Leroy Hutson joined The Impressions in 1971, three months after leaving college, where he had shared a room with Donny Hathaway. Hathaway had given up his college course in order to take up the post of musical director for Curtis Mayfield. Hutson, however, completed his studies, switching from his dentistry course to major in music theory and composition at Howard University in Washington D.C.
Although newly-qualified when he came to Curtom, Hutson had been performing for several years as a member of the Nu-Tones and then the duo Sugar & Spice. Whilst at university, he had been a member of The Mayfield Singers, created in honour of Curtis Mayfield. In 1970, Hutson had collaborated with Hathaway, co-writing the song “The Ghetto”, which gave the latter his first chart success. Hutson also recorded the song in 1973 for inclusion on his album “The Man!”, renaming it “The Ghetto ’74”.
Given this background, it is no surprise that he was chosen as the replacement for Curtis Mayfield. Hutson stayed with the group for more than two years, contributing to two albums on the Curtom label.
Hutson cut his first solo single for Curtom in 1972, a Michael Hawkins song entitled “So In Love With You”, and followed up with twelve more singles before the final release “Right Or Wrong” in 1979. He produced most of the recordings and wrote and arranged many of the songs. His style is smooth and romantic, with a light touch to the arrangements. Twelve of the singles achieved R&B chart success, the highest entry being “Feel The Spirit” (number twenty-five) in 1976, which is out of step with the other singles in being a funky dance track with just the title as lyric. In addition, Curtom released seven Hutson solo albums, the last shared with RSO, five of which charted. Hutson made a significant contribution to Curtom Records’ success and deserves to be better known.
