Wade Flemons was born in Coffeyville, Kansas, in 1940. His career in music started in 1958, when he signed to Vee-Jay Records with his group the Newcomers and recorded two of his own songs for his first single “Here I Stand” / “My Baby Likes To Rock”, which reached number eighty on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart and number nineteen on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart. It was a good start, with the Doo-Wop A-side and the Bluesy B-side, featuring an interesting interplay of sax and guitar. The success of his first single earned teenager Flemons two TV appearances in 1958.
Vee-Jay released twelve more singles credited to Wade Flemons as a solo artist, three of which entered the charts. The most successful was the Jesse Stone composition “Easy Lovin’” in 1960, which climbed to number ten on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart. The company also issued an album “Wade Flemons” in 1959. Most of the songs are slow ballads or bouncier Pop tunes, but three of the recordings stand out, showing greater depth and feeling in the arrangements and vocals.
The first of these is a song written by Mavis Staples that is the second track on side two of the 1959 album called “Don’t Be Too Careless”. It has a hypnotic, driving beat and a strong Gospel feel, with Flemons’ voice at its best. The second is a Blues song written by Vee-Jay’s Jimmy Reed entitled “Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby”. Again, Flemons steps up and adds feeling to the lyrics, in a way that he never did for the Pop songs. The final song is a Percy Mayfield composition “Please Send Me Someone To Love”, which has been recorded by many artists over the years. Flemons does the song justice.
Flemons himself was a fairly prolific songwriter, who was able to provide songs for a wide range of artists. At his best, he wrote songs with genuine feeling. One of the best is “When It Rains It Pours”, which was the B-side of the 1964 single “Watch Over Her”. It is included on the compilation album issued by Vee-Jay in 2000: “Here I Stand: 20 Greatest Hits”.
In addition to songwriting, Flemons took on local session work in Chicago studios. He co-wrote songs with Maurice White and also worked with him in local sessions, as a result of which Flemons was invited by White to join his band the Salty Peppers in 1969. Prior to that Flemons recorded two singles for Ramsey Lewis’ Ramsel Records in 1968, one of which “Jeanette” became popular amongst Northern Soul fans in the UK. When the Salty Peppers evolved into Earth, Wind & Fire, Flemons provided vocals but also played electric piano, through to 1972.
Wade Flemons is not a well-known name. but he made a distinctive contribution to the development of Chicago Soul. He died in 1993 in Battle Creek, Michigan.
