This post is in reference to a request made by BEN. R&B MAVERICK is a 31 track album that includes a wide variety of selections from the great Donnie Elbert in adition to three other tracks written for other artists. As an added gift to this great album I've included 6 bonus tracks not included on the album. Music that was made available to complete this post was provided by JR, ROSSYBOY & SOLOE.
Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Donnie and his family relocated to Buffalo, New York three years later, and there he learned to play guitar and piano — influenced by The Drifters' Clyde McPhatter. Elbert co-founded a doo-wop group called the Vibraharps with friend Danny Cannon in 1955, serving as its guitarist, songwriter and arranger while largely relegating himself to background vocals. After making his recorded debut on their single "Walk Beside Me," Elbert left the Vibraharps in 1957 amidst creative differences and turned to a solo career. He recorded a demo that earned him a recording contract with the King label's Deluxe imprint. His Deluxe debut "What Can I Do?" got into the Top 20 of the U.S. R&B chart, but his follow-up "Believe It or Not" went nowhere. His third Deluxe effort, 1957's "Have I Sinned?" was a showcase for his powerful falsetto, and the record was a regional hit, especially in Pittsburgh, where DJ Porky Chedwick played it relentlessly.
Despite playing New York's Apollo Theater and touring the chitlin' circuit of African-American owned nightclubs, Elbert's career faltered. He released five singles on Deluxe in 1958 ("Let's Do the Stroll," "My Confession of Love," "I Want to Be Loved But Only by You," "I Want to Be Near You" and "Just a Little Bit of Lovin'"), none of which made any commercial impact. Relations with Deluxe grew even more strained as Elbert consistently battled with producers over the direction of his career, and after completing his first album, The Sensational Donnie Elbert Sings, he left the label in 1959, joining the fledgling Red Top Records long enough to record 1960's "Someday (You'll Want Me to Want You)." Also in 1960 he recorded his version of "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons". From there he signed with Vee-Jay Records, notching another regional hit with "Will You Ever Be Mine?," which sold 250,000 copies in the Philadelphia area but failed to take off nationwide. After two more Vee-Jay efforts - "Half as Old" and 1961's "I've Loved You, Baby" — Elbert moved from label to label including Jalynne ("Mommie's Gone"), P&L (1962's "Nobody Knows"), Parkway ("Baby Cakes"), Cub (1963's "Love Stew") and Checker ("Just a Cotton-Pickin' Minute"), rarely staying for more than one record before moving along yet again.
The emergence of the Motown Sound impressed Elbert and he began modeling his music in its image. While backing vocalists and session musicians (The Funk Brothers) were required to create authentic Motown records, Elbert played all the instruments on his recordings himself. 1965's Gateway label release "A Little Piece of Leather" failed to chart in the U.S., the record was a hit in the UK and remains a Northern soul favorite. After one last Gateway single, "Your Red Wagon (You Can Push It or Pull It)," Elbert returned to the road. He chose not to record his own composition, "Baby Walk Right In," but instead he gave it to fellow Buffalo singer Darrell Banks, who sped up the tempo, retitled it "Open the Door to Your Heart" and recorded it in Detroit. Not only was the end result a Top 40 pop hit, but Elbert was not credited as its composer, a legal mess that took years to sort out and still ended with Banks receiving 50% of all royalties.
Elbert relocated to the UK in 1966; two years later he resumed his recording career with "In Between Heartaches," a one-off for Atco, followed in 1969 by the Deram release "Without You". The latter hit the vogue for rocksteady rhythms so that the single went on to top the Jamaican charts. Elbert returned Stateside in 1970, generating his first U.S. chart hit in over a decade with the Rare Bullet label release "I Can't Get Over Losing You," which reached the number 26 spot on the R&B chart.
During his time in the UK, Elbert recorded his version of The Supremes' hit "Where Did Our Love Go?". It was released on the All Platinum label. He returned to the U.S. in 1969, before the single reached Number 8 in the UK Singles Chart in 1972.
Its follow-up "Sweet Baby" climbed to number 30 on the R&B chart in early 1972. For the All Platinum Elbert also re-recorded a number of his vintage compositions, among them "A Little Piece of Leather," before signing with Avco-Embassy, where he entered the recording studio with the hitmaking production team of Hugo & Luigi. However, while at Avco Elbert balked at the label's insistence that he record material associated with Motown. Despite the success of his cover of The Four Tops' "I Can't Help Myself," which hit number 14 on the R&B chart, the label eventually shelved the troubled project, selling the completed tracks to the Trip label, which cobbled together the 1972 album, Stop in the Name of Love.
After his dismissal from Avco, Elbert reluctantly returned to All Platinum. In 1973 he released "This Feeling of Losing You"; the follow-up was another cover, 1974's "Love is Strange" He left All Platinum in the wake of another songwriting controversy, claiming authorship of labelmates Shirley & Company's R&B chart-topper "Shame Shame Shame," which was instead credited to label owner Sylvia Robinson. Unlike his claim against Banks, the squabble was not resolved in Elbert's favor, and Robinson remains the sole writer credited. For 1975's "You Keep Me Crying (With Your Lying)," Elbert finally formed his own label, and "I Got to Get Myself Together," appeared on an imprint bearing his surname, but it was among his final recordings.
By the mid 1980s Elbert had retired from performing, and became director of A&R for Polygram's Canadian division. His reign was not long-lived. Elbert suffered a massive stroke and died in 1989, at the age of 52.
Track Listing
Disc 1 of 2
1. Get Ready
2. Time Hangs On My Mind
3. Along Came Pride
4. Baby Please Come Home
5. Without You
6. Can't Get Over Losing You
7. If I Can't Have You
8. Will You Ever Be Mine
9. A Little Piece Of Leather
10. One Thousand, Nine Hundred And Seventy Years
11. Where Did Our Love Go?
12. What Can I Do?
13. Get Myself Together (I Got To)
14. Sweet Baby
15. That's If You Love Me
Disc 2 of 2
1. This Feeling Of Losing You
2. Love Is Strange
3. You're Gonna Cry When I'm Gone
4. In Between Heartaches (Another Tear Will Take Its Place)
5. Come See Me
6. Free
7. A Love Of Your Own
8. You Don't Have To Be A Star
9. You Should Be Dancing
10. What A Difference A Day Made
11. Back In My Arms Again
12. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow: (1997 Remix)
13. What Do You Do?: (1997 Remix)
14. Reaching For A Dream ...Lonnie Youngblood (Written by Donnie Elbert)
15. Cry Cry Cry...Shirley And Company (Written by Donnie Elbert)
16. Mr. Peanut Goes To Washington...Little Joe Cook (Written by Donnie Elbert)
[BONUS TRACKS]
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1.) WHAT CAN I DO
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2.) HAVE I SINNED
3.) BABY LET ME LOVE YOU TONIGHT
4.) MOMMY'S GONE
5.) EVERYTHING TO ME
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6.) PLEASE TELL ME SO
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POSTED BY G MAN
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