Wednesday, April 20, 2011

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Susan Cadogan

Artist:Susan Cadogan
Song:Hurt So Good
Album:Reggae Pulse: The Heartbeat Of Jamaica





The music business has always been tough for women in Jamaica. Susan Cadogan is a singer who had to go to England to score with her 1974 hit Hurt So Good and when her career has sputtered, she has quit music and gone back to her day job. She was born Nov. 2, 1951 in St. Andrew, Jamaica and her mom Lola Cadogan recorded gospel singles in the 50s. The family moved to Belize for a few years but returned to Jamaica in the late 50s. After Susan graduated from school, she took a job as a librarian at the University of West Indies. And she would have remained there but one of her friend's boyfriend was DJ Jerry Lewis. He liked Susan's voice and in 1974 took her into JBC Studios to record one of his songs. Legendary producer Lee "Scratch" Perry happened to be there and also liked her voice. He had her record an album of covers including this cover of the Millie Jackson hit Hurt So Good. The song went nowhere in Jamaica but was picked up in England by Dennis Harris for his DIP International label and it topped the British Reggae chart. Then Magnet Records picked it up and Hurt So Good reached #5 on the British Singles chart. So now Susan Cadogan was a star in England. Magnet hired veteran dance music producer Pete Waterman to produce Susan's next recordings. After a string of disappointing results, Susan moved back to Jamaica to resume her librarian job in 1977. Susan Cadogan has resurfaced occasionally and had some minor hits in the 80s. But mostly it looks like music is not a reliable enough profession for her and she has stuck to the security of her day job. This various artists comp is a good intro to reggae for beginners. Hurt So Good is on plenty of comps. Here's Susan Cadogan performing Hurt So Good on Top Of The Pops 1975. This video is not on Youtube.

SUSAN CADOGAN ~ HURT SO GOOD - TV 75 by THE-GRAND-WAZOO

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