Martha High | |
|---|---|
 Photo: Lasse Brown | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Victoria, Virginia, U.S. |
| Origin | Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Genres | Soul, R&B, funk |
| Website | www.facebook.com/originalfunkydiva/ |
Martha High (born Martha Harvin in 1945, Victoria, Virginia [1] ) is an American vocalist.
Harvin grew up in Washington, D.C., attending Roosevelt High School and singing in Trinity AME Zion Church. She began singing in The Four Jewels (whose members attended the same church and school) after the departure of Carrie Mingo. After Martha joined the group, they changed their name simply to The Jewels and released their best-known hit, "Opportunity". After a follow-up single, "But I Do" b/w "Smokey Joe", flopped, they were dropped from Dimension Records.
The Jewels went on tour with James Brown in 1964, with a demanding nightly schedule. They visited the studios of Motown Records on the Detroit leg of the tour, hoping to record, but the building was closed that day. They did record two singles while they toured with Brown, but after a year and a half with Brown the group split up. Not ready to leave the tour, Harvin asked Brown if she could stay. Brown agreed, but he required her name change from Harvin to the stage name High. [2] She continued singing with Brown for the next 30-plus years. Among her appearances with Brown are on the track "Summertime" and on the Original Funky Divas album.
High also recorded a self-titled disco album in 1979, released on Salsoul Records. In January 2000, she stopped performing with Brown and went on tour with Maceo Parker.
In 2004, High teamed up with the Soulpower organization, which is also behind the comebacks of Soul artists like Marva Whitney, Lyn Collins, Bobby Byrd, Gwen McCrae and RAMP. During her collaboration with Soulpower, High performed all across Europe and even performed in Africa, backed by the Soulpower Allstars. In February 2005, High embarked on the "James Brown's Funky Divas Tour" in Europe, sharing the stage with her friend Lyn Collins.
In 2016, High released her solo album on Blind Faith Records, with 11 original tunes produced and recorded by Italian soul man Luca Sapio and his crew.
In 2017, High recorded a single titled "We are one" with DJ Toner, released on Enlace Funk (Spain). Fred Thomas (The J.B.´s musician) also collaborated playing bass. [3]
In 2021, High recorded an album titled "Got My Senses Back" with Grey and the Hit Me Band, released on Only One Records with 9 tracks arranged, produced and recorded by Michael Edell.
| No. | Song titles (Artist) | Label and no. | Release | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Georgy Girl" b/w "Try Me" | People 611 | 1972 | 7" |
| 2 | "Take Me Higher And Groove Me" (James Brown) b/w Summertime (Martha And James) | Polydor 14433 | 1977 | 7" |
| 3 | "Spank Georgia Disco" Parts 1&2 (as Martha And The Lazers) | Polydor 14498 | 1978 | 7" |
| 4 | "He's My Ding Dong Man" b/w "Wallflower" | Salsoul 2097 | 1979 | 7" |
| 5 | "Showdown" b/w "He's My Ding Dong Man" | Salsoul 2110 | 1979 | 7" |
| 6 | "He's My Ding Dong Man" b/w "Wallflower" | Salsoul 306 | 1979 | 12" |
| 7 | "Showdown" b/w "He's My Ding Dong Man" | Salsoul 317 | 1979 | 12" |
| 8 | "The Big Payback" | Diaspora Connections | 2007 | CD |
| 9 | "The Shakedown (Say Yeah)" b/w "Dragging Me Down" (as Speedometer ft. Martha High) | Freestyle 7072 | Feb. 2012 | 7" |
| 10 | "I'd Rather Go Blind" b/w "No More Heartaches" (as Martha High & Speedometer) | Freestyle 7074 | Sept. 2012 | 7" |
| 11 | "We are one" (as Martha High & DJ Toner) | Enlace Funk EF-67 | 2017 | 7" |
"This Is My Story" and "Something's Got A Hold On Me" by The Jewels
"This Is My Story" by The Jewels
"Summertime" by Martha And James
"Later For Dancing" (duet with James Brown)
Porgy and Bess is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play Porgy, itself an adaptation of DuBose Heyward's 1925 novel Porgy.
Funky Divas is the second studio album by American recording group En Vogue, released by Atlantic Records division East West on March 24, 1992, in the United States. Conceived after the success of their Grammy Award–nominated debut album Born to Sing (1990), En Vogue reteamed with their founders Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy to work on the entire album. As with Born to Sing, the pair borrowed from contemporary R&B, new jack swing, and hip hop, while also incorporating classic soul, blues and doo-wop elements, particularly on its on two Sparkle cover versions, as well as, in the case of "Free Your Mind," heavy metal sounds. The album became the quartet's second album to earn a Grammy Award nomination in the Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals category, while winning the American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Album and the Sammy Davis Jr. Award for Entertainer of the Year at the 1993 Soul Train Music Awards.
The J.B.'s was James Brown's band from 1970 through the early 1980s. On records the band was sometimes billed under alternate names such as Fred Wesley and the JBs, The James Brown Soul Train, Maceo and the Macks, A.A.B.B., Fred Wesley and the New JBs, The First Family, and The Last Word. In addition to backing Brown, the J.B.'s played behind Bobby Byrd, Lyn Collins, and other singers associated with the James Brown Revue, and performed and recorded as a self-contained group. In 2015, they were nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but failed to be inducted and can be considered for Musical Excellence in the future. They have been eligible since 1995.
