Freddie Scott (April 24, 1933 – June 4, 2007)
[ was an American ]soul
The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...
singer and songwriter. His biggest hits were " Hey, Girl", a top ten US pop hit in 1963, and " Are You Lonely for Me", a No. 1 hit on the 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 ...
in early 1967.
Life and career
He was born in Providence, Rhode Island
Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...
, United States, and sang in his grandmother's gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...
group, Sally Jones & the Gospel Keyes, touring England with at the age of 12. He studied medicine at the University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of Rhode Island. The univer ...
and then at Paine College
Paine College is a private, historically black Methodist college in Augusta, Georgia. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. Paine College offers undergraduate degrees in the liberal arts, ...
in Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a city on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies directly across the Savannah River from North Augusta, South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Augusta, the third mos ...
, but began singing again with the Swanee Quintet Juniors and gave up his medical career.
In 1956, he recorded as a secular singer with the J&S label in New York City, releasing his first solo single "Running Home". He also wrote the top 10 R&B hit "I'll Be Spinning" for the label's duo Johnnie & Joe, and his song "Baby I'm Sorry" was recorded by Ricky Nelson
Eric Hilliard "Ricky" Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician and actor. From age eight, he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he began a ...
for his 1957 debut album '' Ricky''. He was conscripted for the U.S Military, but continued to record for small labels with little success. After leaving the military, he turned to songwriting, joining the Aldon Music
Aldon Music was a New York–based music publishing company, founded by Don Kirshner and Al Nevins in 1958. Aldon is regarded as having played a significant role in shaping the Brill Building Sound in the late 1950s and 1960s.
History
Nevins w ...
publishing company set up by Al Nevins and Don Kirshner
Donald Kirshner (April 17, 1934 – January 17, 2011) was an American music publisher, music consultant, rock music producer, talent manager, and songwriter. Dubbed "the Man with the Golden Ear" by ''Time'', he was best known for managin ...
in the Brill Building
The Brill Building is an office building at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and farther uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood. The Brill Building hous ...
, where he recorded many of his own demos and worked as a record producer with Erma Franklin
Erma Vernice Franklin (March 13, 1938 – September 7, 2002) was an American gospel and soul singer. She recorded the original version of " Piece of My Heart", written and produced by Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns in 1967, for which she was nom ...
. He also continued to release his own records, including "Baby, You're a Long Time Dead" for Joy Records (New York) in 1961.[
In 1962, he worked with fellow songwriters ]Gerry Goffin
Gerald Goffin (February 11, 1939 – June 19, 2014) was an American lyricist. Collaborating initially with his first wife, Carole King, he co-wrote many international pop hits of the early and mid-1960s, including the US No.1 hits " Will You L ...
and Carole King
Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter and musician renowned for her extensive contributions to popular music. She wrote or co-wrote 118 songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billbo ...
on their song "Hey, Girl", recording a demo for singer Chuck Jackson. When Jackson failed to come to a recording session, Scott recorded the song, and, when eventually released by the Colpix label some months later, it rose to no. 10 on both the pop and R&B charts. He followed it with a slow version of Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...
' "I Got a Woman", which again made the charts. When Colpix collapsed, he moved to Columbia, which tried to market him, with little success.[ He left Columbia Records in 1965, and moved to the Shout label, a subsidiary of Bert Berns' ]Bang Records
Bang Records was created by Bert Berns in 1965 together with his partners from Atlantic Records: Ahmet Ertegun, Nesuhi Ertegun and Jerry Wexler. The first letters of their names (Bert, Ahmet, Nesuhi, Gerald) formed the label's name.
Forming the ...
. There, he recorded Berns' song "Are You Lonely for Me", reputedly requiring over 100 takes before it was finished.[ The record stayed at the top of the R&B charts for four weeks and reached no. 39 on the pop chart.]
He followed up with a version of " Cry to Me", another Berns song that had previously been a hit for Solomon Burke
Solomon Vincent McDonald Burke (born James Solomon McDonald, March 21, 1940 – October 10, 2010) was an American singer who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues as one of the founding fathers of soul music in the 1960s. He has been called ...
and Betty Harris. Although he continued to have success with R&B chart hits, including "(You) Got What I Need", written and produced by Kenny Gamble
Kenneth Gamble (born August 11, 1943, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Leon A. Huff (born April 8, 1942, Camden, New Jersey) are an American songwriting and production duo credited for developing the Philadelphia soul music genre (also known as P ...
and Leon Huff
Kenneth Gamble (born August 11, 1943, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Leon A. Huff (born April 8, 1942, Camden, New Jersey) are an American songwriting and production duo credited for developing the Philadelphia soul music genre (also known as P ...
,[ and a version of ]Van Morrison
Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...
's "He Ain't Give You None", his career was affected by Berns' sudden death at the end of 1967. Scott continued to perform, but spent much of the next two years without a record deal.[ He eventually signed with the small Elephant V label, before moving on to Probe Records, where he had his last R&B hit in 1970 with a version of ]Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
's " I Shall Be Released."[ He continued to work with his songwriting partner Helen Miller, wrote advertising jingles, and took minor roles as an actor in films, including '']Stiletto
A stiletto (plural stilettos) is a specialized dagger with a long slender blade and needle-like point, primarily intended as a thrusting and stabbing weapon.Limburg, Peter R., ''What's In The Names Of Antique Weapons'', Coward, McCann & Geoghega ...
''. He also recorded in the early 1970s for the Vanguard
The vanguard (sometimes abbreviated to van and also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force.
...
, Pickwick International
Pickwick Records was an American record label and British record distributor known for its budget album releases of sound-alike recordings, bargain bin reissues and repackagings under the brands Design, Bravo (later changing its name to Internat ...
and Mainstream labels, and continued to perform concerts.[
Scott later worked on the oldies circuit, and released a new album, ''Brand New Man'', in 2001. He also performed "]Brown Eyed Girl
"Brown Eyed Girl" is a song by Northern Irish singer and songwriter Van Morrison. Written by Morrison and recorded in March 1967, it was released as a single in June of the same year on the Bang label, peaking at No. 10 on the ''Billboard'' Ho ...
" on the Van Morrison tribute album ''Vanthology'', released in 2003.[ He died in New York City in 2007 at the age of 74.][
His 1968 song "(You) Got What I Need" was ]sampled
Sample or samples may refer to:
* Sample (graphics), an intersection of a color channel and a pixel
* Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of something
* Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal
* Sample ...
for the 1989 Biz Markie
Marcel Theo Hall (April 8, 1964 – July 16, 2021), known professionally as Biz Markie, was an American rapper, singer, songwriter, DJ, and record producer who gained prominence during hip hop's golden age. He was particularly recognized for ...
hit " Just a Friend".[ It also was sampled for ]Ghostface Killah
Dennis David Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and a member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of ''Enter the Wu-Tang ...
's "Save Me Dear" in 2004.
Discography
Chart singles
Albums
* ''Everything I Have Is Yours '' (1964)
* ''Freddie Scott Sings and Sings and Sings'' (1964)
* ''Are You Lonely For Me?'' (1967)
* ''I Shall Be Released'' (1970)
* ''Brand New Man'' (2001)
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Freddie
1933 births
2007 deaths
Musicians from Providence, Rhode Island
Songwriters from Rhode Island
Colpix Records artists
Columbia Records artists
Jay Boy artists
African-American male songwriters
20th-century African-American male singers
20th-century American male singers
20th-century American singers
Paine College alumni
20th-century American songwriters