Kim Weston (born Agatha Natalie Weston, December 30, 1939, in Detroit, Michigan) is an African American soul singer, and Motown Records alumna. She was signed to the record label in 1963, scoring a minor hit with “Love Me All the Way” (R&B #24, Pop #88). Her biggest solo hits with Motown were “Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)” (R&B #4, Pop #50, 1965; later covered by The Isley Brothers, Blood, Sweat & Tears and The Doobie Brothers) and “Helpless” (R&B #13, Pop #56, 1966; previously recorded by The Four Tops on their Second Album LP). Her biggest claim to fame was singing the classic hit “It Takes Two” with Marvin Gaye in 1966 and her later recording of the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” It was the success of “It Takes Two” with Marvin Gaye that caused Motown to seek Tammi Terrell to replace her as his singing partner, which spawned even more success for the label. Weston left Motown in 1967 and later sued the label over disputes about royalties. She and her then-husband William “Mickey” Stevenson (former A&R head at Motown) both went to MGM Records. Weston cut a couple of singles for MGM, “I Got What You Need,” and “Nobody,” which went largely unnoticed due to lack of airplay and promotion. She made an album for the label, This Is America, which included her popular version of the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” was released as a single and featured in the movie Wattstax. All the money from the single was donated to the United Negro College Fund. She recorded several more albums for various labels, Stax/Volt among them, and also made an album of duets with Johnny Nash. None of these recordings charted, and Weston reportedly relocated to Israel, where she worked with young singers. Along with many of her fellow Motown alumni/alumnae, she signed with Ian Levine’s Motorcity Records in the 1980s, releasing the single Signal Your Intention which peaked at #1 in the UK Hi-NRG charts. It was followed by the album Investigate (1990) which included some re-recordings of her Motown hits as well as new material. A second album for the label Talking Loud (1992) was never released although all the songs were included on the compilation The Best Of Kim Weston (1996). Today she is a disc jockey on a local Detroit, Michigan radio station, where she sponsors the summer events at Hart Plaza. She also tours sporadically, often alongside former Motown colleagues Mary Wilson, Martha Reeves and Brenda Holloway. She is also featured on the 2006 four CD release of the Motortown Revue series. [edit] Discography Standard albums 1966: Take Two (duet album with Marvin Gaye) 1967: For the First Time 1968: This Is America 1970: Big Brass Four Poster 1970: Kim Kim Kim 1990: Investigate Compilations 1991: Greatest Hits & Rare Classics 1996: The Very Best of the Motorcity Recordings 2003: 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of Kim Weston 2005: Motown Anthology Singles Year Single Chart positions Album U.S. U.S. R&B UK 1963 “Love Me All the Way” 88 24 – 1964 “What Good Am I Without You” (duet with Marvin Gaye) 61 28 – Take Two (1967) 1965 “Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)” 50 4 – 1966 “Helpless” 56 13 – 1967 “It Takes Two” (duet with Marvin Gaye) MY LOVE IS FOR DOOWOP AND FARE DOOWOP .50′S.60′S & Golden Oldies SOUND.!!
Duration : 0:2:25
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Classic J. J. Barnes finally getting released after all those years locked in the Motown Vault. Looking forward to J.J.’s Motown Anthology which is set for release ?????????
Duration : 0:2:47
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The Elgins – My Love For Your Love. Available on the Motown Anthology.
Duration : 0:3:10
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Kim Weston- ask any avid Motown fan, the ones REALLY additcted to the label’s music, about Kim Weston and I’ll make a bet that 100% of them will tell you Motown REALLY dropped the ball on a phenomenal talent…
Here is an alternate version of perhaps Kim’s best-known song for the company (at least, best-known to the public in general.)
Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While) was a firestorm that came from the forever-astonishing team of Holland-Dozier-Holland. Eddie Holland actually put his vocals down first. Notes from the Kim Weston Motown Anthology state that the song was slated for Martha and the Vandellas. The song was then assigned to Kim, and Motown’s studio A caught fire and disintigrated.
How the studio didn’t burn to the ground as this woman lit fire to the already-burning H-D-H track is a mystery. The commercial version certainly was a firecracker but this alternate version recently released… fire alarms will sound, walls will crumble, speakers will explode, you’ll be turned into ashes.
