The Art Ensemble of Chicago...

...Theme de Yoyo

Music for adventurous listeners

tA

Tribal Records

Timmy84 said:

Timmy84 said:

TD3 said:

I glad you brought this up, thank goodness Ms. Bass had the tenacity to fight for her song. She's just one of many people who should've been interviewed at depth before they're passing. This is the type of artist "UnSung" should be profiling. "Rescue Me" is one of many songs I start singing and dancing to when I hear it, timeless.

May Fontella Bass, R.I.P.

Agreed. But I guess she was one who was not about the entertainment like that. You can tell if you read part of her story that the industry was always fucking with her so she eventually returned to her roots.

The industry has damn near fucked over everyone at one time or other.

TD3 said:

Timmy84 said:

Agreed. But I guess she was one who was not about the entertainment like that. You can tell if you read part of her story that the industry was always fucking with her so she eventually returned to her roots.

The industry has damn near fucked over everyone at one time or other.

This times infinity.

Timmy84 said:

TD3 said:

The industry has damn near fucked over everyone at one time or other.

This times infinity.

Just another artist among many who probably would've had different career outcome if it weren't for the dicks in suits.

http://www.billboard.com/#/features/fontella-bass-top-5-covers-of-rescue-me-1008062692.story

Nice article. Pat Benatar, Cher, Linda Ronstadt, Diana Ross and Melissa Manchester with their versions.

[Edited 12/27/12 17:37pm]

This site is truly going to hell. I can't post anything from Internet Explorer 9 or Google Chrome.

What the fuck?

[Edited 12/27/12 17:41pm]

Nick715 said:

This site is truly going to hell. I can't post anything from Internet Explorer 9 or Google Chrome.

What the fuck?

[Edited 12/27/12 17:41pm]

Get Opera, I think you'll browse better there...

Anyways, the geniuses at Wikipedia edited her page saying she didn't co-write it. Whatever... she still got PAID! lol

Didn't know so many mistook Rescue Me as Aretha. In my neighborhood the confusion was Martha and the Vandellas.