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i won't say Kiki Dee was one of the first 'white' acts to be signed to Motown but she was probably one of the first 'British'.
Haven't heard much of her Motown stuff but this is still one of my favourite songs of all time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEcJMJK8_Us
If only the US had a 'Top of the Pops' type show in the late 60s to early 80s we all could still be enjoying watching performances like this.
Here are the tracks and audio links for Kiki Dee's "Great Expectations" album released on Tamla TS 303 [[1970):
1) The Day Will Come Between Sunday And Monday
https://youtu.be/TG5BAmo_RB8?si=rTHf7G65CfY5XU1J
2) Johnny Raven
[Video NA]
3) Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing
https://youtu.be/R9gwL23l2Rw?si=Z2DvDvzktgEMwqTz
4) Jimmy
https://youtu.be/62HrtajjhFI?si=LKMWIdZJcVKp6GPE
5) I Can't Give Back The Love I Feel For You
[Audio N/A]
6) More Today Than Yesterday
https://youtu.be/8B-Qz69852g?si=W_6FAhCgogR6Ya45
7) Love Makes The World Go Round
https://youtu.be/OY0I0dYHvic?si=RFuIvXPyY2FZ_1F0
NOTE: "Love Makes The World Go Round" was released as a single on Motown's Rare Earth label, yet ended up on Kiki's Tamla album. Go figure!]
8) You Don't Have To Say You Love Me
https://youtu.be/EmnCUZf-Xtk?si=9EVQB8j8mOt5V1rH
9) Love Is A Warm Kind Of Sorrow
https://youtu.be/EmnCUZf-Xtk?si=9EVQB8j8mOt5V1rH
10) For Once In My Life
https://youtu.be/DXeghkalkGg?si=c9RX4NYlUdN2UAH4
11) My Whole World Ended [[The Moment You Left Me)
https://youtu.be/046jPoegyGY?si=3hawb1oquk1pevBo
12) I Second That Emotion
https://youtu.be/6GdXSO7yS9o?si=XxmEZ0VvVdZ7gVyJ
PREVIOUSLY-UNRELEASED BONUS TRACKS
13) Oh Be My Love
https://youtu.be/63eVbJGn47E?si=cbtD-ZWl4PUjdYtL
14) I'll Try Something New
https://youtu.be/o8suIegU7no?si=8S43GBX2YC4Qd7gJ
15) Walk On By
https://youtu.be/QSYqppyyszU?si=fOjTCLh_uJc1-E49
16) Mr. Loneliness
[Audio N/A]
17) I'll Have You, You'll Have Me
https://youtu.be/STCOuvi11o8?si=ltk7i5xRI0yL_fog
18) Put A Little Love In Your Heart
https://youtu.be/N17Po2RXW4c?si=yc81bP8n-gjvYl1G
19) While They Watch
https://youtu.be/KMgfZhv_24s?si=m1pjq2UmFSnyl3So
20) You're My World
https://youtu.be/8K1RZiS8gt0?si=YX6lxtae6-_Wa3Ob
21) Walk On By [[Mix 2)
https://youtu.be/QSYqppyyszU?si=ptFinThSt-w7F6m6
There you go, Levi. Kiki Dee recorded some really nice sessions with Motown. IMO, her album would have been more exciting had it not contained so many cover versions. More tracks like "The Day Will Come Between Sunday And Monday" would have been a lot more thrilling.
Levi, we used to have the Ed Sullivan Show every Sunday night which was the best. During the week, we had Shindig and also Hullabaloo. Those were the good-old days! Now, to my knowledge, we have nothing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Levi Stubbs Tears
Yes and sadly between Ed Sullivan and MTV you had just about nothing too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Philles/Motown Gary
Nice work!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Philles/Motown Gary
Well done for doing this, great to see Kiki Dee and all of her Tamla tracks.
As well as the Motown tracks, her other thirty three songs from the [UK] Fontana years 1963-1968.
One Motown & One of her 1968 Liberty 45 "I'm Going Out"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oiWBpBldak
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTo1vZSYJrw
She’s alive and well and still touring, with an acoustic set with her regular musical partner of the last several years, Carmelo Luggeri
I never got into MTV, Levi. It was too youth-oriented, and the music was too synthesized for my taste.Quote:
Originally Posted by Levi Stubbs Tears
Thanks! I had a feeling you'd appreciate hearing them -- just in case you weren't familiar with them. I'm just disappointed that a few of those tracks weren't available for you to hear on YouTube because they're really good.Quote:
Originally Posted by Levi Stubbs Tears
Thanks, Graham. At the time, I had never heard of Kiki Dee, but I really loved her voice as well as most of the tracks on her Motown album. Sadly, other than Motown collectors, it went unheard and faded into obscurity without being heard by John Q. Public. I was pleasantly surprised when Kiki signed with Rocket Records and had a huge hit with Elton John via "Don't Go Breaking My Heart". As you know, she also hit it big with "I've Got The Music In Me", which I bought. My personal favorite of Kiki's has always been "Once A Fool" which I also bought, and which many American Motown fans may or may not have ever even heard. Let's correct that possibility right here and now!Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Jarvis
KIKI DEE
"Once A Fool" [[Rocket Records)
[[U.S. Release 1974)
https://youtu.be/4Pe1Sy70Jus?si=LWjyX4zp91Ie55lK
Glad to hear that Kiki's still alive and kicking, and performing these days. I need to check out her musical repertoire over the years.Quote:
Originally Posted by soulwally
Hi Gary, this is fantastic! This sounds like something I would have definitely bought, and it sounds like it was made for radio! Do you recall how it did on the charts? Kiki has always struck me as one of those artists who never recorded a bad record, yet somehow never attained the higher profile they deserved. Much like Evie Sands. Yet, in the case of both of these wonderful ladies, you do a Google and find out they never stopped performing and seemed to have had good, successful careers despite not becoming household names.Quote:
Originally Posted by Philles/Motown Gary
I'm not at all surprised that you like Kiki's Motown album, Waiting, as your musical taste and mine are oftentimes very much the same.Quote:
Originally Posted by WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance
It's comforting to hear that their careers blossomed without the benefit of U.S. sales. It just burns my butt that they failed to sell when they should have been #1 on the charts.
Regarding chart position, from what I can see, her Motown recordings were strangers to the Top 200 Album Charts as well as the Top 100 Singles Charts. Really an unfortunate shame and waste of talent.
Kiki grew up in Bradford [[Yorkshire) & sang at family gatherings. From there, she took a day job at a local Boots store [[makers of No.7 anti-aging skincare) while singing with a dance band in Leeds at night. Discovered by a label rep, she was signed to Fontana Records [[Phillips) and taken down to London. She started out singing backing vocals on Dusty Springfield records & then got into recording blue-eyed soul. In 66 she covered Tami Lynn's "I'm Gonna Run Away From You", the Bert Berns' penned original being an anthem in UK soul clubs. She then cut covers of "Running Out Of Fools" & "I Dig You Baby". Signed by Motown, she had her 1st releases on the label in 1970. Elton John had always been a big soul fan, so after he started Rocket Records he signed her [[73). He managed to get her some big hits & the two obviously became great friends. She enjoyed a UK hit 45 every year from 73 to 77.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipz5m7L4YgQ
Kiki once again ... clips from a movie she appeared in [[performing) in 65 -- the [[Small) Faces were also in the movie ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4wkgHCBXWo
A Northern Soul play
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oL_wL8...YyBjYXJwZXQ%3D