OTIS CLAY / LOWRELL - THE ONLY WAY IS UP / MELLOW MELLOW RIGHT ON

Otis Clay (February 11, 1942 – January 8, 2016) was an American R&B and soul singer, who started in gospel music. In 2013, Clay was inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame. Clay was born in rural Bolivar County, Mississippi to a musical family, who moved in 1953 to Muncie, Indiana. After singing with local gospel group, the Voices of Hope, he returned to Mississippi to sing with the Christian Travelers, before settling in Chicago in 1957. There, he joined a series of gospel vocal groups including the Golden Jubilaires, the Famous Blue Jay Singers, the Holy Wonders, and the Pilgrim Harmonizers, before making his first solo secular recordings in 1962. They were unissued, and Clay joined the Gospel Songbirds, who recorded in Nashville in 1964 and who also included Maurice Dollison who sang R&B under the name Cash McCall, and then the Sensational Nightingales. In 1965 Clay signed with One-derful! Records in Chicago, to make secular recordings. After releasing a series of gospel-tinged soul records, his first hit came in 1967 with "That's How It Is (When You're In Love)", which reached # 34 on the US Billboard R&B chart, followed by "A Lasting Love" (# 48 R&B). In 1968 the record company folded and his contract was bought by Atlantic Records, who launched their subsidiary Cotillion label with Clay's version of the Sir Douglas Quintet hit, "She's About A Mover", produced at the FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals. The record became Clay's biggest pop hit, reaching # 97 on the Billboard Hot 100 (# 47 R&B). However, follow-ups on Cotillion, including "Hard Working Woman" produced by Syl Johnson, and "Is It Over?" produced by Willie Mitchell in Memphis, were less successful. Clay moved to Mitchell's Hi Records in 1971, and made many of his best known soul blues records for the label. His biggest hit came in late 1972 with "Trying To Live My Life Without You," a # 102 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, # 70 on Cash Box, and # 24 R&B, which he followed up with "If I Could Reach Out". "Tryin' To Live My Life Without You" was later covered by Bob Seger, whose version made # 5 on the pop chart in 1981. After several more Hi singles and the album I Can't Take It, Clay moved to Kayvette Records, where he had his last national hit single in 1977, "All Because Of Your Love" (# 44 R&B). He later recorded for the Elka and Rounder labels, as well as his own Echo Records for whom he recorded the original version of "The Only Way Is Up" in 1980. He remained a popular live act in Europe and Japan, as well as the US, and recorded three live albums, Soul Man: Live in Japan, Otis Clay Live(also in Japan on Victor VDP-5111) and Respect Yourself, recorded live at the Lucerne Blues Festival in Switzerland. In the 1990s he also recorded two soul albums for Bullseye Blues: I'll Treat You Right and the Willie Mitchell-produced This Time Around. In 2007, he recorded the gospel album Walk a Mile in My Shoes. He was a nominee for a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance. As a resident of Chicago's West Side, he was actively involved in community-based economic and cultural initiatives, including the development of The Harold Washington Cultural Center. On August 11, 2012 he was one of several acts that performed at Lincoln Center Out of Doors Summer Concerts in New York City. He was backed by the band Platinum. Clay was joined on stage for the finale by William Bell and Teenie Hodges. Clay was one of the 2013 inductees to the Blues Hall of Fame. In 2015 Otis published with Billy Price the album This Time For Real. He died of a heart attack on January 8, 2016, in Chicago, Illinois at the age of 73. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

Lowrell (Lowrell Simon, Chicago, Illinois, March 18, 1943 - June 19, 2018) was an American soul singer. He began as a singer in The LaVondells, which became The Vondells which featured Butch McCoy and Jessie Dean and enjoyed some regional success in the 1960s with the song "Lenore". When the Vondells broke up, Simon formed the group The Lost Generation alongside several Chicago friends, and the group scored several U.S. hits between 1969 and 1974. After the band's breakup, Simon made contributions to the soundtrack to the 1974 film, Three the Hard Way, and wrote tracks for the 1976 debut album of Mystique, which featured other former members of The Lost Generation. He also wrote the tune "Dance Master" in 1974 for Willie Henderson, and the 1979 tune "All About the Paper" for Loleatta Holloway. In the late 1970s, Simon began recording under his first name. He signed to Liberace's label, AVI Records, and released an album in late 1979 entitled Lowrell. The album's second single, "Mellow Mellow Right On" b/w "You're Playing Dirty", was a #32 U.S. R&B hit that year. It reached #37 in the UK Singles Chart in December 1979. The song has been sampled copiously, including by Massive Attack, Imagination, Big Brooklyn Red on 'Taking It Too Far' and Common, and has been covered by dance production outfit L.A. Mix. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.