Happy Birthday: Linda Clifford

Today we wish Mrs. Linda Clifford a very happy 65th birthday. One dynamic artist who seems to be a very lovely person and usually has encouraging words to say when she makes appearances on Facebook. With a career spanning more than 30 years, Mrs. Clifford started as a Jazz singer, later transitioning to Soul, Rhythm & Blues and House music, scoring several hits during the 1970's and 1980's.

Right now, we're going to go back to 1978. The label is Curtom Records headed by the legendary Curtis Mayfield. The album is If My Friends Could See Me Now, the title cut being her first number one hit on the Billboard charts, which is a dance cover of the tune taken from the Broadway play Sweet Charity. The leads done by Mrs. Clifford are explosive, as with the instrumentation, which includes Mayfield on guitar. The extra sweetness added are the background vocals of another group of legends known as The Jones Girls.

We wish continuous good health, plenty of good fortune and look forward to many more years of hearing Mrs. Linda Clifford make sweet music.

Happy Birthday: Linda Clifford

Happy 67th to veteran singer/songwriter Linda Clifford, former Miss New York State who started her singing career by fronting a trio in Jazz music before switching to Rhythm and Blues. She also has credit as an actress from playing minor roles in two major motion pictures. Unsatisfied with the roles, Clifford decided to concentrate more on her music. As of this year, her music career has spanned 40 years and took her on recording journeys through Disco and House music.

1973 brought about being signed to Paramount Records and releasing her first single "(It's Gonna Be) A Long Long Winter" which was a minor hit. Her moving to Curtom Records, headed by Curtis Mayfield, broadened her success by recording hit tunes such as; a dance cover of "(It's Gonna Be) A Long Long Winter", "Runaway Love", "Bridge over Troubled Water", "Red Light" (from The Right Combination duet album with Curtis Mayfield), "Shoot Your Best Shot" and "Don't Come Crying to Me".

After being switched to Capitol Records in 1980, she released I'll Keep on Loving You in 1982, that contained the original version of "All The Man That I Need", a collaboration with Luther Vandross. The same tune would be covered first by Sister Sledge, then Whitney Houston and finally by Vandross.

Rappers 2Pac/Tupac Shakur ("All Eyes On Me") and Nas ("Street Dreams") have sampled her "Never Gonna Stop" tune for their Hip-Hop records.

Hard Times: A Classic Revisited

While at one of my favorite spots, which is where I DJ at on Thursdays and any other day i'm booked, my long time friend named Troy who is a bartender there played a few tunes on the digital jukebox. I started buggin' when I heard the opening and asked him who it was that did this remake of this Soul classic by Baby Huey & The Babysitters, which is also a staple amongst producers who have sampled this tune in many Hip-Hop classics. Turns out it was The Roots featuring John Legend off their new album Wake Up.

Personally, i'm not really a fan of John Legend. I had been seeing Questlove tweet about the album hundreds of times and never really gave it a second thought seeing John's name attached to it. After hearing this (finally), i'm still not a fan of his, but have to give props for his delivery. As usual, the legendary Roots Crew killed it with their superb musicianship.


Baby Huey (born James Ramey, August 17, 1944 - October 28, 1970) was influential in Hip-Hop after many rappers started mimicking his style of self-referential rhyming. Huey was signed to Curtis Mayfield and Eddie Thomas' Curtom Records. In 1969 Baby Huey & The Babysitters recorded The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend, which contained "Hard Times", "Listen to Me", and "Mighty Mighty Children", have been frequently sampled by hip hop producers. The album was released posthumously after Huey suffered a heart attack and passed away.

The Original Baby Huey & The Babysitters version.