Roscoe Shelton (August 22, 1931 – July 27, 2002) was an American

electric blues Electric blues is blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the late 1930s and John Lee Ho ...

and R&B

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

. He is best remembered for his 1965

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

"Strain on My Heart" and for his working relationships with the Fairfield Four and with

Bobby Hebb Robert Alvin Von Hebb (July 26, 1938 – August 3, 2010) was an American R&B and soul singer, musician, songwriter, recording and performing artist, best known for his 1966 hit " Sunny". Biography Hebb was born in Nashville, Tennessee. His par ...

. Other notable recordings include "Think It Over" and "Baby Look What You're Doin' to Me". Fred James, who produced much of Shelton's later work, noted that Shelton moved effortlessly into

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American culture, African-American African-American neighborhood, communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps ...

, unlike many of his 1950s blues and R&B recording contemporaries.

Biography

Shelton was born in

Lynchburg, Tennessee Lynchburg is a city in the south-central region of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is governed by a consolidated city-county government unit whose boundaries coincide with those of Moore County. Lynchburg is best known as the location of Jack ...

, and raised in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. In 1949 he joined the Fairfield Four, singing lead vocals on their

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music vary according to culture and social context. Gospel music is compo ...

recordings. He then spent four years as a draftee in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

. Upon discharge he joined the Skylarks in 1956 and recorded for Excello's subsidiary

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. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affix ...

Nashboro Records. After the group disbanded, Shelton sang alongside and toured with both

and DeFord Bailey, Jr. In 1961 Shelton's debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, ''Roscoe Shelton Sings'', was released by Excello, and various

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'' ...

followed, including "Strain on My Heart" (1965). The track was a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

success 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 A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

. By this time Shelton's recordings were released by Sound Stage 7, including another Top 40 hit, "Easy Going Fellow." His next album, ''Soul in His Music, Music in His Soul'', was released in 1966, but the long gap between albums stalled his career. However, Shelton performed on the same bill as

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

at the

Apollo Theater The Apollo Theater (formerly the Hurtig & Seamon's New Theatre; also Apollo Theatre or 125th Street Apollo Theatre) is a multi-use Theater (structure), theater at 253 125th Street (Manhattan), West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of U ...

. The deaths of Redding and

Sam Cooke Samuel Cooke (; January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964) was an American singer and songwriter. Considered one of the most influential soul music, soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred to as the "King of Soul" for his distin ...

, who had been friends of Shelton's, took their toll on him. Shelton left the

music industry The music industry are individuals and organizations that earn money by Songwriter, writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music and sheet music, presenting live music, concerts, ...

in 1969 and went to work for the

Meharry Medical College Meharry Medical College is a private historically black medical school affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1876 as the Medical Department of Central Tennessee College, it was the first m ...

, in Nashville. In 1994 Shelton,

Earl Gaines Earl Gaines Jr. (August 19, 1935 – December 31, 2009) was an American soul blues and electric blues singer. Born in Decatur, Alabama, he sang lead vocals on the hit single "It's Love Baby (24 Hours a Day)", credited to Louis Brooks and his ...

, and Clifford Curry found work billed as the Excello Legends. In 1995, Shelton's song "You Were the Dream" was used in the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

of the

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

'' Blue Juice''. Shelton resumed recording with the producer Fred James, releasing, amongst others, the album ''Let It Shine'' in 1998, and Shelton's and Gaines's joint effort ''Let's Work Together''. Shelton died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

in Nashville, in July 2002, at the age of 70. Two years after his death, Shelton's "Say You Really Care" was included on the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

–winning

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 ...

'' Night Train to Nashville''.

Discography

Albums

*''Roscoe Shelton Sings'' ( Excello, 1961) *''Soul in His Music, Music in His Soul'' ( Sound Stage 7, 1966) *''Strain on Your Heart'' (

Charly Charly may refer to: People * Charly (name) Places * Charly-sur-Marne, in the Aisne department * Charly, Cher, in the Cher department * Charly, Rhône, in the Rhône department * Charly-Oradour, in the Moselle department Other * Operation ...

, 1987) *''Roscoe Shelton Sings'' (

P-Vine P-Vine Records is an independent record label based in Tokyo, Japan. History It was started in 1976 by Blues Interactions, a firm founded in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi, as a record label focused on black music. The label name ...

, 1995) *''She's the One'' (Appaloosa, 1996) *''Tennessee R&B Live'' (Appaloosa, 1997) *''Let It Shine'' ( Black Top, 1998) *''Let's Work Together'' (Cannonball, 2000)

Singles

*"I've Been Faithful" / "We've Been Wrong" (1960) (Excello 2146) *"Strain on My Heart" (1965), US R&B singles, number 25 *"Easy Going Fellow" (1966), US R&B singles, number 32

References

External links