Profile of Brenda Holloway on Famous Like Me

Brenda Holloway (born June 21, 1946 in Atascadero, California) is an African-American singer and songwriter best known for her period as a recording artist for the Motown label during the 1960s.

Biography

Her best known hits from her Motown days were the soul ballad "Every Little Bit Hurts" (which reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964, and was the title track of her first album that year), "When I'm Gone" (#25 in 1965), and "You've Made Me So Very Happy", which she co-wrote with her sister Patrice Holloway (which reached only #39 in 1968, but the following year was a major No. 2 hit for Blood, Sweat & Tears). She also had R&B hits with "I'll Always Love You," "Operator", and "Just Look What You've Done."

Holloway did not fit the Motown mold well. She lived in Los Angeles, not Detroit, she had a grittier edge than the typical polished Motown performer, and she wrote songs as well as sang them, which was unprecedented for a female Motown artist. Motown held up the release of her second album, The Artistry of Brenda Holloway, until 1968. Holloway felt she was not being treated well by Motown, and did not like the general moral trends developing in the music industry, so she retired from the business later that year. She then married a minister and raised three daughters.

Many critics feel in retrospect that Holloway was a "lost" Motown artist whose full abilities were never realized; Mary Wilson is among those pushing to have her music remembered.

Both Holloway sisters worked as prominent background vocalists during the 1960s, in addition to their solo recording careers. They both backed Joe Cocker and the Grease Band on the 1968 cover version of The Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends", later the theme song to the 1980s television series The Wonder Years.

In 1980, Brenda Holloway returned to record a gospel album. In 1987 Holloway went to the United Kingdom to record an album in a revival of the Northern soul scene. Beginning in 1995 she returned to live performing and continues to be active.

Discography

Albums

• Every Little Bit Hurts (1964)
• The Artistry of Brenda Holloway (1968)

Singles

• "Hey Fool" (1962)
• "Game of Love" (1962)
• "I'll Give My Life" (1962)
• "Every Little Bit Hurts" (1964) US: #13
• "I'll Always Love You" (1964) US: #60
• "When I'm Gone" (1965) R&B: #12 US: #25
• "Operator" (1965) R&B: #36 US: #78
• "You Can Cry on My Shoulder" (1965)
• "Together 'Til the End of Time" (1965)
• "Hurt a Little Everyday" (1966)
• "'Til Johnny Comes" (1966)
• "Just Look What You've Done" (1967) R&B: #21 US: #69
• "You've Made Me So Very Happy" (1967) R&B: #40 US: #39

External link

Booking page

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Brenda Holloway