Anyone know anything about Anne "Little Ann" Bridgeforth?

[Doug-Morgan]

I ran across "Deep Shadows" in an NPR music blog this afternoon.....

http://www.npr.org/2012/04/09/150291830/5-long-lost-soul-songs?ps=mh_frhdl1

....and would like to know if anyone knows anything about the artist? It's a terrific song.....or at least, I like it.

Thanks in advance.

[mark speck]

Is she the same Little Ann that recorded for Ric-Tic and also did the Northern smash "Who Are You Trying to Fool?"?

Best,

Mark

[Doug-Morgan]

Don't know anything about her over and above what's in the blog. Aparently she did release some singles, and this cut was produced by Dave Hamilton.

[mark speck]

That may be her...I think "Who Are..." was produced by Dave.

Best,

Mark

[jsmith]

Little Ann's recorded work [[much of it unreleased back when it was cut) has been championed for the last 10 years by UK's Kent Records.
She came over & performed at Ady C's Cleggy Soul Weekender about 8 to 1o yrs ago [[I'll look out the event prog to get the exact year).
Unfortunately she passed away about 5 yrs ago.
SEE THIS ......... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC2uMYdNngE
................ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHik_HVLiFM
.......... http://www.acerecords.co.uk/content.php?page_id=59&release=1033
........ TO LEARN MORE.

[robb_k]

4741
Yes. She is the same little Ann that recorded for Ric Tic. Dave Hamilton recorded quite a few songs with her [[but many were unreleased).

[ady_croasdell]

The Little Ann Album sleevenotes from the Timmion [[Finland) LP we licensed to them. The LP was fictituous.

You are holding in your hands an album, which was never heard at the time it was recorded. For over 30 years it was stored in the archive of record producer and musician Dave Hamilton, one of the unsung heroes of the Detroit soul scene. The box of reels was marked simply "The Possible Little Ann Album". [[Poetic licence!)

The story of discovering the tracks featured on this album, some of which touch vinyl for the first time, is an interesting meeting of American and British soul music culture. In 1988, two British soul enthusiasts Gilly and Andy “Tats” Taylor, were sitting in Hamilton's house listening through a stack of old reels. One track in particular caught their ear. In fact they were floored with the discovery of hearing Little Ann's "What Should I Do" blasting from the speakers.

Even though it played slower, the song was familiar to them as the mysterious Rose Valentine fictitious cover up spin from Wigan Casino’s northern soul all nighters in the UK. The singer's real identity had never been revealed, and the pair were amazed when Hamilton informed them that the voice belonged to Little Ann, an obscure artist who they knew had only one US release which was on the Ric Tic label.

The career of Little Ann, born Ann Elizabeth Bridgeforth, is not uncommon in the history of soul music. Ann's parents moved to the Mount Clement area of Detroit from Chicago in 1957. Ann started singing in church like many of her peers and was inspired by a local gospel queen called Aretha Franklin. At a certain point Ann decided to leave everything else and concentrate completely on music.

The first of the singer's handful of releases "Going Down A One Way Street [[The Wrong Way)" for Detroit's Ric Tic records in 1968 was a rush job, cooked by the label owner Ed Wingate. New lyrics and arrangements were handed down to the singer and musicians on the studio date to replace the intended ones, and the record was backed with a random studio instrumental.

In a letter sent to her mother at the time, Ann wrote: "If it doesn't work, I tried". Despite the effort her release failed to hit and deep shadows of obscurity rose to block the limelight from shining on Ann. However in this case, possibility and the process of trying turned out to be eventually more fruitful than her small issued achievement.

Before Ann had entered the Ric Tic studios, she had been working on her material in a studio run by Darrell Goolsby and Dave Hamilton. Hamilton had cut his teeth working as a session musician in Motown studios under Berry Gordy's rule. He even released an album called Blue Vibrations under his name on Motown subsidiary Workshop Jazz.

Goolsby was a young singer and writer, who together with the more experienced Hamilton founded the Da Da Music Productions in the mid 1960s. The skilful production duo made several songs for their own labels like Temple and Topper, but fell short of success in the sales market. Quality sides for singers like James Lately and Tobi Lark have become prized rarities for soul collectors around the world. When Ann arrived into the mix later in the decade all the right ingredients were already laid out for her.

In the Da Da studios Ann recorded a group of tracks, among them the original version of "Going Down A One Way Street" included on this album as "I Got To Have You". But as her one actual release didn't go anywhere, the tapes remained unreleased in Hamilton's home. Ann followed work to Canada, supporting herself for years as a live performer and releasing a couple of 45's on the local Celebration label. She worked steadily in music until 1977 before she abandoned her career and enrolled with the Chrysler Motor Corporation, becoming part of Detroit's other big export outside of soul music.

Amazingly, after her musical career had ended, without her or in fact anybody else knowing it, Ann had become a star of the British northern soul scene. In the early 80's a famous DJ by the name of Richard Searling had started to play her song from a one of a kind acetate, which he had covered up as by Rose Valentine with the made-up title "When He's Not Around". Somehow together with another tune on this album "Lean Lanky Daddy" the rare recording had escaped Detroit and ended up in the hands of the British soul collectors. When Ace Records of the UK bought the tapes in the 90s, on Gilly’s recommendation, further potential northern soul gems emerged like “Who Are You Trying To Fool” and the moody and magnicent “Sweep It Out In The Shed”. As a follow up to a combination of rarity and undeniable quality, Ann's tunes became dance floor fillers far away from the Da Da Studios on 1587 Woodrow Wilson Avenue, Detroit.

Little Ann's songs, most of which she wrote herself along with Dave and Darryl, are timeless masterpieces of soul music. That is why we here in Finland thought that they belong together on an album like they were originally intended to be heard. Sometimes possibility takes time to be fulfilled.

[soulwally]

And for those who don't know it, here's Who Are You Trying To Fool. Ersatz Motown, I know, but simply magnificent..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7xjd4SwKAs

[ady_croasdell]

And apparently a DJ called Oliver Wang in the States is big on her beautiful ballad 'Deep Shadows'

[jsmith]

Little Ann at the UK soul weekender .....
4757

[ady_croasdell]

That's a great one John, have you sent it to me? Ady

[jsmith]

Can't remember Ady, just in case' I'll send it along today.