The Vandellas & John Lee Hooker

[Stone Diamond]

I've just been informed that the Vandellas have sung backing vocals for John Lee Hooker; does anyone know what songs were involved, and if they have been released.

[reese]

There was an article written about this a while back. Forgive me for not remembering the author or the publication.

But the author determined that John Lee Hooker might have been confused about it being the Vandellas. The Andantes, along with Mary Wilson and others, went to Chicago and did backup on one of Hooker's sessions. The author thinks Hooker might have confused the Andantes for the Vandellas.

In her book, Mary mentions this session, and says that they sang backup on his hit "Boom Boom Boom". Again, the author questions this. He says that the lyrics of the song the words have "boom boom" in them, but it is not the hit "Boom Boom Boom".

Sorry that I don't have more detail.

[theboyfromxtown]

Stone Diamond

Check the archives. I wrote a bit on this following a UK TV programme. Reese is right. The song referred to was She Shot Me Down;

Hank Cosby worked with John Lee Hooker too. Rumours suggest that John Lee Hooker recorded at Hitsville USA at some point.

[Stone Diamond]

I've just been told by a good source that they did record with John Lee Hooker, while he was at Vee-Jay, and the tracks are on the Charley CD "John Lee Hooker The Vee-Jay Years" CD RED BOX 6
And sing on tracks . . .
05 - Big Soul
06 - Frisco Blues
07 - She Shot Me Down
08 - Take A Look At Yourself
10 - I Love Her
12 - Don't Look Back
20 - Poor Me
21 - I Want To Shout
22 - Love Is A Burning Thing
23 - I Want To Hug You
26 - Don't Look Back

Mmm . . . would this be before Motown or during?

[keith_hughes]

Les Fancourt & Bob McGrath's Blues Discography, pub 2007, shows a session dated to 1962, with a band consisting of Hank Cosby ts, Mike Terry bs, Joe Hunter p, Larry Veeder g, James Jamerson b, and Benny Benjamin d, and bvs as by Marlene Barrow, Louvain Demps, Jackie Hicks and Mary Wilson. This session was the band's third with JLH, but the first with backing singers. Tracks recorded were

Big Soul [inst]
Frisco Blues
She Shot Me Down
Take A Look At Yourself
Good Rockin' Mama
I Love Her
No-One Told Me

They also list a 1963 session with unidentified musicians [[though the instrumental line-up is as above) and an unidentified fem backing group. This session yielded

Poor Me
I Want To Shout
Love Is A Burning Thing
I Want To Hug You
I'm Leaving
Birmingham Blues
Don't Look Back

Plenty of room for speculation here, an obvious one being that the Vandellas participated in the second session but not the first.

/k

[Stone Diamond]

Annette from the Vandellas remembers singing backgrounds on "I Love Her" & "Take A Look At Yourself", so there's a chance The Vandellas sang on others at the first session.

[Stone Diamond]

In above post I got it wrong, sorry for the confusion . . .

Soon as I heard the first line........Andantes ! Because, we worked so quickly, we would do so many numbers in one setting [[cut down on studio cost )..I remember these sessions very, very, well. And some of the funny things that went along with the ride from one city to another, and more. Female voices on John Lee's tracks, I can almost assure they were The Andantes.....he was, nice, paid on time, paid what he promised, and very difficult to follow....Thanks David, it is good to hear the music, even if the credit was given to another group, our friends,and sisters from the UN of Motown, smile
Louvain"