Lou Courtney (born Louis Russell Pegues, August 15, 1943 – June 25, 2021) 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 who had several hit records in the 1960s and 1970s, both as a performer and writer.

Biography

Born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, he graduated from Hutchinson Central Technical High School in 1962. Bob Paxon, "Lou Courtney", ''Western New York Music''
Retrieved 16 October 2016 As Lew Courtney, he first recorded for Imperial Records the same year. He also worked in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

as a songwriter, using his birth name, Louis Pegues, and wrote for

Chubby Checker Chubby Checker (born Ernest Evans; October 3, 1941) is an American singer and dancer. He is widely known for popularizing many dance styles, including the Twist, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard & The Midnighters' R&B song " The Twis ...

as well as

Mary Wells Mary Esther Wells (May 13, 1943 – July 26, 1992) was an American singer, who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s. Along with the Supremes, the Miracles, the Temptations, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, and the F ...

' 1964 hit "Ain't It the Truth". With Dennis Lambert, he co-wrote the

pop songs Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/ CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played on a panel of Top 40 radio stations in the U ...

"Find My Way Back Home" for

the Nashville Teens The Nashville Teens are an English rock band, formed in Surrey in 1962. They are best known for their 1964 hit single " Tobacco Road", a Top 10 hit in the United Kingdom and Canada, and a Top 20 hit in the United States. Career While playing ...

, "Do the Freddie" for Freddie and the Dreamers, and "Up and Down" recorded by

the McCoys The McCoys were a rock music, rock group formed in Fort Recovery, Ohio, United States, in 1962. They are best known for their 1965 hit single "Hang On Sloopy". Originally named Rick and the Raiders, they changed their name to "The McCoys" from ...

. Songs written by Lou Courtney, ''MusicVf.com''
Retrieved 16 October 2016 He also worked as Lorraine Ellison's recording director, and produced Betty Mabry's first single, "The Cellar". In 1966, he signed for

Riverside Records Riverside Records was an American jazz record company and label. Founded by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer, Jr, under his firm Bill Grauer Productions in 1953, the label played an important role in the jazz record industry for a decade. Riversid ...

, and as Lou Courtney recorded the first in a series of

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

-based songs. His first chart hit came with "Skate Now", which reached number 13 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

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 ...

and number 71 on the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

in 1967, and was followed by "Do the Thing" (#17 R&B, #80 pop). Biography, ''Allmusic.com''
Retrieved 16 October 2016 He released a series of singles on Riverside and its subsidiary Pop-Side label in the late 1960s, including two more R&B chart hits, "You Ain't Ready" and "Hey Joyce"; several tracks later regarded as classics on the British

Northern soul Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England and the Midlands in the early 1970s. It developed from the British Mod (subculture), mod scene, based on a particular style of African American music, Black American ...

scene such as "Me & You Doing the Boogaloo" and "If the Shoe Fits", together with an album, ''Skate Now - Shing-A-Ling''. His recordings covered ballads and mainstream soul tracks, as well as funk."Focus on Lou Courtney", ''Funky16Corners.com''
Retrieved 16 October 2016 Most of his songs of the period were co-written and produced with Robert Bateman, who had previously been the co-writer and co-producer of

the Marvelettes The Marvelettes were an American girl group formed in Inkster, Michigan, Inkster, Michigan in 1960, consisting of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart (now Cowart Motley), and Georgia Dobbins, who was ...

' " Please Mr. Postman" at

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

. Robert Bateman, ''Soulwalking.co.uk''
Retrieved 16 October 2016 Courtney left Pop-Side in 1968 and released singles on various other labels including Verve ("Do the Horse", 1968), Buddah ("Let Me Turn You On", 1969), and Hurdy-Gurdy ("Hot Butter 'N All", 1971). However, he failed to reach the charts until he joined

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

in 1973, when, working with producer

Jerry Ragovoy Jordan "Jerry" Ragovoy (September 4, 1930 – July 13, 2011) was an American songwriter and record producer who wrote several pop songs including the instrumental " Time Is on My Side" (under the pseudonym of Norman Meade for Kai Winding), which ...

, he had further R&B chart entries with "What Do You Want Me To Do" and "I Don't Need Anybody Else", both self-penned songs. He also released an album, ''I’m In Need of Love'', and appeared on

Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. In 1971, Raitt released her Bonnie Raitt (album), self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed Americana (mu ...

's 1974 album, ''

Streetlights A street light, light pole, lamp pole, lamppost, streetlamp, light standard, or lamp standard is a raised source of light on the edge of a road or path. Similar lights may be found on a railway platform. When urban electric power distribution b ...

'', which Ragovoy produced. He formed a band, Buffalo Smoke, who released several singles, including a funk version of " Stubborn Kind of Fella", and an album on

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

in 1976. In 1978, Courtney briefly became a member of

The 5th Dimension The 5th Dimension is an American vocal group. Their music encompasses sunshine pop, pop soul, and psychedelic soul. They were an important crossover music act of the 1960s and 1970s, although both praised and derided for their particular music ...

, replacing Danny Beard, and featured on their Motown album ''High On Sunshine''. Subsequently, he has made occasional one-off live appearances. In 2016 it was reported that Courtney was living in New York City, following a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

. He died in 2021, aged 77. "R.I.P. Lou Courtney, 1943-2021", ''The Perlich Post'', June 28, 2021
Retrieved June 30, 2021

Discography

Chart singles

Albums

* ''Skate Now - Shing-A-Ling'' (Riverside, 1967) * ''I’m In Need of Love'' (Epic, 1974) * ''Buffalo Smoke'' (RCA, 1976)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Courtney, Lou 1943 births 2021 deaths 20th-century African-American male singers 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers Singer-songwriters from New York (state) American male singer-songwriters Musicians from Buffalo, New York African-American songwriters 21st-century African-American musicians