I don’t know, maybe Kim decided to just give it hell, maybe H-D-H wanted one more take and Kim was tired and decided if they wanted one more take, then she would give them something they’d never forget. Whatever factored into this take, Kim takes the vocals to asonishingly explosive heights and hits notes that must have brought down any and all aircraft flying in the vicinity of Hitsville U.S.A. Notice too her lightning-fast phrasing going into the choruses (almost like those triple-time raps hip hop artists pull of so easily today.)
People must have really been paying attention to this song because the Doobie Brothers did a cover of the song that accomplished the fantastic feat of sounding thouroughly like a Doobie Brothers original and yet keeping a lot of that fantastic, classic Motown Sound at the same time.
Kim Weston was a woman who was able to shift gears easily between the Motown Sound and ballads and standards. Wonderfully, there have been recent releases on cd to showcase all of her amazing recordings as well as the ones that were kept in the vaults. Here is just one of those tracks that were kept behind, so enjoy and keep the fire extinguisher nearby!
Duration : 0:3:1
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Kim Weston (born Agatha Natalie Weston, December 30, 1939, in Detroit, Michigan) is an African American soul singer, and Motown Records alumna. She was signed to the record label in 1963, scoring a minor hit with “Love Me All the Way” (R&B #24, Pop #88). Her biggest solo hits with Motown were “Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)” (R&B #4, Pop #50, 1965; later covered by The Isley Brothers, Blood, Sweat & Tears and The Doobie Brothers) and “Helpless” (R&B #13, Pop #56, 1966; previously recorded by The Four Tops on their Second Album LP). Her biggest claim to fame was singing the classic hit “It Takes Two” with Marvin Gaye in 1966 and her later recording of the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” It was the success of “It Takes Two” with Marvin Gaye that caused Motown to seek Tammi Terrell to replace her as his singing partner, which spawned even more success for the label.
Weston left Motown in 1967 and later sued the label over disputes about royalties. She and her then-husband William “Mickey” Stevenson (former A&R head at Motown) both went to MGM Records. Weston cut a couple of singles for MGM, “I Got What You Need,” and “Nobody,” which went largely unnoticed due to lack of airplay and promotion. She made an album for the label, This Is America, which included her popular version of the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” was released as a single and featured in the movie Wattstax. All the money from the single was donated to the United Negro College Fund.
She recorded several more albums for various labels, Stax/Volt among them, and also made an album of duets with Johnny Nash. None of these recordings charted, and Weston reportedly relocated to Israel, where she worked with young singers.
Along with many of her fellow Motown alumni/alumnae, she signed with Ian Levine’s Motorcity Records in the 1980s, releasing the single Signal Your Intention which peaked at #1 in the UK Hi-NRG charts. It was followed by the album Investigate (1990) which included some re-recordings of her Motown hits as well as new material. A second album for the label Talking Loud (1992) was never released although all the songs were included on the compilation The Best Of Kim Weston (1996).
Today she is a disc jockey on a local Detroit, Michigan radio station, where she sponsors the summer events at Hart Plaza. She also tours sporadically, often alongside former Motown colleagues Mary Wilson, Martha Reeves and Brenda Holloway. She is also featured on the 2006 four CD release of the Motortown Revue series.
[edit] Discography
Standard albums
1966: Take Two (duet album with Marvin Gaye)
1967: For the First Time
1968: This Is America
1970: Big Brass Four Poster
1970: Kim Kim Kim
1990: Investigate
Compilations
1991: Greatest Hits & Rare Classics
1996: The Very Best of the Motorcity Recordings
2003: 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of Kim Weston
2005: Motown Anthology
Singles
Year Single Chart positions Album
U.S. U.S. R&B UK
1963 “Love Me All the Way” 88 24 –
1964 “What Good Am I Without You”
(duet with Marvin Gaye) 61 28 – Take Two (1967)
1965 “Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)” 50 4 –
1966 “Helpless” 56 13 –
1967 “It Takes Two”
(duet with Marvin Gaye)
MY LOVE IS FOR DOOWOP AND FARE DOOWOP .50′S.60′S & Golden Oldies SOUND.!!
Duration : 0:2:48
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The Elgins were an American vocal group on the Motown label, active from the late 1950s to 1967. Founding members Robert Fleming, Norbert McClean, and Johnny Dawson recorded prior to their Motown days as The Sensations, The Five Emeralds, and The Downbeats before adding Saundra Edwards (Mallett) and adopting the name “The Elgins” in 1964.
