Chuck Jackson

[marv2]

Chuck Jackson was with Motown from from roughly 1968-70. Did he have any major or minor hits while he was with the label? I remember "Honey Come Back / What Am I Gonna Do Without You", but were there others?

[BigAl]

As I recall, Motown issued a couple of other singles from Chuck's two albums with them. He did a remake of Freddie Scott's "Are You Lonely For Me" and also a remake of the Miracles' "[[You Can't Let The Boy Overpower) The Man In You." Both were very well produced but got almost no airplay, which was a shame. He and Yvonne Fair opened for DRATS in 1968 and, to be honest, their sets were really better than DRATS!

[MIKEW-UK]

Hi Marv,

Take a look at this table from expedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_J...[[R%26B_singer)

You will see all of Chuck's singles which attained some 'hit status' including the positions for his three 'hit' Motown releases in 1968 and 1969.

cheers Mike

[mysterysinger]

Girls, Girls, Girls did get some airplay UK and part of it formed a 4 song jingle on The Tony Blackburn Show [[along with Walk Away Renee and Stop Her On Sight - I've forgotten the other song now!). Girls also made 16 Big Hits Volume 7 in the UK lol.

[marv2]

As I recall, Motown issued a couple of other singles from Chuck's two albums with them. He did a remake of Freddie Scott's "Are You Lonely For Me" and also a remake of the Miracles' "[[You Can't Let The Boy Overpower) The Man In You." Both were very well produced but got almost no airplay, which was a shame. He and Yvonne Fair opened for DRATS in 1968 and, to be honest, their sets were really better than DRATS!

I take it you saw that concert. Now that would something I'd pay pretty good money for if it were ever taped and possibly made available on DVD. Chuck Jackson is an excellent performer in my opinion.

[marv2]

Girls, Girls, Girls did get some airplay UK and part of it formed a 4 song jingle on The Tony Blackburn Show [[along with Walk Away Renee and Stop Her On Sight - I've forgotten the other song now!). Girls also made 16 Big Hits Volume 7 in the UK lol.

I've never heard that song. I am going to have to look it up. Thanks Mysterysinger.

[marv2]

Hi Marv,

Take a look at this table from expedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_J...[[R%26B_singer)

You will see all of Chuck's singles which attained some 'hit status' including the positions for his three 'hit' Motown releases in 1968 and 1969.

cheers Mike

Thanks Mike. I just knew Chuck is too great singer to produce a bunch of duds.

[mysterysinger]

Girls, Girls, Girls is my fave of his and can be found on Arrives and the Motown Anthology.

[lakedistrictlad1]

I was playing his anthology set over the weekend. Hoping to discover a real overlooked gem. For me, there just isn't any. I find his Motown material really lukewarm. I don't know why. I can't put my finger on it. It would be nice to think that everything under the Motown label from this period is pure gold, but it just isn't the case. The band is on form, the singer is on form - I think it came down to substandard material. This is only my opinion however - so don't shoot me down in flames.

[nosey]

Chuck Jackson is featured in Marc Taylor's recent edition of a Touch of Class Mag.

[MIKEW-UK]

I always thought the problem with Chuck at Motown was neither his voice nor the material, but rather the matching of the two. [[And the lack of promotion didn't help.) I found the boldness of his delivery too inflexible and without the nuances I always associated with Motown productions. It was always full on and unyielding. I hasten to add that I first purchased Chuck Jackson on an album of duets with Maxine Brown in 1966 and several other albums since then, and am a great admirer of Chuck's singing.... It's just that I've always found him much more suited to the big New York style productions and material, exemplified by "Any Day Now".

Perhaps not too dissimilar from the experience of Jerry Butler at Motown - he was stylistically more comfortable at Phil.Intl than at Motown in my humble opinion.

[luke]

Good analysis Mike-makes sense. In Touch of Class Chuck speaks about the whole Motown situation.

[Jimi LaLumia]

had the honor of meeting him once when he was performing locally and stopped into my record store to promote the gig...I'm a fan......

[honest man]

Love Chuck Jackson one of my top 5 vocalist,especially his Wand output,some great Motown tunes especially I'LL FIGHT TILL I WIN YOUR LOVE, cracker, cheers.

[MIKEW-UK]

One thing for sure, Chuck Jackson has a huge following out there who not only are huge fans of his singing, but also the man. Everything I have ever read about him states that he is a delightful, warm person.

[luke]

I remember he was considering doing a tour of England with Maxine awhile ago but apparently money was an issue and Tommy Hunt took his place.

[snakepit]

In the interest of balance...

I would say that, pound for pound, his 3 Motown albums are the best 3 albums on ANY Motown artist. IMO

[marv2]

I always thought the problem with Chuck at Motown was neither his voice nor the material, but rather the matching of the two. [[And the lack of promotion didn't help.) I found the boldness of his delivery too inflexible and without the nuances I always associated with Motown productions. It was always full on and unyielding. I hasten to add that I first purchased Chuck Jackson on an album of duets with Maxine Brown in 1966 and several other albums since then, and am a great admirer of Chuck's singing.... It's just that I've always found him much more suited to the big New York style productions and material, exemplified by "Any Day Now".

