Artist:P.P. Arnold
Song:The First Cut Is the Deepest
Album:The First Cut
P.P. Arnold is a former Ikette who moved to England and scored a top 20 hit with this cover of the Cat Stevens classic The First Cut Is the Deepest in 1967. She had a second hit with Angel of the Morning in 1968. This has turned into a fifty year career but she is unknown in the US. She was born Patricia Ann Cole Oct. 3, 1946 in Los Angeles to a gospel music family. She started soloing when she was four years old. In 1965, Maxine Smith and Gloria Scott asked her to audition with them to replace the original Ikettes in The Ike & Tina Turner Revue. Patricia wasn't sure she wanted the job. But she took it after her husband hit her. She went on tour and recorded with The Ikettes. In 1966, Ike & Tina were touring England with The Rolling Stones and Mick Jagger convinced her to remain in England and he got her a record deal with Immediate Records. That label was owned by The Rolling Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham with EMI distribution. The First Cut Is the Deepest is from the 1968 album The First Lady of Immediate. It reached #17 on the British Singles chart. Though Mick Jagger produced a few songs on the album, most of the album including The First Cut Is the Deepest was produced by Brian Hurst. He was in The Springfields and discovered Cat Stevens after turning to production. P.P. only recorded two albums for Immediate. This budget comp covers them. She was supposed to record an album with Barry Gibb but it never happened. P.P. continues to perform live and she has done a lot of session work. She has also performed on the London stage in musicals like Starlight Express. P.P. released an album in 2019 produced by Ocean Colour Scene and Paul Weller guitarist Steve Cradock. She released a live album Oct. 2024 and toured to support it. So she's still going strong for someone who had a hit single in 1967. Here's P.P. Arnold performing The First Cut Is the Deepest on the TV show Beat Club.
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