With Edwards on lead vocals, the group recorded several singles for Motown from 1965 to 1967, including the hits “Darling Baby” (1965) and “Heaven Must Have Sent You” (1966) (which became a Motown hit for singer Bonnie Pointer on September 1, 1979), both written and produced by Motown’s main production team, Holland-Dozier-Holland. The group disbanded in 1968, by which time Edwards had been replaced by Yvonne Allen, although its members periodically recorded covers of its hits for Ian Levine’s Motorcity Records record label in the UK. Recordings of the group, including the album, Darling Baby, all the singles and unreleased recordings up to 1968, can be found on The Motown Anthology released in 2007, as well as a British import CD which pairs their sole album for Motown with one by The Monitors, another group that recorded for Motown with limited success that featured future Temptation, Richard Street
Duration : 0:2:10
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Kim Weston (born Agatha Natalie Weston, December 30, 1939, in Detroit, Michigan) is an African American soul singer, and Motown Records alumna. She was signed to the record label in 1963, scoring a minor hit with “Love Me All the Way” (R&B #24, Pop #88). Her biggest solo hits with Motown were “Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)” (R&B #4, Pop #50, 1965; later covered by The Isley Brothers, Blood, Sweat & Tears and The Doobie Brothers) and “Helpless” (R&B #13, Pop #56, 1966; previously recorded by The Four Tops on their Second Album LP). Her biggest claim to fame was singing the classic hit “It Takes Two” with Marvin Gaye in 1966 and her later recording of the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” It was the success of “It Takes Two” with Marvin Gaye that caused Motown to seek Tammi Terrell to replace her as his singing partner, which spawned even more success for the label.
Weston left Motown in 1967 and later sued the label over disputes about royalties. She and her then-husband William “Mickey” Stevenson (former A&R head at Motown) both went to MGM Records. Weston cut a couple of singles for MGM, “I Got What You Need,” and “Nobody,” which went largely unnoticed due to lack of airplay and promotion. She made an album for the label, This Is America, which included her popular version of the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” was released as a single and featured in the movie Wattstax. All the money from the single was donated to the United Negro College Fund.
She recorded several more albums for various labels, Stax/Volt among them, and also made an album of duets with Johnny Nash. None of these recordings charted, and Weston reportedly relocated to Israel, where she worked with young singers.
Along with many of her fellow Motown alumni/alumnae, she signed with Ian Levine’s Motorcity Records in the 1980s, releasing the single Signal Your Intention which peaked at #1 in the UK Hi-NRG charts. It was followed by the album Investigate (1990) which included some re-recordings of her Motown hits as well as new material. A second album for the label Talking Loud (1992) was never released although all the songs were included on the compilation The Best Of Kim Weston (1996).
Today she is a disc jockey on a local Detroit, Michigan radio station, where she sponsors the summer events at Hart Plaza. She also tours sporadically, often alongside former Motown colleagues Mary Wilson, Martha Reeves and Brenda Holloway. She is also featured on the 2006 four CD release of the Motortown Revue series.
[edit] Discography
Standard albums
1966: Take Two (duet album with Marvin Gaye)
1967: For the First Time
1968: This Is America
1970: Big Brass Four Poster
1970: Kim Kim Kim
1990: Investigate
Compilations
1991: Greatest Hits & Rare Classics
1996: The Very Best of the Motorcity Recordings
2003: 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of Kim Weston
2005: Motown Anthology
Singles
Year Single Chart positions Album
U.S. U.S. R&B UK
1963 “Love Me All the Way” 88 24 –
1964 “What Good Am I Without You”
(duet with Marvin Gaye) 61 28 – Take Two (1967)
1965 “Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)” 50 4 –
1966 “Helpless” 56 13 –
1967 “It Takes Two”
(duet with Marvin Gaye)
MY LOVE IS FOR DOOWOP AND FARE DOOWOP .50′S.60′S & Golden Oldies SOUND.!!
Duration : 0:3:55
Read the rest of this entry »
The Elgins – Love Where Are You Hiding. Available on the Motown Anthology.
Duration : 0:3:10
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1965.
Taken from the 1974 comp LP: “Anthology”
(Motown M9-809A3)
“Anthology” is a big triple LP set. Motown put out several of these on most of their artists in the 70’s.
R.I.P Levi Stubbs.
Duration : 0:3:1
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1964.
Taken from the 1974 comp LP: “Anthology”
(Motown M9-809A3)
“Anthology” is a big triple LP set. Motown put out several of these on most of their artists in the 70’s.
R.I.P Levi Stubbs.
Duration : 0:3:10
Read the rest of this entry »