Lou Pride (May 24, 1944 – June 5, 2012) was an American blues and soul singer and songwriter. Some sources state his year of birth was 1950. He is best known for his compositions "Long Arm of the Blues" and "Love From a Stone". Pride had a cult following among 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 ...

aficionados. Before his death,

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

noted that Pride had a "smooth, uptown southern voice," and was "more known for performances in blues clubs and festivals than his artistry in the studio."

Biography

He was born George Louis Pride, in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Pride grew up on Chicago's north side and attended the First Baptist Church, where the pastor was

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, alternatively billed as Nat "King" Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's career as a jazz and Traditional pop, pop ...

's father. After

conscription Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...

in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

, Pride met and married a female singer and they settled in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

. They performed as a singing duo before, after seeing

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, sh ...

perform live, Pride concentrated his singing future around the blues and soul music genres. Pride recorded his first two

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

in the early 1970s. These were "I'm Com'un Home In The Morn'un" (1972) and "Your Love Is Fading," both released by Suemi Records. After relocating to

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, he recorded sporadically while constantly performing in blues

clubs Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Club (magazine), ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands a ...

and at

festivals A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

on the Chitlin' Circuit. Other tracks of his that were released over this period included "Look Out on Love," "We're Only Fooling Ourselves," "You've Got to Work for Love," and "Been Such a Long Time." Pride's debut album was entitled, ''Very Special'' (1979), which was released by Black Gold Entertainment. Several singles were issued before ''Gone Bad for a Very Special Reason'' (1988) was released, which had an almost an identical playlist to his debut effort. After returning to Chicago, he became acquainted with

Curtis Mayfield Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Dubbed the " Gentle Genius", he is considered one of the most influential musicians of soul and socially conscious Afric ...

, which saw ''Gone Bad Again'' (1990) being issued. However, Pride's recordings remained second place to performing live. The WMB Records release, ''Love at Last'' (1995), contained re-recordings of several of Pride's earlier cuts. His 1997 Ichiban release was ''Twisting the Knife'', followed by ''I Won't Give Up'' (2000). Pride signed a recording contract with

Severn Records Severn Records is an American independent record label that concentrates on blues music. Its motto is "Roots Music for the 21st Century". History On July 11, 1997, a company named Echo Records was incorporated in Maryland by David Earl. By the t ...

in 2002, which preceded his first release for them, ''Words of Caution.'' His early 1970s recordings were collected on the

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

, ''The Memphis/El Paso Sessions 1970–1973'', which Severn issued in June 2003. Allmusic noted that the collection "remains a treasure trove of previously obscure soul music that spotlights one of the many great singers almost lost to history." In 2004, Pride undertook a brief tour in the UK. Alongside Darrell Nulisch, Pride was also the headline act at the Severn Records Soul and Blues Revue, in Chicago, in 2006. Snippets of his composition, "Bringin' Me Back Home," were used in the 2007 film, ''

Feast of Love ''Feast of Love'' is a 2007 American drama film directed by Robert Benton (his last film before his death in 2025), and starring an ensemble cast that includes Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear, Radha Mitchell, Billy Burke, Selma Blair, Alexa Da ...

''. Pride's appearance at the Severn Soul Review in 2010 was a significant comeback. He had been booked to appear in 2004, but he had had a heart attack before he could perform. Following a period of ill health, Pride died in Chicago in June 2012 of natural causes. He was aged 68.

Discography

Albums

Selected singles

References

External links