Perhaps not too dissimilar from the experience of Jerry Butler at Motown - he was stylistically more comfortable at Phil.Intl than at Motown in my humble opinion.

Mike, I think you are on to more than just a little something. Chuck Jackson was a belter. I'll use the analogy of trying to put someone like a Jennifer Holiday in a Supremes like mix. Just doesn't work. Jerry was just too smooth.

[ralpht]

Chuck came in to do some vocal over-dubs at Tera Shirma Studio A [[Before Studio B) when I was struggling to get going. What a nice guy.

[MIKEW-UK]

Hi Marv, I was just watching the movie Dream Girls. Whilst in the movie it was Jennifer Hudson as Effie , not Jennifer Holiday, I explained to my better half that the problem is matching a BIG voice to shall we say more delicate material, and vice versa. I absolutely rate Jennifer Holiday as the pinnacle of singing, but she is so better suited to the material she recorded, and unlikely she could ever have succeeded with Motown! Consider another of my favourite big voiced singers, Tata Vega - and furthermore elsewhere on the board we are discussing another powerhouse, Chuck Jackson on Motown). I think they are all great , but equally I adore Motown. They are not mutually exclusive to me. I can appreciate them all. What REALLY DRIVES ME INTO ORBIT is when people say all soul is the same! Cloth ears! I gave up decades ago trying to explain or convert people.. You either get it or you don't!!! Was always thus........

cheers Marv

Mike

[tamla617]

chuck jackson's cover of the 4tops "shake me,wake me" [[when its over) is something else.i prefer it to the 'tops which has a faster beat.chuck's version didnt even make it on any of his 3 motown/vip lps'.it didnt see light of day 'till the chuck jackson anthology 2005 cd.at least it got out in the end!

[Roger Polhill]

There is a great film clip of Chuck doing "Ain`t No Sun Since You`ve Been Gone" but I`m not clever enough to post it.

[MIKEW-UK]

Tamla , where the hell have you been? I'm assuming you are in the Falklands taking preventative measures? Don't say anything......

Roger , of course you can post it...where does the file sit? On your computer? We need to see it!!!! Tamla, sort it with Roger!

cheers Mike

[theboyfromxtown]

Chuck Jackson - Aint No Sun Since You've Been Gone

[theboyfromxtown]

Chuck Jackson - The Man In You

[MIKEW-UK]

Just thinking...maybe the circumstances were that Motown was "The Sound Of Young America"; it certainly was a youthful image when I was in my youth. So Chuck Jackson, Jerry Butler, and of course Billy Ekstein were not quite the Tamla "Young America" image. Motown acts were synonymous with choreography, steps, dramatic stagecraft, courtesy of Cholly Atkins etc...... were all of the above were maybe more in the mould of the solitary big voiced singer standing centre stage in the soul singer tradition as opposed to the new vigorous showmanship on stage? Just saying...

[MIKEW-UK]

Hey, thanks John...completely new to me...bought his Motown albums when released but never had the good fortune to see him....'til now! and I loved the performances ..VG! cheers Mike

[tamla617]

mike whiskey uniform kilo
san carlos bay! shhh,if you go to google bog view and zoom in,i'll wave.

if you cant see me the camo cream works!

[theboyfromxtown]

Mike

Thank Jobeterob! He taught me how to post a video! LOL

[MIKEW-UK]

John, great videos.... it's such a buzz seeing artists perform their songs after all these years...I keep searching for new vids....just found these of a great great singer/songwriter/producer/ all round good guy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsdj-0UtYc0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNS28f4d0Vw

[mysterysinger]

Yet Chuck Jackson seemed to have a better fit with the All Platinum sound. I would rate his "I've Got The Need" to be a classic of its time. They also had some success with Brook Benton - "Mr Bartender" is well worth a listen.

[nabob]

Chuck Jackson - The Man In You

This is an incredible video. I heard Chuck Jackson's version long before the Miracles' original. I am madly in love with the original. It's too bad that neither version became a hit. I never warmed up to Chuck's version until seeing his live performance. Thanks for posting John. We need to teach you more new tricks.

[Roger Polhill]

Fantastic ! many thanks everybody. I hadn`t seen "The Boy In You" before. What show is it from as I`d like to get a copy.

[marv2]

Here's an interesting bit of trivia associated with Chuck Jackson. I did not know until today that Chuck co-wrote Whitney Houston's - "Where Do Broken Hearts Go?" Amazing!!!

[robb_k]

"Girls, Girls,Girls" was his only minor hit with Motown. "Are You Lonely fFor Me" also got a decent amount of airplay.

[MIKEW-UK]

Marv - http://www.discogs.com/artist/141984...its/All?page=3

Chuck from The Independents, who wrote so much with Yancy, was the co writer of the Whitney hit. Cheers Mike

[nabob]

Marv - http://www.discogs.com/artist/141984...its/All?page=3

Chuck from The Independents, who wrote so much with Yancy, was the co writer of the Whitney hit. Cheers Mike

I may need to be corrected, but the Chuck Jackson-Marvin Yancy Chicago collaboration was not the Chuck Jackson in this thread.

