{"id":1614,"date":"2011-06-12T11:30:34","date_gmt":"2011-06-12T16:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.lunarpages.net\/?p=1614"},"modified":"2012-02-22T13:21:45","modified_gmt":"2012-02-22T18:21:45","slug":"benny-spellman-rip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=1614","title":{"rendered":"Benny Spellman RIP"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Benny Spellman 1931 – 2011<\/strong><\/p>\n

NOTE: I was brought to my attention (much to my chagrin) that the pic I had posted was not in fact Benny Spellman, but rather Lloyd Price. I found the pic posted with an obit of Mr Spellman, but I should have known better and the error has been corrected. – Larry<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Listen\/Download – Benny Spellman – Lipstick Traces (On a Cigarette) <\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download – Benny Spellman – Fortune Teller <\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download – Benny Spellman – I Feel Good <\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download – Benny Spellman – Sinner Girl <\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

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Listen\/Download – Benny Spellman – If You Love Her <\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

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Greetings all.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

I have returned and before I do anything else I simply must stop and issue a hearty \u2018Thank You!\u2019 to all of you who contributed to the Funky16Corners 2011 Pledge Drive.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This includes all of you that were generous (some extraordinarily so) enough to send some money into the treasury, as well as this year\u2019s contributing guest DJs, Tony C, Tarik Thornton, Prime Mundo, Vincent the Soul Chef and DJ Bluewater.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It makes me happy and proud that there are folks out there that dig what we do here.<\/p>\n

That said, if you haven\u2019t yet checked out all the mixes, make sure you do because they\u2019re all killer (no filler<\/em>) this year, and there is most definitely something for everyone, with funk, soul, Northern Soul, disco and reggae.<\/p>\n

There are also the live sets of garage punk, beat and freakbeat over at Iron Leg<\/strong><\/a>, as well as the second edition of the Iron Leg Radio Show<\/strong> (dropping today)<\/em>, so don\u2019t forget to stop there as well and sop up the goodness with your ears.<\/p>\n

Sadly, right after the Pledge Drive got underway, I got the news that three important musicians had passed on, Hammond legend Odell Brown <\/strong>(tribute on Wednesday), soul jazz piano giant Ray Bryant<\/strong> (Friday) and the man behind some of my very favorite New Orleans 45s had passed away, and the subject of today’s post,\u00a0 the mighty Benny Spellman.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Though he recorded a number (not nearly enough) of incredibly good 45s in his time (almost all with the mighty AllenToussaint)<\/strong> Spellman\u2019s voice is probably best known to casual fans for his contributions as a backing vocalist on Ernie K Doe\u2019s<\/strong> \u2018Mother In Law\u2019 (that\u2019s Benny\u2019s bass repeating the title in the chorus).<\/p>\n

That said, his career recording in New Orleans (he had relocated from Florida) lasted less than a decade, starting in 1960 for Minit and moving on to Watch, Alon and Sansu (all locals) with the occasional number picked up for national distribution by labels like Imperial and Atlantic.<\/p>\n

Of his solo recordings, his biggest hit was his 1962 recording of Allen Toussaint\u2019s<\/strong> \u2018Lipstick Traces (On a Cigarette)\u2019, which was a Top 40 R&B hit and a huge local success. The song went on to be covered with even greater success by the O\u2019Jays<\/strong> in 1965.<\/p>\n

\u2018Lipstick Traces\u2019 is a fantastic song on its own, and one of the finest singles to come out of New Orleans in the 60s but it also happened to be paired with one of the greatest bits of Mod soul ever recorded, the brilliant \u2018Fortune Teller\u2019 making it one of the most power-packed two-siders ever.<\/p>\n

Spellman\u2019s discography might have been brief but it was also influential, with UK R&Beat bands like the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Merseybeats, the Hollies <\/strong>and the Artwoods <\/strong>covering his material and bringing it to a wider <\/em> audience.<\/p>\n

It was the Artwoods that covered Spellman\u2019s \u2018I Feel Good\u2019 (yet another Allen Toussaint composition) in 1966 (Spellman\u2019s original came out in 1965, first on Alon and then nationally on Atlantic), making for one of the greatest moments of British R&B.<\/p>\n

Spellman last recorded with Toussaint in 1967 with yet another great two-sider, \u2018Sinner Girl\u2019 b\/w \u2018If You Love Her\u2019 for the Sansu label.<\/p>\n

As far as I can tell he only recorded one more 45, the self-penned \u2018Don\u2019t Give Up Love\u2019 for the Mor Soul label some time in the late 60s, before he left music to take up a career in sales and public relations for the beer industry.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where he remained until he started a comeback in the late 80s, only to be cut down by a stroke, which confined him to an assisted living facility, where he spent his remaining years, and passed away on June 3rd.<\/p>\n

Spellman\u2019s discography, however brief is remarkable in its consistent quality, and like so many of the great singers who worked alongside Toussaint in the 60s (Betty Harris, Diamond Joe, Warren Lee e.g.<\/strong>) ought to be much better known. There is a fairly comprehensive (and cheap) best of his pre-Sansu work on Collectables that\u2019s absolutely essential for fans of New Orleans soul, and great music in general. Fortune Teller: Golden Classics<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

He will be missed.<\/p>\n

Peace<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Larry<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recr events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Benny Spellman 1931 – 2011 NOTE: I was brought to my attention (much to my chagrin) that the pic I had posted was not in fact Benny Spellman, but rather Lloyd Price. I found the pic posted with an obit of Mr Spellman, but I should have known better and the error has been corrected. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14,12,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-funky16corners","category-soul","category-soul-45"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-q2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1614"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2492,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1614\/revisions\/2492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}