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Posts tagged as “Fifth Dimension”

MUSIC MONDAY: Celebrating “Summer of Soul” and Questlove’s Best Documentary Oscar Win (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: Celebrating “Summer of Soul” and Questlove’s Best Documentary Oscar Win (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on March 28, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

There was a great moment that happened at last night’s Academy Awards, but because it happened directly after a shocking moment, it’s not getting the all the flowers and love it should.

So for this #MusicMonday, we are fully celebrating the fact that Summer of Soul, the feature documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival directed by The Roots co-founder and musical impresario Questlove, won a much-deserved Oscar. And if you (like so many of us) missed his acceptance speech, here it is:

https://youtu.be/IPbOF4wpEVw

Still streaming on Hulu and available on DVD, Summer of Soul is an education and gift to the eyes and ears and if you don’t currently have access to Summer of Soul, the movie, listening to the music from the acts featured in the film is the next best thing:

I’ve included the playlist of the official soundtrack album along with an extended playlist.

From Sly and the Family Stone to the Fifth Dimension, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Edwin Hawkins Singers, The Staples Singers, Mongo Santamaria, David Ruffin, Mahalia Jackson, Mavis Staples and others, the music on display and the stories behind the event are close to (if not completely) mind-blowing.

And if you need another push to check it out (or revisit it), here’s the trailer of the documentary:

Thank you, again, Questlove and all the artists involved that helped bring the “Summer of Soul” into our lives for all seasons.  You all truly made — and resurrected — important cultural history.

Enjoy!

#AAMAM: “Just A Shot Away” – Rediscovering Legendary Session Singer Merry Clayton (LISTEN)

#AAMAM: “Just A Shot Away” – Rediscovering Legendary Session Singer Merry Clayton (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on June 17, 2020

by Jeff Meier (FB: Jeff.Meier.90)

As part of Good Black News’ celebration of African-American Music Appreciation Month (#AAMAM), we are taking some time to honor quality artists whose music has nevertheless remained unappreciated.  Last week, we brought you a playlist from Ronnie Dyson.

This week we’d like to introduce/re-introduce you to Merry Clayton.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:0UQqIFHfA6XNloP3Gww8nH”/]

Back in March 2014, as she was experiencing 50 years in the music business, legendary session singer Merry Clayton got one more chance at stardom when the documentary 20 Feet From Stardom, about the world’s most renowned backup singers, won the Best Documentary Oscar.

The doc brought renewed attention to performers such as Lisa Fischer, Judith Hill, Gloria Jones, and Clayton – whose voices you’ve undoubtedly heard, but whose names are a little less than familiar.

In the early ‘60s, Merry (who got her name because she was born on Christmas day) launched into a music career as a young teen, cutting a few one-off soul singles, and singing duet “Who Can I Count On?” with then 26 year-old pop hitmaker Bobby Darin when she was just a 14 year-old girl with a commanding voice.

Merry Clayton

By the late ‘60s, Merry Clayton’s role as a star backup singer hit its stride on The Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” opposite Mick Jagger.  Her cries of “Rape, Murder/It’s just a shot away” are known to any classic rock fan. The story goes that she got the random session call late at night from one of the song’s producers during an all-night mixing session – and showed up in curlers, heavily pregnant, belting out the iconic vocals in just a few takes before heading back home (where she subsequently suffered a miscarriage).

During that same era, Merry Clayton was also one of the backup crew on countless legendary records by Carole King, Joe Cocker, Barbra Streisand, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Linda Ronstadt, Billy Preston, Tori Amos, and, as recently as 2015, Coldplay.

Her prominent rock backup turns earned the attention of rock music producer/impresario Lou Adler, who signed her to his Ode Records label (most famous for Carole King’s Tapestry LP).  In 1972, she further cemented her rock bonafides by appearing as The Acid Queen in the first London stage production of The Who’s rock opera, Tommy.

The very enjoyable 20 Feet (you can check it out on Netflix right now) essentially argued that if only these women had gotten the chance, they could have been big stars.