Toby Lark

Listen/Download Toby Lark – Shake a Hand

Greetings all

The end of the week is near, so I will take a moment to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show hits the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you cannot be there to dig it at airtime, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcst in iTunes, or grab yourself an MP3 here at the blog.

The tune I bring you today is a very groovy, very funky number by a singer you probably know under another name.

I can’t remember exactly when or where I picked up the 45 you see before you today, but I probably grabbed it because the name of the singer rang a bell.

As it turns out, when I saw the name Toby Lark, I was probably thinking of the name Tobi Legend, which is a good thing, since as it turns out, they are both the same person.

Bessie Grace Gupton was born in Alabama but grew up in Detroit.

She spent most of her early years performing gospel, before going to work as a backing singer for BB King.

She first recorded for Jay Pee records in the early 60s as Bessie Watson, changing her name to Tobi Lark in 1964.

She would record for the Palmer, Topper and USD labels under that name before signing with Mala in 1968 and recording under the name Tobi Legend.

It was under that name that she waxed the Northern Soul classic (one of the famous ‘Three Before Eight’) ‘Time Will Pass You By’.

The following year found her recording under the name on today’s selection, Toby Lark.

‘Shake a Hand’ is a funky number, with Lark dipping back into her gospel roots, singing in a deeper, throatier style. The song, written by Joe Morris and first recorded in 1953 by Faye Adams (much slower, and a huge R&B hit), and covered over the years by everyone from Little Richard, to Magic Sam, to Elvis Presley.

She recorded two more 45s for Cotillion, and eventually settled in Canada, where she continues to perform.

I hope you dig the track,and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

 

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Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

 

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.