Doris Duke - Deep Soul Queen - Feature

Wow! this is so good, many thanks.

Tim.

Well done Pete!.

Terrific read. Always a treat to learn a bit more about the artists we enjoy.

very interesting read, thank you peter

I don't want to 'pour cold water' on what is a fine article but surely the bit about Doris working for Motown's New York office from 65 to 67 is wrong. 

BG shut down Motown's NY office in April 64. To back up this info, Sidney Barnes has often stated that he only started penning songs with J J Jackson after he'd left Motown following their NY office being closed (before that he'd written for Jobete in conjunction with George Kerr). I don't know the exact date of the start of the Barnes / Jackson teaming or what the 1st song that they wrote together was BUT one of their songs was cut by Mary Wells for her initial 20th Century LP which was released in March 65, so must have been recorded very early in 1965. 

Doris Duke's time with Nina Simone must have been a bit traumatic as this was just about the most turbulent time in Nina's life (& she had quite a few of those).

Nina had toured the UK in 1967 doing small soul clubs (& some jazz venues). But then "Ain't Got No" was a big pop chart hit here in autumn 68. She came to the UK to promote the 45 (doing an in-person appearance @ Soul City record shop for her fans -- SC's David Nathan ran her fan club at the time) and to do a Top of the Pops TV show (mid Dec 68). She had two more pop chart hits early in 69 and so returned to the UK for a tour of bigger venues (March 69).
At the time she was backed up on live shows by her quartet (in all but name, the Weldon Irvine group) + backing singers [one of whom was as stated Doris Willingham / Doris Duke) and acts signed to Ninandy Records [her brother Sam Waymon plus -- on a 2nd tour later in 69 -- Cleve outfit, the Swordsmen).
At the time her marriage to her abusive husband (Andy Stroud) was breaking down, so her personal life was in crisis. Stroud was also her manager / booker and ran their record label, so her business affairs must have been complicated.
ALSO, after seeing how black people were still treated in the US and how they were being sent in high numbers to Viet Nam to die, she adopted a high profile Civil Rights stance & anti-war stance. This made her unpopular with the US government, the FBI and many everyday Americans. Coz of that, I think RCA got a bit scared of her being signed to the label -- she'd had a big hit for them with "Young, Gifted & Black" (written by Weldon Irvine). So her record biz life was also getting quite complicated.
So she packed a bag & moved to Barbados (where she started an affair with the head of state there). She did cut tracks that RCA released on an album in 71 but Stroud was no longer involved with them & her contribution (if not already in the can) was added from abroad.
After a spell in the Caribbean, she moved to Africa (Liberia) & then Europe (France. etc) and never again lived in the US for any length of time (though she visited to record & do live shows).

Don't think Doris was with Nina when she made her PA @ the Soul City record shop.  Or how the turbulence of her time with Nina had much of an effect on Doris at all. Nina, who was diagnosed as being Bipolar later in her life, was a very turbulent person to work with most of the time -- I'm sure Doris would have seen / been involved in some incidents caused by Nina's mental health problems. Nina did a 2nd UK tour later in 69 (November), don't think Doris was with her on that.

Doris, when she was a backing singer for Nina Simone (not sure if the pic is from a US or UK show -- Doris on the left) ... the other lady is  Gina Rothschild. 

Nina Simone recorded quite a few radio / TV shows in the UK / Europe in 1968. A big TV special featuring her was recorded in late May 68 (shown later & in the US in March 69). She also did a recorded show for the BBC (radio I presume). She returned to the UK in Dec 68 and did Top Of The Pops (12th Dec) and the David Frost TV Show  (8th Dec). From what I can tell, she was still just performing with her small backing outfit (no Doris Duke).  

Done some checking & it seems the bigger backing team for Nina Simone (musicians + singers) was put together for the UK / European tour in March 69. Doris & the 2nd female backing singer did all the shows on that tour -- March 10th to April 5th (or thereabouts). The full ensemble (10 strong) must have done some shows in the US ahead of xing the pond, to make sure they were ready to impress from their 1st show over here (Dublin). The whole bunch of them had rehearsed a number of songs and these were listed in the tour programme for the UK shows -- Nina would perform which ones she wanted on each night (all being from the list). In June 69, her new album was released in the US ('To Love Somebody') and all the tracks on it were also selected from the list she performed over here -- Doris Willingham was a backing vocalist on the album tracks, so I guess it was really just a studio based version of the UK live shows. No idea how long RCA took to get from laying down tracks to releasing a finished album, so am unsure if the tracks from the album were cut ahead of the trip to the UK or after their time in the UK was over.

The whole ensemble stayed together on the return to the US and did some high profile shows in the US too -- an example being the Berkeley Jazz Festival @ the very end of April. In mid May she was doing a week @ the Apollo Theatre (Harlem) and the Swordsmen (the Cleve group signed to her label, who would do live shows with her (including some in the UK later in 69). Don't know if Doris Duke was still with her for this week, but would GUESS that she was.    

The Sound Of Soul TV show (May 68) ... no Doris Duke at this time ...