AccuRadio Song Of The Day-The Impressions

Artist:The Impressions

Song:People Get Ready

Album:Definitive Impressions

Most R&B artists of the 60s started out singing in church. And the 1965 single People Get Ready was one of the more obvious examples of that. Impressions leader Curtis Mayfield did that a lot and he wasn't the only one. Today People Get Ready has been covered by so many artists that it's easy to forget where it came from. The Impressions were from Chicago. Curtis Mayfield met Jerry Butler while both were singing in the same church choir. They formed the doo wop group The Roosters in 1957 with Sam Gooden, Richard Brooks and his brother Arthur Brooks. When they got a record deal with Vee Jay, the group name was changed to Jerry Butler & the Impressions. Their first hit single was For Your Precious Love in 1958. Soon after, Butler left to go solo and Mayfield took over as lead singer, songwriter and guitarist. And he also brought Fred Cash in to replace Butler. The Impressions moved to New York and got a new record deal with ABC-Paramount in 1961. Most of The Impressions' success was on the R&B charts. Their first big hit was Gypsy Woman in 1961. When subsequent singles didn't do as well, the Brooks brothers left and for the reat of the 60s, The Impressions were a three piece of Mayfield, Gooden and Cash. They returned to Chicago and started working with producer Johnny Pate. And that's when Mayfield started writing social conscience songs that were church influenced like It's All Right (1963) and Keep on Pushing (1964). I assume Pate encouraged this. People Get Ready was on the 1965 album People Get Ready. It rached #3 on the R&B Singles chart and #14 on the Billboard Hot 100. It wasn't their biggest hit but it's probably their most durable song. Mayfield wrote People Get Ready and also played the guitar solo. Pate wrote the the arrangement and Motown's The Funk Brothers played on the record. Mayfield has acknowledged the church roots of the song. There have been plenty of covers of People Get Ready. But the most notable was by Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck in 1985. You can get People Get Ready on this comp from the British label Kent Records. The Impressions continued to have success until Matfield left to go solo in 1970. The Impressions continued with new lead singer Leroy Huston. They recorded for Mayfield's Curtom label but they weren't as successful and Huston was replaced by Ralph Johnson in 1973. Meanwhile, Mayfield had success especially with soundtrack for the film Superfly. He continued to tour even after stage lights fell on him and made him a paraplegic. Mayfield died in 1999. Cash died in 2018. Gooden died in 2022. Here's The Impressions performing People Get Ready on a 1965 Dick Clark show.