Madeline Bell - Picture Me Gone

MADELINE BELL - PICTURE ME GONE (RARE CLIP 1968) FROM THE BITTER END. RECORD LABEL: MOD M-1007 YEAR 1967. WRITTEN BY CHIP TAYLOR (REAL NAME JAMES WESLEY VOIGHT AND AL GORGONI. ARRANGED BY ARTHUR GREENSLADE. MADELINE BELL WAS BORN JULY 23, 1942 IN NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, AND WAS STRONGLY INFLUENCED BY HER GRANDMOTHER WHO WAS ALSO A SINGER, MADELINE WENT TO LIVE WITH HER AFTER HER PARENTS DIVORCED. BELL REGULARLY ATTENDED CHURCH AND SANG IN THE CHOIR. SHE LATER JOINED A GROUP CALLED FOUR JACKS & A JILL, WHO SUNG ON STREET CORNERS. AT THE AGE OF 16 SHE JOINED THE GLOVERTONES, A GOSPEL GROUP WHO PERFORMED AT WEEKENDS. HER FIRST BIG BREAK OCCURRED WHEN SHE MET ALEX BRADFORD AROUND 1961 AND WAS INVITED TO JOIN HIS GROUP AFTER SUCCESSFULLY PASSING AN AUDITION. MADELINE STAYED WITH THE BRADFORD SINGERS WHO WERE CONSIDERED TO BE ONE OF THE TOP MALE GOSPEL GROUPS FOR 2 YEARS. THEY TRAVELLED AROUND AMERICA AND EUROPE. IT WAS IN BRITAIN THAT SHE SHE BEFRIENDED DUSTY SPRINGFIELD AND PERFORMED ON MANY OF HER BACKGROUND SESSIONS, MADELINE ALSO WORKED IN THE STUDIO BEHIND KIKI DEE, DORIS TROY, JOE BROWN, LESLEY DUNCAN AND KENNY LYNCH AS WELL AS MANY OTHER ARTISTS. BY THIS TIME SHE HAD LEFT THE BRADFORD SINGERS AND SETTLED IN BRITAIN. SIX YEARS LATER SHE WAS GIVEN A CONTRACT, HER FIRST RELEASE WAS 'I'M GONNA MAKE YOU LOVE ME' PREVIOUSLY RECORDED BY DEE DEE WARWICK WHO WAS DIONNE'S SISTER. REACHING NUMBER 26 IN THE UNITED STATES. A YEAR LATER SHE JOINED BLUE MINK. ROGER COOK'S GROUP. AFTER 4 YEARS MADELINE LEFT THE GROUP AND WENT BACK TO BEING A SESSION SINGER. LATER TOURED WITH THE SWINGMATES THROUGHOUT THE NETHERLANDS. SHE RECORDED A CD CALLED 'HAVE YOU MET MISS BELL'. AND ANOTHER ALBUM CALLED BELL'S A POPPIN'. MADELINE STILL PERFORMS TODAY AND DOES THE OCCASIONAL TRIP BACK TO THE UNITED STATES.