Golden Hits Of The 60s”
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BARBARA ACKLIN
“LOVE MAKES A WOMAN”
(Eugene Record, William Sanders, Carl Davis,
Gerald Sims)
Brunswick 55379
No. 15 August 37, 1968
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Barbara Acklin (b. Feb. 28, 1944, Chicago, IL) came from a musical family. Her grandma was blues singer
Asa Eskridge; her cousin was keyboardist/arranger Monk Higgins. Mom and Dad were attuned and hip, so
they encouraged Barb to sing her soul out. By age 11, she was a featured vocalist in the choir of the New
Zion Baptist Church. While still a student at Dunbar Vocational High, Acklin sang secular at night spots on
Chicago’s South Side. When Barbara graduated, Monk Higgins got her a job as a secretary with St.
Lawrence Records, where he worked as a producer and recording artist. “When somebody would come in
to record and they needed a background singer, I would run in the back and sing,” Acklin told Goldmine R &
B editor Bob Pruter. Monk recorded one single on her as “Barbara Allen” but it fizzled.
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Higgins then moved his base of operations to Chess Records, and Barbara followed. At Chess, she sang
back-up for Fontella Bass, Etta James, MINNIE RIPERTON, and Koko Taylor. In 1966, Barbara obtained
the job of secretary/receptionist for Carl Davis at Brunswick Records, and began writing songs on the side.
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“I kept asking Carl to record [me],” recalled Acklin, “and he kept saying ‘I will, I will, just keep on writing.’ I
wrote a tune with another person [The Five DuTones’ David Scott, of “Shake a Tail Feather” notoriety] called
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‘Whispers” and Jackie Wilson heard the tune and really liked it. He recorded it, and after it became a big
hit for him, he told me, ‘If there is anything I can do for you, let me know.’ I said, ‘You tell Carl I want to
record” ” Three weeks later, Barbara was in a recording studio. Her first two singles flopped, but a duet
with Gene Chandler called “Show Me the Way to Go” (#30, 1968) did moderately with the R & B crowd.
Then “Love Makes a Woman” appeared and soared into the Top 40. A number of follow-up solo sides–
among them “Am I the Same Girl,” later a British hit for Swing Out Sister and duets with Chandler placed
fairly well on Billboard’s R & B charts–but none of them could duplicate the success, or recapture the
charm, of “Love Makes a Woman.”
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Disappointed by her lackluster chart showings, Acklin left Brunswick in 1973 and signed with Capitol
Records. Over the next few years, three singles and an album–A Place in the Sun (1975)–were issued by
Capitol. Of these 45s, “Raindrops” (R&B: #14, 1974) sold the best, but these would prove to be her last disks
to date. Later in the ’70s, Acklin stepped out of the spotlight. “I went out on the road with Tyrone Davis as
a back-up singer. Everybody thought I was nuts, but it was a way of staying in touch with the business
without a deep involvement.”
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In 1979, Barbara parted company with Capitol and joined the Chi-Sound label the following year, but no
records were released. In the ’80s, Barbara Acklin was spotted in the role of road manager for Ike Turner’s
occasional “Tina” fill–in Holly Maxwell. Barb, also, continues a writing partnership with the Chi-Lites’
Eugene Record, that resulted in major hits with “Have You Seen Her” and “Stoned Out of My Mind.”