Laura Lee was born in Chicago in 1945 but grew up in Detroit. Her mother, Ernestine Rundless, was a Gospel singer, who founded the Meditation Singers group. In 1956, Laura joined the group, replacing the original lead singer Della Reese, remaining until 1965, when she decided to move to a career in secular music as a solo artist.
She cut her first single for Ric-Tic Records in 1966, a song entitled “To Win Your Heart”, before moving to Chess Records in 1967. After recording a few songs with her in Chicago, the Chess team decided to send her to FAME to record.
Chess released seven Laura Lee singles during the two years she was signed to them, with five of them being recorded at FAME, produced by Rick Hall and backed by FAME’s second group of session musicians. “Dirty Man”/ “It’s Mighty Hard” and “Wanted: Lover, No Experience Necessary”/ “Up Tight, Good Man” appeared in 1967, followed the next year by “Hang It Up”/ “It’s How You Make It Good”, “Need To Belong”/ “He Will Break Your Heart”, and “As Long As I Got You”/ “A Man With Some Backbone”.
Lee switched briefly to Atlantic Records in 1969 and then moved swiftly on to Hot Wax, a subsidiary of Holland, Dozier, Holland’s Invictus label in Detroit. Later in her career, she returned to Gospel music and was ordained as a minister.
Most of the songs that she recorded during the FAME sessions were written by Chess songwriters, including Bobby Miller, Leonard Caston and Lloyd Webber. “As Long As I Got You” is a Gene Barge song, co-written with Laura herself, and “It’s Mighty Hard” is a James Cleveland song. “Need To Belong” is a Curtis Mayfield song. “Dirty Man” is a Bobby Miller composition. Just three of the songs on the five FAME singles released by Chess were written or co-written by songwriters at FAME. “Up Tight Good Man” is a Dan Penn/Spooner Oldham composition, “A Man With Some Backbone” was written by Clarence Carter and Marcus Daniel, and “He Will Break Your Heart” was co-written by Clarence Carter, Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield. All these songs fitted Laura Lee’s style very well. The subject matter too was spot on; Laura Lee’s songs often had a lot to say about how women were treated in life.
There were other songs recorded at the sessions that Chess chose to leave in the can. Three are of particular interest to fans of Muscle Shoals Soul and R&B, “Sure As Sin”, “It’s All Wrong But It’s All Right”, and “It Ain’t What You Do”. The first two were written by Marlin Greene and Eddie Hinton, who worked at Norala Studio with Quin Ivy. Hinton had brought the songs to FAME in the hope that Rick Hall would suggest them to visiting artists, and that indeed is what happened. During her two-week session in early 1968, Hall recommended the songs to Laura Lee, who cut excellent versions of them with the FAME session band.
Two good versions of “Sure As Sin” were released, one by Jeannie Greene, Marlin’s wife, and the other by Candi Staton, but Lee’s version didn’t appear until 1984 on the compilation album “Up Tight Good Woman” (Chess/ P-Vine Special), released in Japan.
The song subsequently featured on two further albums, “That’s How It Is” in 1990 and “Chess Sing A Song Of Soul #5” in 2018. It was worth the wait! Laura Lee’s version is powerful and dramatic, with excellent arrangements for the horns and a typical Spooner Oldham organ part. The Japanese compilation album notes make it clear that Lee recorded fourteen songs at FAME Studios, which are all included on the album.
“It’s All Wrong But It’s All Right” is a Soul ballad, that appeared on Percy Sledge’s 1968 album “Take Time To Know Her”. Lee’s version loses nothing in comparison. Once again, Chess held on to the recording for a number of years before eventually including it on the 1972 Laura Lee compilation album “Love More Than Pride”, and then including it again on several more compilation albums.
“It Ain’t What You Do” was written by Jimmy Hughes, who had recorded “Steal Away” the first hit single made at the Avalon Road FAME Studio in 1964. Hughes’ original version of the song appeared in 1967 on the Atlantic label. Lee’s version has a different arrangement, which works well. Her punchy delivery is nicely augmented by the band, who create a very Stax-like sound. It is included on the Chess Laura Lee retrospective album “That’s How It Is” released in 1990.
Laura Lee “Love More Than Pride”
Laura Lee seems to have been undervalued by Chess. Her recordings at FAME are a good indication of her talent and the magic of Muscle Shoals.
