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There is 1 message in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Theola Kilgore, R.I.P.
From: Mick Patrick
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Message: 1
Date: Sat, 21 May 2005 20:25:21 +0100
From: Mick Patrick
Subject: Theola Kilgore, R.I.P.
Theola Kilgore
Theola Kilgore was born in Shreveport, Louisiana and raised in
Oakland, California. Her first recording, on which she was billed as
Theola Kilgord, was as the featured vocalist on 'Look To The Hills'
by flamboyant soothsayer/'miracle-worker' Bishop Louis H. Narcisse &
the Mt. Zion Spiritual Choir, released on the small Ajax label in
1955. Her secular debut 'The Sound Of My Man', released on Candix in
1960, was a distaff answer to her friend Sam Cooke's 'Chain Gang'.
The Kilgore larynx took a break before releasing her next 45 early in
1963. Now the protégée of writer, producer and one-time hit-maker Ed
Townsend, her searingly devotional 'The Love Of My Man' reached #3 R
& B and #21 on the Hot 100, aided by the distribution clout of
Florence Greenberg's Scepter/Wand mini-empire, and was the biggest
seller for Al Sears' Serock set-up. A gold-plated example of how
fluid and accommodating the pop charts of the early 1960s were, the
record was as close to black church music as a hit could get without
mentioning the "G" word. An equally intense follow-up, 'This Is My
Prayer', reached #60 pop, after which Kilgore and Townsend launched
their own KT label. Both sides of Theola's release on the logo
bubbled under the Hot 100, but a two-year wait preceded her next and
final 45, issued on Mercury in 1966. Further sessions taped for Stax
and for producer Jimmy Holiday in the 70s remain unreleased. Theola
died in Los Angeles on May 15th. She was 79.
R.I.P.
Mick Patrick
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