Soul4Real New 45 Releases - Candi Staton & The Valentinos

Two new exciting releases. Thanks so much to Friendly Womack for his help in licensing the Valentinos tracks

𝗣𝗥𝗘-𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗘𝗥 𝗡𝗢𝗪 for 25th OCTOBER: https://soul4real.es/

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2 of Candi Staton´s best tracks finally available on 7"

CANDI STATON (S4R35)

I CAN´T STOP BEING YOUR FOOL / YOU BET YOUR SWEET, SWEET LOVE

Born in Hanceville (Alabama), Canzetta Maria “Candi” Staton possesses one of the most recognizable voices of southern soul due to its characteristic and unmistakable tone.

Her musical journey began in the 50s as a teenager singing gospel with the Four Golden Echoes and the Jewell Gospel Trio. In 1967 she made the transition to secular music and two years later started an artistically and commercially successful recording career with Fame Records, under the umbrella of Rick Hall, recording a dozen singles and three outstanding albums. Candi was introduced to Hall by Fame’s main artist Clarence Carter, who eventually married her in 1970.

A new chapter began in 1974 at Warner Bros, from which the two songs paired on this record originated. They are now available on 7” for the first time. “Can’t Stop Being Your Fool” is a powerful composition by Phillip Mitchell perfectly suited for her; on the flip side we find “You Bet Your Sweet, Sweet Love”, a country soul masterpiece produced by Dave Crawford. Another essential release on Soul4Real.

JADD

2 originally unreleased tracks finally available on 7"

THE VALENTINOS (S4R44)

I´VE GOT LOVE FOR YOU / I´VE GOT A GIRL

Despite their early success, The Valentinos’ story was, like many other groups, a ‘what might have been’ story. But there could not have been a more hardworking group. Every night, Friendly Womack Sr. taught his boys all the gospel songs he knew before he kicked them out of the house because they wanted to switch to secular singing.

“Bobby, you’re singing too church!” shouted Sam Cooke across the recording desk at the United Recording Studios in L.A. to Bobby and his brothers…

Still torn here between gospel and secular singing, Friendly “June” Womack told me about both these two lost tracks from the group: “Between you and I, we were looking hard to get another ‘Looking For A Love’. We were desperate for that, as that was such a big seller for us”.

Ultimately these sides failed to be released, yet they were both great tracks. Wouldn’t it be great though if, this time around, Soul4Real Records were able to hang out the ‘sold out’ banner that all the Womack brothers really deserved?

GRAHAME JOYCE