Gloria Lavern Collins, better known as Lyn Collins, was an American soul singer best known for working with James Brown in the 1970s and for the influential 1972 funk single, "Think ".
Marva Whitney was an American funk singer commonly referred to by her honorary title, Soul Sister #1. Whitney was considered by many funk enthusiasts to be one of the "rawest" and "brassiest" music divas.
Loleatta Holloway was an American singer known for disco songs such as "Hit and Run" and "Love Sensation". In December 2016, Billboard named her the 95th-most successful dance artist of all time. According to the Independent, Holloway is the most sampled female singer in popular music, used in house and dance tracks such as the 1989 Black Box single "Ride on Time".
Jocelyn Lorette Brown, sometimes credited as Jocelyn Shaw, is an American R&B and dance singer. Although she has only one Billboard Hot 100 chart entry solely in her name, she has an extensive background in the music industry and is well known in the world of dance music. Brown sang on 23 hit singles from the Official UK Singles Chart, 8 of which have reached the top 20.
Martha Elaine Wash is an American singer-songwriter, actress, and producer. Known for her distinctive and powerful voice, Wash first achieved fame as half of the Two Tons O' Fun, along with Izora Armstead, as they sang backing vocals for the disco singer Sylvester including on his signature hit "You Make Me Feel ". After gaining their own record deal, they released three consecutive commercially successful songs which all peaked at number two in the dance charts. The duo was renamed The Weather Girls in 1982 after they released the top-selling single "It's Raining Men", which brought them to mainstream pop attention. The Weather Girls released five albums and were heavily featured on Sylvester's albums.
"My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)" is a song by American pop/R&B group En Vogue, released in March 1992 as the lead single from their multi-platinum second album, Funky Divas (1992).
Bettye LaVette is an American soul singer who made her first record at sixteen, but achieved only intermittent fame until 2005, when her album I've Got My Own Hell to Raise was released to widespread critical acclaim, and was named on many critics' "Best of 2005" lists. Her next album, The Scene of the Crime, debuted at number one on Billboard's Top Blues Albums chart and was nominated for Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 2008 Grammy Awards. She received the Legacy of Americana Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2023 Americana Music Honors & Awards.
VH1 debuted the first annual VH1 Divas concert in 1998. VH1 Divas Live was created to support the channel's Save The Music Foundation and subsequent concerts in the series have also benefited that foundation. The VH1 Divas concerts were a follow-up to the channel's annual VH1 Honors benefit concert that ran from 1994 to 1997, airing annually from 1998 to 2004. After a five-year hiatus, the series returned in 2009 with a younger-skewed revamp. In 2010 the concert saluted the troops and in 2011 it celebrated soul music, doubling the previous year's ratings. After a dance music-focused 2012 edition aired live from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on December 16, 2012, the show took another hiatus before being revived on December 5, 2016, at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, New York with a holiday theme and achieved its highest ratings in over a decade.
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings were an American funk and soul band signed to Daptone Records. They were part of a revival movement of mid-1960s to mid-1970s style funk and soul music. They released their debut album Dap Dippin' in 2002, the first of seven studio albums. Their 2014 album Give the People What They Want was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. Following Sharon Jones' death in 2016, the band released the posthumous album Soul of a Woman in 2017 and a compilation of cover songs in 2020.
"Free Your Mind" is a song by American female group En Vogue from their second album, Funky Divas (1992). The track was composed and produced by Foster and McElroy. They were inspired by the Funkadelic song "Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow." The guitar and bass tracks for the song were written and recorded by San Francisco-based guitarist Jinx Jones. The opening line: "Prejudice, wrote a song about it. Like to hear it? Here it go!", is adapted from a line originally used by David Alan Grier's character Calhoun Tubbs from Fox's In Living Color.
Gwen McCrae is an American singer, best known for her 1975 hit "Rockin' Chair".
"Make It Funky" is a jam session recorded by James Brown with The J.B.'s. It was released as a two-part single in 1971, which reached No. 1 on the U.S. R&B chart and No. 22 on the U.S. Pop chart.
"Funky President (People It's Bad)" is a funk song by James Brown. Released as a single in 1974, it charted No. 4 R&B. It also appeared on the album Reality. According to Brown the "funky president" of the song's title was meant to refer to U.S. President Gerald Ford, who had succeeded Richard Nixon in the White House shortly before it was recorded.
Tommy Stewart is an American trumpeter, arranger, composer, and record producer. He has been a member of the Magic City Jazz Orchestra, Cleveland Eaton and the Alabama All-Stars, the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame All-Stars, and Ray Reach and Friends. He was a 1988 inductee into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.
DJ Pari, born Markus Schmidt, is a German-American DJ, producer and journalist. He is mostly known for his collaborations with Soul legends like Marva Whitney, Gwen McCrae, Lyn Collins, The Impressions and James Brown amongst others.
The Jewels were an American girl group from Washington, D.C., United States.
Elsie Mae worked as an American singer in James Brown’s backup band in the late 1960s.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)| Authority control databases: Artists |
|---|
