Artist:Barbara George
Song:I Know (You Don't Love Me No More)
Album:The Best of Sue Records
The 1962 single I Know was a top five hit and it topped the R&B charts. It was the only big hit for R&B singer songwriter Barbara George. A couple of her other songs charted so she is not technically a one hit wonder. But I Know is her only memorable song and it still gets played on oldies radio. She was born Barbara Ann Smith Aug. 16, 1942 in New Orleans. She grew up singing in church and New Orleans music legend Jessie Hill (Ooh Poo Pah Doo) discovered her and sent her to producer Harold Battiste. He was the arranger on Sam Cooke's 1957 classic You Send Me. Then in 1961 he started AFO Records (All for One). Sue Records was the distributor. And that's when Hill brought him Barbara George. They recorded an album. And the big surprise was when I Know reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the R&B Singles chart. Barbara wrote most of the songs on the album including I Know. Battiste produced and arranged and also played piano and sax. Sue Records owner Juggy Murray was executive producer. The musicians were New Orleans session guys like like Alvin "Red" Tyler on sax, Marcel Richardson on piano, Roy Montrell on guitar, Peter Badie on bass and John Boudreaux on drums. Melvin Lastie played the cornet solo on I Know. Sue released a few more singles but they weren't able to repeat the success of I Know. It turned out to be AFO's only big hit. And in 1962, he sold it to Sue and moved to Los Angeles. Battiste was musical director for Sonny & Cher including for their TV variety show. Meanwhile, Sue Records sold their catalog to United Artists in 1968. So Capitol has released a couple of Sue Records box sets. But they have also licensed Sue to Collectables who released this various artists CD which includes songs by Ike & Tina Turner and Jimmy McGriff. Barbara George released music occasionally until her 1982 retirement. She died on Aug. 10, 2006 at age 63. Here's a video for I Know (You Don't Love Me No More) by Barbara George.
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