Don Bryant was born in Memphis in 1942, one of ten children. His father and mother were both Gospel singers, so Don grew up surrounded by music. In his teens, he was a member of the family group, the Five Bryant Brothers, who sang around their neighbourhood. At the Booker T. Washington High School, he set up a group called the Quails, which later became the Canes. It was while working as a member of this group that Don Bryant came to the attention of Willie Mitchell, who suggested a new name, the Kings, and took them into the recording studio.
Their first single was released in 1958 on Stomper Time Records, with “Tell It to Me Baby”, a doo-wop number, on the A side and a ballad “Walking at Your Will” on the B side. Bryant wrote both tracks and took the lead vocal. The single was credited to Willie Mitchell with the Four Kings. After a couple more singles, the group disbanded.
Don Bryant 2017
Photo: Matt White (Wikimedia Commons)
Don Bryant now embarked on a solo career, signed to Hi Records. His first solo release was a cover of Chris Kenner’s “I Like It Like That”, but he then reverted to his own songs and a couple of songs written by Willie Mitchell for his later releases. The last solo release was a ballad “It’s So Lonely Being Me” in 1970. During that same year, his only album to that point was released on Hi Records. It is called “Precious Soul” and consists of twelve covers of well-known songs.
Bryant concentrated on songwriting after that, with over one hundred and fifty songs credited to him. Many of them are, of course, songs for Ann Peebles, whom he married in 1974.
In the late eighties, Bryant recorded a couple of Gospel mini-albums, issued on his own By Faith label. A third Gospel album appeared on the same label in 2000.
When Ann Peebles retired in 2012, Don Bryant became more active as a performer. Later, he started working as a vocalist for the Bo-Keys, a group that was formed in Memphis in 1998. In 2017 they released an album “Don’t Give Up on Love” on Fat Possum Records.
It features Don Bryant on lead vocals, backed by Charles Hodges (organ), Howard Grimes (drums), Archie Turner (keyboards), Scott Bomar, Bo-Keys leader, (bass), Joe Restivo (guitar) and Marc Franklin, Kirk Smothers and Art Edmaiston (horns). The tracks include some new songs written by Bryant and Bomar, plus some of Don’s old songs and a cover of O.V. Wright’s “A Nickel and a Nail”.
It is a fine album. There are also eight compilations featuring Bryant’s recordings at Hi Records, released between 1989 and 2000.
