Ann Peebles
Ann Lee Peebles (born April 27, 1947)[1] is an American retired singer and songwriter who gained popularity for her Memphis soul albums of the 1970s while signed to Hi Records. Her most successful singles include "I Can't Stand the Rain", which she wrote with her husband Don Bryant and radio broadcaster Bernie Miller,[2][3] and "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down". In 2014, she was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame.[4]
Ann Peebles | |
|---|---|
.png.webp) Peebles in 1970 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ann Lee Peebles |
| Born | April 27, 1947 St. Louis, Missouri, United States |
| Genres | Blues, R&B, Memphis soul |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals |
| Years active | Mid-1960s - 2012 |
| Labels | Hi, Bullseye Blues |
| Spouse(s) | |
Biography
She was born in Kinloch, Missouri,[5] the seventh child of eleven. As a child she began singing in the choir of her father's church and with the family's group, the Peebles Choir,[6] who regularly opened shows for gospel stars including Mahalia Jackson and the Soul Stirrers featuring Sam Cooke. She was also influenced by R&B performers, including Muddy Waters, Mary Wells and Aretha Franklin.[7]
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"Why gritty singing like this can't be heard on 'progressive' radio when a borderline hysteric like Lydia Pense is an automatic add ought to be investigated by the Civil Rights Commission."
–Review of Straight from the Heart in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981)[8]
She began performing in clubs in St. Louis, and in the mid-1960s joined a revue led by bandleader Oliver Sain. While visiting Memphis in 1968, she sang in a club with trumpeter Gene "Bowlegs" Miller, a popular local bandleader known for helping other musicians, such as the members of the Hi Rhythm Section who played on Peebles' recordings, get their start in the Memphis music industry. Miller introduced her to Hi Records producer Willie Mitchell, who quickly offered her a recording contract.[3][6][7]
Her first record, "Walk Away", written by Sain, reached the R&B chart in 1969, as did the follow-up, "Give Me Some Credit", and she released an album, This Is Ann Peebles. All her early records on Hi were produced by Mitchell, and featured the signature sound of the Hi Rhythm Section and Memphis Horns. In 1970, her single "Part Time Love" - a version of Little Johnny Taylor's 1963 hit - reached no. 7 on the R&B chart, and no.45 on the pop chart, and she began working with the Hi label's songwriter Don Bryant, with whom she began a relationship and married in 1974.[9] The first songs he wrote for her were "99 Pounds" and "Good things come in small packages/ You'll have to agree to that" in 1971.[3][6]
She continued to have R&B hits in the early 1970s, including "I Pity the Fool," "Slipped, Tripped and Fell in Love," "Breaking Up Somebody's Home" (a Hot 100 hit in 1973 for Albert King and later recorded by Bette Midler), "Somebody's on Your Case," and "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down" (later a hit for Paul Young). She was also the only female singer on Hi to release a string of albums, including Straight from the Heart and I Can't Stand the Rain, which contained many tracks that she co-wrote with Bryant. The title track of the latter album, written by Peebles and Bryant with DJ Bernard Miller, was her biggest commercial success, reaching no. 6 on the R&B chart and no. 38 on the pop chart in 1973.[3]
Although she continued to have hit R&B singles and to release albums on Hi, none matched the success of "I Can't Stand the Rain". Mitchell later said: "She was the girl with the big voice who could have really gone further... But I don't think Ann spent enough time thinking about what she needed to do. I don't think she put as much energy into her career as a singer as some of the rest of these people."[6]
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After Hi Records closed in 1979, and with the rise of disco music, Peebles took a break from the music industry to spend more time with her family. She returned in 1989 with the album Call Me, again produced by Willie Mitchell and released on his own Waylo label.[10] During the 1990s, she released albums on Rounder Records' Bullseye Blues subsidiary label.[3] She continued to perform, and in 2006 she released the album Brand New Classics, which consisted of re-recordings of some of her songs in an acoustic style. Peebles also joined Cyndi Lauper on a recording of "Rollin' and Tumblin'" on Lauper's 11th studio album, Memphis Blues. She gave up performing after a stroke in 2012.[6][11]
Discography
Studio albums
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Record label | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [12] |
US R&B [12] | |||||||||||||
| 1969 | This Is Ann Peebles | — | — | Hi | ||||||||||
| 1971 | Part Time Love | — | 40 | |||||||||||
| 1971 | Straight From the Heart | 188 | 42 | |||||||||||
| 1974 | I Can't Stand the Rain | 155 | 25 | |||||||||||
| 1975 | Tellin' It | — | 41 | |||||||||||
| 1977 | If This Is Heaven | — | — | |||||||||||
| 1979 | The Handwriting Is on the Wall | — | — | |||||||||||
| 1989 | Call Me | — | — | Waylo | ||||||||||
| 1992 | Full Time Love | — | — | Bullseye Blues | ||||||||||
