Artist:Gene McDaniels
Song:Tower of Strength
Album:Look to Your Heart: The Gene McDaniels Story
The 1961 single Tower of Strength is one of two top five hits for R&B singer Gene McDaniels. His other top five hit A Hundred Pounds of Clay (1960) gets more play on oldies radio so it's better known. But according to MusicVF which gives point value to chart position, the two songs are about equal. McDaniels moved to Europe and had success as a songwriter and producer. He was born Feb. 12, 1935 in Kansas City, KS and he grew up on Omaha. McDaniels grew up singing in church and he loved jazz too. He was in the gospel group Echoes of Joy. They changed their name to The Sultans when they switched to R&B. McDaniels studied at University of Omaha Conservatory of Music and toured with the gospel group Mississippi Piney Woods Singers. While in California, he sang in clubs with The Les McCann Trio and he was spotted by Sy Waronker and signed to Liberty Records. After recording two unsuccessful albums with producer Felix Slatkin, Liberty brought in Snuff Garrett to produce. They were looking for a more contemporary sound. It worked because the first single A Hundred Pounds of Clay reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over a million copies. Tower of Strength was the first single from McDaniels' next album and it reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written by Burt Bacharach and Bob Hilliard. Though Hal David was Bacharach's better known songwriting partner, Bacharach and Hilliard wrote several hits together including the 1965 Chuck Jackson hit Any Day Now. Johnny Mann arranged the record. I don't know who plays the trombone solo. In those days, session musicians were not identified. After one more top ten hit, Chip Chip in 1961, McDaniels faded and left Liberty in 1966. This 2CD comp from the reissue label Jasmine covers the Liberty years. McDaniels went on to record for Columbia, Atlantic and MGM with little success. After the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, McDaniels moved to Europe and concentrated on songwriting. And that paid off when his song Compared to What was popularized on the 1969 Les McCann Eddie Harris album Swiss Movement and covered by Roberta Flack on her debut album First Take. McCann discovered her. Then Roberta topped the charts in 1974 with the McDaniels song Feel Like Makin' Love. Of course he could live off the royalties for that. McDaniels went on to produce Merry Clayton and Melba Moore and others. He moved back to the US and lived in Maine until he died on July 29, 2011 at age 76. Here's a video for Tower of Strength by Gene McDaniels.
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