Donald Gardner (May 9, 1931 – September 4, 2018) was an American
rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...
singer, songwriter, and drummer. His records included the 1962 pop hit " I Need Your Lovin'", with Dee Dee Ford.
Biography
Born in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
, Gardner started out as a professional musician in 1947 while still at school. He first recorded as a singer on the Gotham label in 1949. "Don Gardner and Dee Dee Ford", ''Black Cat Rockabilly'' Retrieved November 4, 2016 By 1953, he formed his own group, the Sonotones, in which he played drums and sang. The group toured on the " Chitlin' Circuit", and Gardner also recorded under his own name, for De Luxe Records and the small Junior
label
A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed ...
.
Keyboardist
Richard "Groove" Holmes
Richard Arnold "Groove" Holmes (May 2, 1931 – June 29, 1991) was an American jazz organist who performed in the hard bop and soul jazz genre. He is best known for his 1965 recording of " Misty".
Career
Holmes's first album, on Pacific ...
left the Sonotones in early 1960, and was replaced by Dee Dee Ford ( "Dottie" Ford; ''married name'' Wrecia Holloway; ''née'' Wrecia Mae Ford; 1936–1972). She had lived in
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Smalls Paradise club in
Harlem, New York
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Harl ...
, they were heard by blues performer Arthur Crudup, who recommended them to the
Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products.
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames a ...
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
owner Bobby Robinson. He produced a song written by Gardner, ''I Need Your Loving'' (also known as ''Need Your Lovin), a "
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...
-drenched"
call-and-response
Call and response is a form of interaction between a speaker and an audience in which the speaker's statements ("calls") are punctuated by responses from the listeners. This form is also used in music, where it falls under the general category of ...
number in the mold of
Ike
Ike or IKE may refer to:
People
* Ike (given name), a list of people with the name or nickname
* Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II and President of the United States Surname
...
&
Tina Turner
Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the " Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue before ...
, and the song became their biggest
hit
Hit means to strike someone or something.
Hit or HIT may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities
* Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super''
* Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...
R&B chart
The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...
in 1962 and number 20 on the
pop chart
A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...
. The song was later recorded by
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...
,
Alexis Korner
Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner (19 April 1928 – 1 January 1984), known professionally as Alexis Korner, was a British blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a founding father of British blues". A major in ...
, Tom Jones, Jackie Wilson, and many others.
Gardner and Ford's previous record company, KC Records, then released an old recording, " Glory of Love", which made number 75 on the pop chart, before Fire released the official follow-up, "Don't You Worry", which reached number 7 on the R&B chart and number 66 pop. After recording an LP for Fire, ''Need Your Lovin, Gardner and Ford left the label, and – following the death of Gardner's wife in an accident – toured Sweden for a change of scene. They recorded a live album, ''Quintet in Sweden'', released by
Sonet Records
Sonet Records was a jazz, pop and rock record label operating as an imprint of Universal Music Sweden. It was founded in Sweden in 1956.
Sonet Records was established by Sven Lindholm and Gunnar Bergström, who managed the label into the 1980s ...
in 1965 and described as having "a solid R&B base with jazzy overtones that is veering towards early soul", and also recorded several tracks with
Freda Payne
Freda Charcilia Payne (born September 19, 1942Some sources give a birth year of 1945, but this appears to be an error as all sources agree that she is older than her sister Scherrie, born 1944.) is an American singer and actress. Payne is best ...
for her album ''Freda Payne in Stockholm''.
When they returned to the US, Gardner and Ford went their separate ways. Ford wrote the song " Let Me Down Easy", a hit for Bettye LaVette in 1965, but soon retired from the music industry. Gardner continued to perform and record throughout the 1960s and 1970s, releasing a string of singles on various labels including
Jubilee
A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...
, Verve, and Tru-Glo-Town. In the early 1970s, he recorded with Jeanette "Baby" Washington, and their recording on the Master 5 label of "Forever", a minor hit in 1963 for
the Marvelettes
The Marvelettes were an American girl group that achieved popularity in the early to mid-1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart (now Cowart Motley), and Georgia Dobbins, who wa ...
, reached number 30 on the R&B chart in 1973.
Death
Gardner continued to work as a jazz musician, and had been part of the management of the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz & Performing Arts in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
since 1985, serving as executive director. Lovett Hines, the current Artistic Director of the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz & Performing Arts, was at the hospital when Gardner died, playing the artist's music. "And I just held the telephone to his ear on YouTube," Hines said. "And you could see his reaction with his eyes moving and moving his hand. So he responded to the music, and I'm glad that was the last thing he heard." Gardner died on September 4, 2018 at age 87.
Discography
Albums
* ''The Don Gardner Trio featuring Jimmy Smith and Bill Davis'' (recorded 1955, issued 1963)
* ''Need Your Lovin' '' (Don Gardner & Dee Dee Ford, 1962)
* ''The Don Gardner and Dee Dee Ford Quintet in Sweden'' (1965)
* ''The Exciting Jimmy Smith with the Don Gardner Trio'' (1969)
* ''Lay a Little Lovin' on Me'' (Baby Washington & Don Gardner, 1973)
* ''Very Best of Don Gardner & Dee Dee Ford'' (1999)