Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Jango Song Of The Day-Toussaint McCall

Artist:Toussaint McCall
Song:Nothing Takes The Place Of You
Album:Nothing Takes The Place Of You





This 1967 top five R & B hit is very obscure today. But I think most soul fans will enjoy this classic by singer songwriter and organist Toussaint McCall. He was born in Monroe, LA in 1934. There's not much bio info available but based on his singing style, I can only assume that he grew up singing in church and played clubs in Louisiana. He had two hits in 1967. Nothing Takes The Place Of You was the bigger hit of the two and reached #5 on the R & B Singles chart and #52 on the Billboard Hot 100. He recorded for Ronn Records. Stan Lewis was a record shop owner in Shreveport, LA and he founded Jewel Records in 1963. Paula and Ronn were subsidiary labels. Lewis was pals with Leonard Chess and Jewel started out as a blues label distributed by Chess. Then Lewis started Paula as a pop label and Ronn as a soul label. He sold all his recordings to Fuel 2000 in 1999 and this CD was released in 2007. Toussaint McCall has recorded occasionally over the years without much success. But Nothing Takes The Place Of You is still a deep soul classic. I can only assume that the song could have been much bigger with better distribution. And the song got a big boost when McCall lip synced it in the 1988 film Hairspray. I'm surprised that clip isn't online but here's a video for Nothing Takes The Place Of You by Toussaint McCall.

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