Al Green
In 1957, Sam Cooke–then the lead singer for the Soul Stirrers and the nearest thing to a matinee idol the gospel field could lay claim to–took a headfirst plunge into the pop realm. Reports of enraged followers booing him at his final church gigs have since been deemed apocryphal, but Specialty Records was leery enough of possible repercussions to issue the singer’s first secular single, “Lovable” b/w “Forever,” under the paper-thin alias “Dale Cook” before handing him his pink slip.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Other conflicted soul singers, their days in the spotlight past, have taken permanently to the pulpit. Neither Joe Simon, whose “The Chokin’ Kind” went gold in 1969, nor Garnet Mimms, whose “Cry Baby” made him a star in ’63, chose to perform his hit when presented with a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in February in Los Angeles. Simon, now a minister based in south-suburban Flossmoor, instead regaled the audience with an enlightening minisermon on the pitfalls of the music business.
Green purred “Let’s Stay Together,” “I’m Still in Love With You,” and “You Ought to Be With Me” in an airy, seductive tone over surging rhythms cooked up by Mitchell and the vaunted Hi rhythm section–brothers Mabon “Teenie” Hodges on guitar, Leroy Hodges on bass, and Charles Hodges on organ, plus drummers Al Jackson Jr. and Howard Grimes. But the eternal conflict surfaced in the middle of Green’s hot streak. In 1973, he inserted “Jesus Is Waiting” into the lineup of his otherwise all-R & B Call Me album, then put “My God Is Real” on his next one, Livin’ for You. Scripture began flowing from his lips during concerts. “Take Me to the River,” a standout from the 1974 album Al Green Explores Your Mind that became a hit for his labelmate Syl Johnson, further signaled Green’s religious reawakening with overt baptismal references.
But for the rest of the show, Green and his tight 12-piece band (encompassing three horns and three backup vocalists and well rehearsed in the choreographed steps) churned out nonstop hits: “Let’s Stay Together,” “Call Me (Come Back Home),” “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” (dropping, jacketless, to his knees again and exhibiting a sexual comfort level that made his Gospel Fest performance look demure), “You Ought to Be With Me,” and a “Love and Happiness” that throbbed through the rafters.
