Donnie Elbert (May 25, 1936
— January 26, 1989) was an American
vocalist, and had a prolific career in the 1950s and
beyond. Elbert's reputation was secured by "A Little Piece
of Leather", a performance highlighting Elbert's
falsetto voice.
The
song became a standard at UK
soul clubs, when
released on the Sue record
label.
Career
Born in
New
Orleans
, Louisiana
, 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 "
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.
Discography
Selected singles
Albums
- The Sensational Donnie Elbert Sings (King, 1959)
- Tribute To A King (1968)
- Where Did Our Love Go? (All Platinum, 1971) U.S. #153, R&B #45
- Have I Sinned? (Deluxe, 1971)
- Stop in the Name of Love (Trip, 1972)
- A Little Bit of Leather (1972)
- Roots of Donnie Elbert (Ember, 1973)
- Dancin' The Night Away (All Platinum, 1977)
See also
References
- Soulwalking.co.uk - accessed 6 January
2009
- Joel
Whitburn, The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. 7th edn,
2000
- Allmusic.com - Charts & Awards
6. Chancellor of Soul (Mike Boone) Soul Chronicles (Donnie
Elbert)
External links
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