Ollie and the Nightingales

 

Listen/Download – Ollie and the Nightingales – Girl You Have My Heart Singing MP3

Greetings all.

I have to shout out to my man Kris Holmes, who hipped me to today’s selection when he fell by on his grand tour of the states.

There’s really nothing better than a vinyl session with someone who has excellent taste, and Kris has that in spades.

Ollie and the Nightingales got their start as the gospel group the Dixie Nightingales, and recorded under that name in the late 50s/early 60s for Pepper, Nashboro and Chalice.

They made the transition to secular music with Stax in 1968, providing backing vocals for Sam and Dave and Eddie Floyd, and laying down their own stuff on a handful of singles and an LP between 1968 and 1970 (when lead singer Ollie Hoskins would leave the group and begin recording as ‘Ollie Nightingale’).

‘Girl You Have My Heart Singing’ was the flipside of their first Stax 45, ‘I Got a Sure Thing’ which was a Top 20 R&B hit in April of 1968.

While I dig the A-side, ‘Girl You Have My Heart Singing’ is an absolute killer.

Co-written by Booker T Jones (who also produced the record) and William Bell, the song features deep, rich harmonies and a great lead by Hoskins.

The thing that popped into my mind the very first time I heard this record was that it ‘rocked’. It has a great propulsive feel, driven by the drums, organ, bass and guitar, making it great for the dance floor and catchy as hell.

The short guitar solo at 1:03 is fantastic, and the breakdown at 1:45 makes me wonder if a young Michael McDonald was listening to it when he wrote ‘Taking It To the Streets’.

The group had two more Top 50 R&B hits in 1968 and 1969 before Hoskins left and was replaced by Sir Mack Rice, with the group continuing as the Nightingales.

Ollie Nightingale had a fairly long solo career before passing away in 1997.

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

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.