The “Golden Hits Of The 60s“
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SWEET INSPIRATIONS
(Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham)
Atlantic 2476
No. 18 April 27, 1968
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It all began in Newark’s New Hope Baptist Church, where Emily “Cissy” Houston, her nieces 0Dee Dee
and Dionne Warwick, and the sisters Judy (a.k.a. Judy Clay) and Sylvia Guions (a.k.a. Sylvia Shemwell)
became members of the Drinkard Singers. Before evolving into the Sweet Inspirations, the group
recorded traditional gospel for RCA.
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“Growing up, mine was a pretty narrow road,” Cissy Houston–perhaps best known to younger pop fans
as the mother of Whitney Houston–recalled to Gerri Hershey in Nowhere to Run. “Now I had been
brought up strict, to think that all of it, rock and all, was the devil’s music. But if God gives you a gift, if
he gives you a voice, well, I don’t think He’s gonna discriminate on how you best put it to use. But I
didn’t always feel this way. Not at all … I suffered a great trauma when I went over [to singing pop
music]. But I had three children to raise.”
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Over the course of the ’60s, after some personnel changes, the Drinkard crew became one of the finest–
and most recorded-back-up vocal groups in the business. Little did they suspect as much when Cissy,
Sylvia, Estelle Brown, and Myra Smith did their first secular studio work behind Ronnie Hawkins and a
group later known as The Band. For six years, the girls labored behind the scenes spicing and enticing
the best performances out of acts such as WILLIAM BELL, Maxine Brown, Solomon Burke, Neil
Diamond, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, and Dusty Springfield. It was Jerry Wexler at Atlantic
Records who dubbed them “The Sweet Inspirations” and gave them the opportunity to record their own
effort.
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“A lot of girls got into doing that kind of session work,” Cissy told Hershey. “But once we got it together
in the Inspirations, well, nobody could touch us. Except maybe the Blossoms.”
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Elvis, beginning in 1968 and throughout his much publicized comeback, constantly drew upon the Sweet
Inspirations’ vocal talents for his nationwide extravaganzas and Vegas shows. But as soloists–out front
and on their own–the Sweets clicked on the Top 40 with only one 45, a tune dashed off by Dan Penn and
Spooner Oldham. A few other disks, appearing before and after their big moment, did stir up some
chart action “Why (Am I Treated So Bad)” (#57; R&B: #36, 1967), “Let It Be Me” (#94; R&B: #13, 1967),
“To Love Somebody” (#74; R&B:#30, 1968), and “Unchained Melody” (#73; R&B: #41, 1968)–but Cissy
and the others never achieved a sustained stardom.
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