| 1996 | Fill This World with Love | — | — | |||||||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||||
Compilation albums
| Year | Title | Record label |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Ann Peebles' Greatest Hits | MCA |
| 1990 | Lookin' for a Lovin | Hi/Demon |
| 1992 | Sings Soul CLassics | CEMA Special Markets |
| 1992 | Greatest Hits | Hi/Demon |
| 1995 | U.S. R&B Hits '69-'79 | |
| 1995 | The Flipside of Ann Peebles | |
| 1996 | St. Louis Woman/Memphis Soul | |
| 1996 | The Best of Ann Peebles: The Hi Records Years' | The Right Stuff/Capitol |
| 1998 | How Strong Is A Woman: The Story of Ann Peebles (1969-80) | Hi/Demon |
| 2002 | The Hi Singles A's & B's | |
| 2003 | The Complete Ann Peebles on Hi Records, Volume 1: 1969-1973 | |
| 2003 | The Complete Ann Peebles on Hi Records, Volume 2: 1974-1981 | |
| 2006 | Original Funk Soul Sister: The Best of Ann Peebles | Music Club |
Live albums
| Year | Title | Record label |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 (Recorded 1992) | Live in Memphis | Memphis International Records |
Singles
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [12] |
US R&B [12] |
AUS [13] |
CAN [14] |
UK [15] | ||||||||||
| 1969 | "Walk Away" | — | 22 | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Give Me Some Credit" | — | 45 | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 1970 | "Generation Gap Between Us" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Part Time Love" | 45 | 7 | — | 34 | — | |||||||||
| 1971 | "I Pity the Fool" | 85 | 18 | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Slipped, Tripped and Fell In Love" | 113 | 42 | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 1972 | "Breaking Up Somebody's Home" | 101 | 13 | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Somebody's on Your Case" | 117 | 32 | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 1973 | "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down" | 111 | 31 | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "I Can't Stand the Rain" | 38 | 6 | 79 | 89 | 41 | |||||||||
| 1974 | "(You Keep Me) Hangin' On" | 102 | 37 | — | — | 54[upper-alpha 1] | ||||||||
| "Do I Need You" | — | 57 | — | — | — | |||||||||
| "Until You Came into My Life" | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 1975 | "Beware" | — | 69 | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Come to Mama" | — | 62 | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 1976 | "Dr. Love Power" | — | 57 | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "I Needed Somebody" | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
| "Fill This World with Love" | — | 96 | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 1977 | "If This Is Heaven" | — | 64 | — | — | — | ||||||||
| 1978 | "Old Man with Young Ideas" | — | 54 | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "I Didn't Take Your Man" | — | 55 | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 1979 | "If You Got the Time (I've Got the Love)" | — | 95 | — | — | — | ||||||||
| 1980 | "Heartaches" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| 1981 | "Mon Belle - Amour" (with Don Bryant) | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||||
Notes
- Chart position is from the official UK "Breakers List".
References
- Eagle, Bob; LeBlanc, Eric S. (2013). Blues - A Regional Experience. Santa Barbara: Praeger Publishers. p. 142. ISBN 978-0313344237.
- Dahl, Bill (October 18, 1996). "Singing up a storm: Ann Peebles is still known as the artist who couldn't stand the rain". Chicago Tribune.
- Steve Huey, "Artist Biography", Allmusic.com. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
- "Memphis Music Hall of Fame: Ann Peebles". Memphis Music Hall of Fame. Retrieved April 7, 2019.
- Sculley, Alan (June 26, 1997). "St. Louis Native Ann Peebles, A Hitmaker in the 70s, Returns Home With a New Album and a New Attitude". St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
- Dorian Lynskey, "Ann Peebles: the girl with the big voice", The Guardian, February 20, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
- Miss FunkyFlyy, "Ann Peebles". Retrieved June 30, 2014.
- Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: P". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 9, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
- Colin Larkin (1993). The Guinness Who's Who of Soul Music (First ed.). Enfield: Guinness Publishing. pp. 31/3. ISBN 0-85112-733-9.
- Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. p. 940. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
- "The Quietus | Features | A Quietus Interview | Love Like Rain: Ann Peebles & Don Bryant Interviewed". The Quietus. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
- "Ann Peebles | Biography, Music & News". Billboard. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
- David Kent (1993). Australian Charts Book 1970—1992. Australian Chart Book Pty Ltd, Turramurra, N.S.W. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- "CAN Charts > Ann Peebles". RPM. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 31, 2015.
- "UK Charts > Ann Peebles". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 31, 2015.
- Oler, Tammy (October 31, 2019). "57 Champions of Queer Feminism, All Name-Dropped in One Impossibly Catchy Song". Slate.
External links
- Ann Peebles at AllMusic
- Ann Peebles at IMDb