AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Shirley Brown

Artist:Shirley Brown

Song:Woman to Woman

Album:Woman to Woman

Woman to Woman topped the R&B charts and was a top 30 pop hit in 1975. It was the only big hit for soul singer Shirley Brown. A couple of her other songs charted so technically she is not a one hit wonder. This was Stax Records' final big hit before bankruptcy. Shirley was born Jan. 6, 1947 in West Memphis, AR but she grew up in Madison, IL which is near St. Louis. She grew up singing in church and was frequently compared to Aretha Franklin. She was 14 years old singing in a local club when she was spotted by blues legend Albert King. Shirley toured with King for nine years. After recording for a small label, King got Shirley a deal with Stax. Woman to Woman topped the R&B Singles chart for two weeks and reached #22 on the Billboard Hot 100. It sold a million copies so it was probably a bigger hit than its chart position. The song was also nominated for a Grammy. Woman to Woman was written by Stax songwriters James Banks, Eddie Marion and Henderson Thigpen. Thigpen overheard his wife arguing with a friend on the phone over the romantic activities of mutual friends. The song was offered to Inez Foxx who was on Stax's Volt label at the time. She was uncomfortable with the spoken word intro. When King brought Shirley to Stax president Jim Stewart, he liked her enough to personally produce Woman to Woman with Booker T & the MG's drummer Al Jackson Jr. There was even an answer song by Barbara Mason called From a Woman to You which reached #3 on the R&B Singles chart and #28 on the Billboard Hot 100. And Barbara Mandrell's 1978 cover of Woman to Woman was a top ten country hit. The album Woman to Woman was released in 2011 on CD with five bonus tracks. Of course Stax went bankrupt soon after and Shirley was never able to score another big hit. She recorded for Arista, the revived Stax and Soundtown with Stewart producing. He continued to produce her when Malaco signed Shirley in 1989. So Stewart certainly tried but was unsuccessful. Shirley recorded for Malaco until 2009. I don't know if Shirley is active but she's still alive. Here's Shirley Brown performing Woman to Woman.