[reese]

I may need to be corrected, but the Chuck Jackson-Marvin Yancy Chicago collaboration was not the Chuck Jackson in this thread.

You are correct. The Chuck Jackson from the Jackson-Yancy team is not the famous singer. In addition to writing many Natalie Cole classics, he is also the brother of Rev. Jesse Jackson.

[MIKEW-UK]

This confusion happens all the time and has done for many years - understandably....... especially given that Chuck Jackson of The independents, co writer with Marvin Yancy, also recorded two very good albums as a solo singer in his own right. Chuck Jackson of The Independents primarily collaborated with Marvin Yancy and had a huge list of writing credits. As shown in the link above, Discogs clearly co - credits this Chuck Jackson from Chicago for the Whitney song and not the veteran singer from New York.

Chuck from Chicago has a much lighter voice than Chuck from New York.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0OkPTRjVwM

And here's New York Chuck on a previously unreleased Motown track with Yvonne Fair - now available on A Cellarful Of Motown and Itunes - A good pairing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpJwqtlfP7s

cheers Mike

[roger]

Girls, Girls, Girls did get some airplay UK and part of it formed a 4 song jingle on The Tony Blackburn Show [[along with Walk Away Renee and Stop Her On Sight - I've forgotten the other song now!). Girls also made 16 Big Hits Volume 7 in the UK lol.

"Honey Come Back" also got some airplay on Radio Luxembourg [[end of 1969?) mysterysinger.

Roger

[BigAl]

Some years back, producers at Shanachie Records paired Chuck with Cissy Houston for a CD titled I'll Take Care of You. The pairing was inspired and both were still in great voice. [[Shanchie also paired Nona Hendryx and Billy Vera and that pairing was no less inspired.)

[reese]

Some years back, producers at Shanachie Records paired Chuck with Cissy Houston for a CD titled I'll Take Care of You. The pairing was inspired and both were still in great voice. [[Shanchie also paired Nona Hendryx and Billy Vera and that pairing was no less inspired.)

They also released a nice home video that was filmed at the Lone Star in NYC, I believe. My tape broke after a few plays. But I remember Chuck dueting with Cissy on I DON'T WANT TO CRY, and doing a solo ballad version of ANY DAY NOW.

[Kamasu_Jr]

I was playing his anthology set over the weekend. Hoping to discover a real overlooked gem. For me, there just isn't any. I find his Motown material really lukewarm. I don't know why. I can't put my finger on it. It would be nice to think that everything under the Motown label from this period is pure gold, but it just isn't the case. The band is on form, the singer is on form - I think it came down to substandard material. This is only my opinion however - so don't shoot me down in flames.

I agree. By the time Chuck Jackson signed with Motown, his hitmaking days were behind him. He was given substandard material which the company had no intention of promoting. He should have gone somewhere else. But this is just my opinion.

[snakepit]

"Hoping to discover a real overlooked gem. For me, there just isn't any"

Couldn't disagree more.....for me, his 3 Motown albums are full of gems.

[jsmith]

Chuck & Smokey Robinson were big buddies from the early 60's [[touring together when Smokey was a Miracle).
Smokey greatly admired Chuck's singing & performing talents, so told him ... if you ever leave Wand ...
Chuck had a falling out with the bosses at Scepter / Wand & decided to walk. He rang Smokey who got the Motown money men to buy out Chuck's Wand contract.
After paying decent money to get him, it was a mystery why they didn't give him better songs or push his stuff at all.

[motony]

Motown wasn't gonna have Chuck Jackson compete for material or promotion with Marvin Gaye.

[snakepit]

Chuck Jackson's time at Motown coinsided with changes in the music scene.....he was still wearing bow ties were as James Brown, Curtis Mayfield etc were doing social commentary which was 'the new' vibe. That old 60s style was outdated...look at the Four Tops after HDH....and many other soul artists. That had a big effect on promotion etc.
BUT, that doesn't mean he didn't records great tracks.....judge the tunes as they stand, and take off your blinkers about "HITS".....so many things decide a records status.

[Kamasu_Jr]

Chuck Jackson's time at Motown coinsided with changes in the music scene.....he was still wearing bow ties were as James Brown, Curtis Mayfield etc were doing social commentary which was 'the new' vibe. That old 60s style was outdated...look at the Four Tops after HDH....and many other soul artists. That had a big effect on promotion etc.
BUT, that doesn't mean he didn't records great tracks.....judge the tunes as they stand, and take off your blinkers about "HITS".....so many things decide a records status.

You may have a point about judging the "hits" factor, Chuck Jackson just didn't fit with the Motown Sound in my opinion. He was a baritone, most of the male singers at Motown - and of the time - were tenors wit flexible tones suited to the sound. To my ears, Jackson just sounded old fashioned and odd.

[snakepit]

"The day the world stood still"

Brilliant Smokey Robinsonsong/production.
What's not to like here?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQELrqJ-xN0&feature=fvst

[snakepit]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmfFU...eature=related

"Cry Like a Baby"

Magnificent.........