images courtesy
Ace Records
Ann Bridgeforth moved
with her family from Chicago to Mount Clemens in the late
fifties.
Born and bred a
singer, she sang at her cousin's club, Michelle's
Playroom.
As she picked up on gigs, she changed her name to Little
Ann. This was her family's pet name due to her being the youngest of
seven brothers and sisters. She was taken to
Dave Hamilton's TCB studio on Highland by a guy named
Eddie Grace. Hamilton would
record songs and lease them to other companies and
"Going down a one way street", Ric-Tic142 was one
of them. Apparently when they
took the song to Wingate he demanded they change the
lyrics and the arrangements. He also put an instrumental on
the flip side. Sadly this was
Little Ann's only foray on vinyl and she thought that her
career was over. In the early
eighties an acetate was uncovered by someone in England. The
song was
dubbed "When he's not around" by Rose Valentine
and it
became a monster on the Northern Soul scene. A visit to the home
of Dave Hamilton in 1990 by Gilly from England, led to the chance discovery of the
song on a master tape. It was actually by Little Ann and called "What should I do?". This magical song
eventually gained release in the UK on a CD of Dave's work
by Ace/Kent records. Thirty five
years after launching her career, she appeared on stage in
England, to the type of adulation she would have dreamt
about as a child. Sadly, Ann died in
February 2003.
I am indebted to Ady
Croasdell of Ace/Kent records for the above information.
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