Betty Fikes

A celebrated deep soul masterpiece this one. Cut in Alabama in 1974, written, produced and wonderfully arranged by Dan Brantley, Betty Fikes really gives "I Can't Lie To My Heart" the treatment. And there are lots of other goodies as well, the tasteful horns, a few solo tenor touches, and a sympathetic female chorus from the aptly named Passions. Wonderful music. The midtempo flip is pretty good too.

UPDATE ~ My great friend Greg Burgess writes that Betty Fikes was from Selma, AL. She was the duaghter of a gospel singer who migrated to Detroit where Betty spent her early years. Her mother died when she was ten and she returned to Alabama where she was very active in the the Civil Rights Movement. I found an interview with her on the net here. She was also in a group called Freedom Singers and took the lead on several tracks you can find here. Its more gospel folk than soul but its definately her.  She was still living in Selma as recently as 2005.

Discography

Back to artist index